In a past post we discussed how to keep yourself safe from identity fraud. Our ever-increasing reliance on “all things digital” creates the perfect storm for hackers to steal not only passwords and logins, but our very identities, too. Previously, we highlighted some of the most important tactics you need to be aware of to keep your personal details secure in a world that seems to hemorrhage information. With the right habits and tools, you lessen your chances of becoming part of an ID fraud statistic.
But sometimes, you can be doing all the right things, and through no fault of your own, wind up compromised, as was seen in the too-many-to-count hacks of 2015. Last year was truly a watershed year in terms of hacks and it’s estimated that over one half of American adults had their identity compromised in some way. If you were one of those people, there are some things you can do to minimize the impact of the loss of that private information. And when it comes to your identity, time isn’t really on your side. Don’t spend precious moments wondering what to do next, just get going with anything and everything you can to reduce the damage.
Now that the holiday season is behind us, it’s time to get back to the important things in life, the things that really matter most – presents. Chances are, among your pile o’ gifts there were some internet-connected gadgets and they, like any internet-connected device, can be a security and privacy risk.
We’ve come up with some simple things you can do to guarantee your privacy without much hassle.
Do you have a favorite household gadget? Do you reach for your drill or take out your handy roll of duct tape whenever there’s a problem? Most of us have tools that we are partial to, our tried and true saviors that have gotten us out of a bind time and time again.
When it comes to cybercrime, hackers also tend to stick with certain tools, ones that are proven to be more effective and more forceful than the rest. Sure, sometimes hackers may go out on a limb and experiment with a new technique, but by and large, the threats we face all stem from the same tactics, with some tweaks to the code here and there. In 2015, there were some things that proved essential in so many hackers’ tool kits – Why bother with originality when the old tried and true tools work so well?
It’s these standbys that we have to be the most vigilant about, and there’s a lot we can learn from these tools about how we arm ourselves better for 2016 and beyond.
It’s been said before and we’ll say it again – 2015 was the year of the hack.
Sure, there were major hacks and breaches before 2015, but this was the year when hacking became de rigueur, when hacks went mainstream and became front page news. Often. Very often.
One of the most intriguing aspects of the hacks of 2015 was the scope. No sector was spared from data breaches, from top universities to federal agencies to Steam. It seems like everybody was targeted in 2015, as if the perps did their utmost to reach the widest range of victims. Profiled below are an assortment of people and the hacks that affected them most this year.
2015 is drawing to a close and that can mean only one thing – it’s time to make 2016 predictions! Some people like to prognosticate about which celebs will be dating; others focus on economic forecasts. Some people attempt to prophesy the outcomes of their fantasy football leagues.
Here at ZoneAlarm we extend our totally secure, all the time mantra to peering into the future as well. After all, the bad guys always have one eye on the future, so you should too if you want to stay safe.
To that end, we bring you ZoneAlarm’s predictions for the top 4 PC threats in 2016. These threats are already active, but they seem to be ramping up their game in an alarming way and all of us need to be prepared for them.
