The holiday shopping season is upon us and more people are choosing to shop from the comforts of their home PC or mobile device rather than fight the crowds. Shopping online is super convenient, but it’s not without the risk of identity theft. The best way to protect your digital shopping cart from hackers is to know how to safely shop online. We’ll show you how.
This subject isn’t very interesting outside of hospital administrators… or for hospital administrators, but there’s no denying that healthcare is one of the most important industries in our society today; and one that is having a technology overhaul at present. The influx of cheaper and more powerful technology is surely going to be a driving force for healthcare in the 21st century. Under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH), the United States government has followed the lead of other Western nations in forcing entities to upgrade their healthcare practice’s information technology for the betterment of patients, insurers, and health care providers.
The world of online currency is a strange, bizarre realm. While it’s designed for online transactions, it has gone from the somewhat useful (Bitcoin) to just plain silly (Dogecoin). However, there’s now an anonymous cryptocurrency available for use called Darkcoin, which attempts to make online transactions more difficult to trace.
Today, almost everybody has an Internet-connected camera in their pocket. A crazy amount of photos are posted online. In fact, Facebook alone claims to have over 250 billion photos, with 350 million user images posted every day. All of these pictures are fun, but how do you ensure that only the people you want to see your photos are seeing them?
Don't trust Google and Yahoo just yet - they might be fake! On July 10th, 2014, Microsoft issued a warning concerning the nature of identical SSL certificates and domains of some popular sites that might allow malicious copycat sites to emerge. As of now, the cause is unknown, but we know that this could be dangerous if you're not prepared to deal with it.
Whether you're on the move or at the workplace, your WiFi connection isn't the most secure method of browsing the Internet. Hacking techniques are growing more sophisticated, and you never know who could be observing your connection and Internet activity. Thankfully, there are ways to remediate this issue, like using a Virtual Private Network (VPN).
In December 2013, retail superpower Target was the target (hehe) of a massive data breach that could have affected as many as 110 million customers. On Monday, May 5, 2014, the CEO of Target, Gregg Steinhafel, announced that he would be stepping down, no doubt a result of the chaos that engulfed his company in the aftermath of this data breach. Target's CFO, John Mulligan, has stepped in as interim CEO until the position is filled once again.
With the world still on edge about the recent vulnerability found in most versions of Internet Explorer, another one has been discovered, this time in Internet Explorer 8. This bug allows a hacker to execute malicious code when a user opens an infected email or webpage.
The Internet is a powerful tool. Another powerful tool is the circular saw. You wouldn't give your kid a circular saw and let them use it without any supervision. In the same way, you shouldn't let your kid use the Internet unsupervised and without any training.
There's nothing quite like the feeling of getting scammed, and the scammers of today love using technology to rip you off and leave you with that sinking scammy feeling. The best way to avoid scams is to be proactive and know what to look for. New to your list of scams to be on the look out for are fake apps.
2014 has been a year of technological advancement, but with any kind of advances such as these, there will always be those who want to steal the work of others. According to the Identity Theft Resource Center and , as of March this year, there have been 204 instances of data breaches this year alone. These affected companies are perfect examples of why web protection is important. Macro Systems can provide you with this protection and peace of mind. Here are a few of the more unbelievable breaches, most of which could have been easily avoided.
April 7th 2014 was a big day for the world, not only because Microsoft ended security support for Windows XP, but because a massive security flaw was found in the OpenSSL cryptographic library. This problem, called the Heartbleed bug, was found by Google Security, and it leaks information from any applications and services utilizing OpenSSL. The problem, however, is not that it was found; the problem is that over two-thirds of the entire Internet contains sites that utilize the OpenSSL/TLS protocol specification. It also doesn't help that this bug has been active since December of 2012.
It's crucial that your company's network has a strong firewall in place to keep your data safe; although, one firewall may not be enough. In the case of an actual fire, you will want to have a real firewall to keep your servers safe. We're talking about a firewall for your firewall. This sounds redundant, but redundancy makes for good security.
We live in a time where information technology has touched every facet of life. It would be a fair bet to assume that, at this point, it is more commonplace than a trend. We are inundated with Internet-connected computer systems in every aspect of life. We use automated tellers to do our banking, most major retailers have automated checkouts to supplement the work staff they have in place, and even your Grandma uses Gmail. With this technology saturated into the culture, there are many pragmatic uses that are just now being discovered and implemented. Nowhere is this more true than in the health care industry.
Tech savvy individuals and businesses alike have moved away from traditional Internet browsers such as Microsoft's Internet Explorer and Apple's Safari to Google's Chrome browser. After all, many people enjoy having a simplistic, yet powerful web browser that easily integrates it's Google Docs tools and Gmail email service. However, users may want to think twice about using the browser now that a new YouTube video has surfaced entitled "Chrome Bug Lets Sites Listen to Your Conversations." In the video, user Tal Ater walks through a very dangerous exploit that allows anyone to access your microphone through Google's voice recognition software embedded in Chrome.
You may think that the standard security policies that come with your email account can protect you from hackers. It's an easy mistake to make, but the truth of the matter is that, if a hacker really wants access to an account, then they will employ every tactic possible to get it, which can make standard password security measures woefully inadequate.
With the NSA and Edward Snowden making headlines around the world, it's enough to make any user of the Internet think twice about online security and wonder if they are being monitored or not. Google Search has been a popular hub for third party monitoring, which makes Internet users ask, "Is there a more secure search engine available?" There is with DuckDuckGo.
All that stands between a hacker and your sensitive information is one puny password. You may think that your password is uncrackable because it has served you well all these years, but the reality of the situation is that an experienced hacker can break almost any password. Here are the most popular methods.
When browsing the Internet on your smartphone, you know how to be on the lookout for scams that will disable your device with viruses; but did you know that you also need to be careful which Internet connection you use? By connecting to the wrong Wi-Fi signal, you could be falling for a scam.
Do you think your computer is the only technology you own that is vulnerable to hackers? You may be surprised to learn that there are other technologies in your office and home that can be hacked without you knowing about it. Here's a list of five of the most surprising technologies that may be putting your information at risk.
