5 tips for keeping your kids safe online

A reading reco for you today.

* Keep your children safe online

“No parent wants their child to fall prey to the dangers online, but it’s hard to know exactly how to protect young ones today. From malware to video game addiction, it can seem like the Internet is a vast sea of dangers.

We’ve mapped out the most important online threats for kids today, as well as laid out our top five tips on how to help your little one safely navigate the web. Address the issue of online safety now and help your child develop the digital smarts they need to stay out of harm’s way.” Read more..

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Today’s quote: “Did I offer peace today? Did I bring a smile to someone’s face? Did I say words of healing? Did I let go of my anger and resentment? Did I forgive? Did I love? These are the real questions. I must trust that the little bit of love that I sow now will bear many fruits, here in this world and the life to come.” ~ Henri Nouwen

Copyright 2007-2015 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.

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All weq really have, in the end, are our stories.
Make yours great ones. Ones to be proud of.

Send and Receive E-cards Safely

Hacker Season Approaches

“E-cards are prime vehicles for distributing viruses and other malware, and the bad guys’ efforts to reach you through these cards skyrocket around such holidays as Valentine’s Day.“

While Valentine’s Day is months away yet, we are nearing Hacker¹ Season. Criminal activity will double, and redouble, the nearer we get to the “Holiday shopping season”. It is time for us to ratchet up our paranoid cautiousness factors, and vigilance.

Today I am not going to re-invent the wheel, but merely direct you to a concise, cogent, and bang-on-target article written by a neighbor of mine, Kim Boatman — Send and Receive E-cards Safely. It’s a short read, and the tips there can be applied to other things as well.

Or you can be like me.. and simply not open them… and miss out on the cute animated bunnies…

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¹ The term “hacker” has become part of or lingo, but it is greatly misused by the media, and is generally out-of-date. “Cyber Mafia”, “Foreign Cyber-Warfare Agents”, and “Criminals” are what are really being discussed.

Copyright 2007-2010 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.

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A Top Site for Finding Work

Best of the Web/Top Site for Finding Work – Job-Hunt.org is a “Top” or “Best” site for job hunting and careers according to US News & World Report, Forbes, and PC Magazine.

“Job-Hunt is dedicated to the millions of people who have had their personal lives disrupted by the loss of a job.“

The Internet Has Changed How We Live Our Lives. How We Communicate. How We Date, Work, Play…

and how we look for work. More and more we go online. And where the people go, that’s where you’ll find the criminals and predators. Please be aware that Identity Thieves have – for some time now – been posting fake job openings, fake employment websites, and various other employment scams online.

Some time ago now, I wrote about “cyber-safe” resumes, and I received a nice letter from Susan P. Joyce at Job-Hunt.org. She reminded us that,

“The recession has multiplied the scams, and people need to be very careful using any job board or even “employer” Website – not just when using Craigslist (which is often a good source of jobs).”

Please see the excellent, Job Search Scam Avoidance Guide

Job search scams look very appealing, and even smart people “fall” for them. The result can be loss of the money you do have, trouble with the IRS or other law enforcement agency, and identity theft when your SSN is provided to the fake “employer.”

And if you are (or you know someone who is) in the process of seeking a new job/career, please click here, read, and learn how to “Put the “Safe” in your Cyber-SAFE Resume by modifying the content of your resume! Take control and create your own privacy protection this way, without depending on the Web job site to do it for you. Do this to protect your existing job, if you have one, and your privacy.“

Related reading: Cyber-safe Resume Gets Noticed

Copyright 2007-2010 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved. post to jaanix.

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Security Alert — An Infection Has Been Detected!

Online crime is bigger than the global drugs trade¹. The Internet shadow economy is worth over $105 billion.  No country, no person, no business and no government is immune from CyberCrime.

Currently there is an epidemic of fake anti-malware software on the Internet– which is collectively called “rogue anti-malware“ and/or “scareware”. Marketed under hundreds of different names, such as VirusRemover 2008 and Antivirus XP 2009, this type of rogue software scares people by giving false alarms, and then tries to deceive them into paying for removal of non-existing malware. [update: some of the newer ones are now encrypting your files, and requiring a ‘ransom’ for the key. Don’t pay. There is help online.]

