A few months ago we mentioned that McAfee had launched a new web series called H*Commerce: The Business of Hacking You. That web series has now put out all of its 6 episodes, each one involving real people doing normal online activities that result in them being targeted by cyber criminals. The series calls on a number of experts in the field to describe cyber crime, how it happens, and what the outcomes are.
The six topics covered in the series include: the history of HCommerce, email scams & 419 scams that involve money transfers, how the ease of the Internet helps HCommerce, people trying to help stop this scamming and social engineering, the reality of HCommerce and how much is lost by it, information on botnets, protecting your computer and your computer habits, moving forward after being a victim. Watch all six episodes here!
Absolute Software CEO John Livingston was recently interviewed by FOX Business. The interview follows the announcement that Absolute had opened a new U.S. headquarters in Austin, Texas. Despite reports of the economic downturn in the U.S., Absolute has plans to double the number of employees in the new U.S. office in the next 2 years!
Check out John on the “Small Business, Big Ideas” segment below:
Absolute Softwarebecame a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner back in 2007, a recognition that Absolute continues to demonstrate the highest level of proficiency with Microsoft-based technologies and aptly incorporates these technologies into its customer solutions. As a continued part of that alliance, Bill Hunka, Director of Business Development at Absolute, and Bill Gordon Director of Absolute’s Wireless team, talk about our technology in a long interview here, and in a shorter review here:
Don’t forget, Computrace and LoJack for Laptops alsowork on the Mac!
McAfee launched a new web series this week entitled H*Commerce: The Business of Hacking You at StopHCommerce.com
H*Commerce, Hacker Commerce, is the “business of making money through the illegal use of technology to compromise personal and business data.” The new series will air 6 episodes, one episode being added every two weeks. Each episode involves real people doing normal online activities who are then attacked by cybercriminals. Each episode focuses on real stories in a documentary-style.
Here is the first webisode, “Unexpected Beginnings”, telling the story of Janella Spears, who lost more than $440,000 as the result of an email scam. The video explores the effects this cybercrime had on Janella and her family as well as Janella’s education in how to clean her system, handle hackers and stop cybercrime scams.
McAfee also recently launched a Cybercrime Response Unit designed to help victims of cybercrime.
Dr. Larry Ponemon, chairman and founder of the Ponemon Institute, a private company specializing in security research, sat down with Digital Nomads to talk about laptop security.
The interview references a Dell / Ponemon study in 2008 that indicated that 12,000 laptops per week were lost by business travelers each week in US airports.
Dr. Ponemon talks to the human element to information security – the reality that though technology is there to solve information security issues, there is a rogue element in the people who use the technology. Using the 80/20 rule, the 20% of information security that “people” are responsible for can cause 80% of the damage. Dr. Ponemon reminds organizations that they need to keep up their training and awareness campaigns in order to ensure that negligent employees know more about the consequences of their actions.
The video is very interesting, talking about mobile security, managing user-downloaded software, and creating practical solutions for people to keep using their mobile devices in a secure and useful way. The video also talks about the differences between large and small companies for information security, about keeping ahead of security issues, being mindful of risk and more.
Watch the video and see Detective Quincy Burns talk about how he caught 3 career thieves and got an Absolute customer’s laptop back with the help of LoJack for Laptops.
Absolute Software created a new video about its corporate products and services. The video gives you an overview of mobile computing and security, and how Absolute Software fits into your IT planning. It gives you insight into the recovery team and how Computrace gives you control over your IT assets.
In the time it took to watch that video, 3 laptops were stolen. Do you know where all your laptops are?
There are four quick videos on YouTube about Absolute Software’s consumer product line, LoJack for Laptops and corporate product line, Computrace. The videos each go through a common scenario about a missing laptop. This first one examines an all-too-common issue: leaving a laptop in the car.
Whether you’re just running a quick errand or are going to bed for the night, you should never leave your laptop in your car. This practice causes many major data breaches each year. If your corporate laptop does get stolen, you should never be afraid to report that. Letting your IT department know quickly can help recover your laptop, if Computrace was installed, and is important so that steps can be taken to prevent or recover from a data breach. (more…)
This is just a common sense business tip: do not use shredded checks as packing material.
The WHH Ranch Company has been using shredded paper from a Texas-based bank for 20 years. Some of that paper came in the form of shredded checks.
When Michelle McBride ordered some food from WHH Ranch, she found it packed in shredded checks. The shredded paper was in wider strips (it was not cross-shredded) that could be easily pieced together. In fact, that’s what Michelle McBride did – she was able to easily re-assemble some checks and plainly read off account numbers and routing information for hospitals, medicare, schools, businesses and personal accounts.
After learning of the problem, WHH Ranch says they’ll ensure it doesn’t happen again.
So, two things to learn from this:
If you are shredding sensitive information, use a good cross-shredder or confetti shredder. Particularly if you’re a business.
If you are using shredded paper as packaging material, ensure it’s finely shredded material that contains only non-sensitive papers.
After the jump is a video of the CNN report about this incident (the video auto-plays): (more…)
The AMW Safety Center and the National Consumers League have put together a public awareness video about secure online shopping.
Some of the tips in the above video include:
Looking for https or shttp domain names
Don’t fall for pop-up boxes
Look over return and privacy policies
Use a credit card to protect your interests (fraud departments can help you get money back)
Of course, if you remember the survey we posted last week, legitimate websites host 68% of the malware online, so trusting a website is not a guarantee of safety any longer.
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