Online privacy is a topic getting a lot of attention these days and has become a large concern among consumers. While the obvious solution is to take steps to better protect your online privacy, a survey published in Consumer Reports found that 62% of U.S. consumers “have done nothing to protect their privacy on the Internet.” This doesn’t mean consumers don’t care about privacy. In fact, the same survey notes that 58% of online users are concerned that the National Security Agency (NSA) may be spying on them.
Continue Reading… Online Privacy: How to Minimize Your Digital Footprint
In December 2013, Microsoft Digital Crimes Unit, Europol, the FBI, and other technology companies sought to take down one of the world’s largest botnets named ZeroAccess (also known as max++ or Sirefef). While the collaboration led to the disruption of ZeroAccess, the takedown was not fully successful as several servers hosting botnet’s command & control (C&C) continued to remain active.
Ever since its discovery several years ago and leading up to 2013, over two million computers globally had been infected. This led to search results from Google, Bing, and Yahoo! being hijacked, which redirected infected users to malicious websites and in turn, impacted the advertising revenue stream on these search providers. In fact, it is estimated that the cost of click fraud, as a result of ZeroAccess, was upwards of $2.7 million each month for online advertisers.
Continue Reading… ZeroAccess Botnet: Is It Preparing Its Next Attack?
Did you know some things you do on the Web could actually be putting your PC and personal information in jeopardy? Here are some mistakes and misconceptions that could make you a victim of cybercrime, and what you should do to minimize your risk of becoming part of the statistic.
Continue Reading… Are You Making Yourself a Victim of Cybercrime?
BitTorrent. uTorrent. The Pirate Bay. These are just a few of the many popular peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing sites you’ve probably heard of. Since its increase in popularity in the late 1990s, P2P file sharing has had its fair share of backlash for enabling illegal activity. Run a Google News search on peer-to-peer file sharing, and you’d find headlines like:
“Barre man charged with promoting child pornography.”
“Is the free download of uTorrent legal?”
“Illegal downloaders in federal court’s crosshairs.”
There’s another aspect to P2P that has traditionally caused concern: computer security and privacy risks. Continue Reading… What You Need To Know About Peer-to-Peer File Sharing
Zombies are making a killing on TV (The Walking Dead), in movies (World War Z), and in books (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies). There’s even a zombie game/fitness app, Zombies, Run!
But zombies aren’t so entertaining if your computer becomes one.
Continue Reading… 8 Signs Your PC Might Be A Zombie