This video shows what happens when a legitimate Website gets infected and redirected to one of these bogus anti-malware scams.
Yes, folks, legitimate websites are being ‘hacked’. (It’s called “poisoned”.)

The people behind this scourge use many different ways to try to entice you to click – realistic looking pop-up windows appear, offers of “free trials” arrive in e-mail, and “free scan” buttons on legit-looking ‘fight malware’ websites.. the means are quite varied!

As this video shows, the user is tricked into (scared into, really) providing their credit card #  to clean infections that weren’t there before they clicked and aren’t really there now.
* The ‘false positives’ are not “cleaned” BUT, more adware and spyware is installed.
* A good percentage of my calls at Aplus Computer Aid are folks needing help with getting rid of these rogues. Because these clever programs use the latest techniques to combat removal, and it can be quite tough — if not impossible — to truly remove them.. without formatting your hard-drive.
* For more, please read Is that anti-spyware program really spyware?
* One Website dedicated to combating this epidemic is Spyware Warrior. It has a pretty good list of known rogues, and much more detailed information. Another excellent resource is Bleeping Computer.
* I have written several How-To’s on protecting yourself from malware, and how to clean your machines as well. Click here to see those titles.

¹ From a recent MessageLabs whitepaper. (This eye-opening report provides a disturbing look into the ‘dark’ world of cyber-crime. This link is the online version.. you need to scroll a bit..)

Today’s free download: WOT (Web Of Trust) is a free Internet security add-on for your browser. It will help keep you safer from online scams, identity theft, spyware, spam, viruses and unreliable shopping sites. WOT warns you before you interact with a risky Website. It’s easy and it’s free.

• Ratings for over 22 million websites
• Downloaded over 4 million times
• The WOT browser addon is light and updates automatically
• WOT rating icons appear beside search results in Google, Yahoo!, Wikipedia, Gmail, etc.
• Settings can be customized to better protect your family (new “Parental Control” setting blocks access to Web sites with a poor child safety rating and no rating at all)
• WOT Security Scorecard shows rating details and user comments

Copyright 2007-9 © Tech Paul. All rights reserved. post to jaanix

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Basic Steps For Protecting Your PC

Folks, the Internet is not Disneyland. Most knowledgeable people refer to it as the “wild, wild, West” (a reference to sheer lawlessness) but I like a different analogy better.. think of it as going into the Big City, and going down to the docks/warehouse district, alone, and at night.
You can do it, but you best be careful.

What you can do:

1: please read Top 10 things you should do to your computer. It is a checklist, and provides you with the How To’s for a (more) secure computer, as well as providing links to important (free) security downloads.
2: enable an anti-phishing filter, which can help alert you to poisoned websites before you go there. All modern browsers have a filter built in, and all you have to do is turn it on; or, you can add a toolbar/plug-in such as McAfee’s Site Advisor or – my preference – the excellent WOT.
3: make sure ALL the programs on your computer are patched and up-to-date. The easiest and most effective way to do this (IMHO) is to download and install the PSI (Personal Software Inspector) from Secunia.
4: Never respond to e-mails asking for personal information. Legitimate businesses never contact you about “important issues” via e-mail. But criminals love to go phishing!
5: Be PARANOID on the Internet. (Use common sense) Think someone can’t trace back to you? Guess again; your browser reveals a wealth of information by default. Sound too good to be true? It is. There’s no such thing as a “free iPod”… and, no, you did not win the Irish Lottery. Is looking at sexually explicit material simply irresistible? Go to one of those video rental shops that has a back room instead of clicking links and images — a malware infection can cost you all your data and/or several hundred dollars in cleanup.. and/or many hours of your time..

[note: almost all of these things are “set it, then forget it” simple. You do not have to be an über-geek, or devote hours, to implement them. An ounce of prevention really is worth a pound of cure!] 

Copyright 2007-9 © Tech Paul. All rights reserved. post to jaanix

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