Spiked Security

Hope everyone is having a wonderful and safe holiday season.  I bet some of you either got or gave cell phones in your holiday gift-giving.  I also bet you didn’t know that you may have inadvertently enabled someone to become a victim of cyber bullying or digital abuse. 

You laugh?  Nope, Spike is being serious here. Digital abuse is on the rise and more and more teens are being targeted. A Thin Line, a website created by MTV to help educate teens about digital abuse, is an excellent place to start.  You can read more about MTV’s accompanying study here.

Digital abuse is not just about cyber bullying, cyber stalking or cyber impersonation - studies also show that one-third of all teens use their cell phone for inappropriate texting and imagery.  Wow, one third!  That means that parents are not making our youth aware of the permanency of the digital forum.  Once taken and sent, a picture becomes part of the digital universe and can resurface anytime when you least wish it.  Most of you spend the time to talk to your youth about this and Spike applauds that.   Remind them that even if they are responsible with their digital phones and cameras, other are not, so be careful not to put themselves in compromising positions where others can capture their image.  (Too bad many of Hollywood’s stars don’t heed that advice!)  Pay attention to your family members, talk about both the positives and negatives of the Internet and cell phones and help everyone stay safe.  It would be sad to ruin little Suzy’s* run for president in 25 years by having pictures of some high school party show up just before election day!

More resources for parents and youth:

www.internetsafety.com

www.ftc.gov/youarehere
Federal Trade Commision site for youth and Internet safety

www.stopbullyingnow.hrsa.gov/kids/  
National Health and Human Services’ site about cyberbullying

www.ncpc.org/cyberbullying
You all remember another famous animal helping kids be safe?  NO!  Not Smokey Bear, I am talking about McGruff the crime dog!  Yep this is his site on cyberbullying.

The Internet is full of snakes; don’t let them eat you!

Spike

*”Little Suzy” is a fictional character and has no resemblance in real life to anyone anywhere that Spike may or may not have met.  But she could be ANY OF YOU!

Yep, you can use Facebook for business.  As talked about in this nice blog from PC World’s David Coursey, you can keep your friends from being bored by your  business posts, as well as prevent your business associates from seeing the embarrassing posts by your sophomoric friends.

Read to keep your life separated!

The Internet is full of snakes; don’t let them eat you!
Spike

Spike loves it when popular services work toward improving your control over your privacy.  So, a big piggy YAY to Facebook for their new privacy options.  Now that Facebook has done this, you should check them out and use them.  One big area to look at is the privacy settings for applications.  Fix these - the default options share way to much!

So check out your privacy settings and adjust them to your personal level of comfort!

Also check out these great articles from the computing press on these new tools, and take special note of how to keep yourself from being tagged in a photo, how to keep your friends information off the search, and how to stay off a Google search.

AllFacebook: 10 New Privacy Settings Every Facebook User Should Know

Network World: New Facebook Settings: 5 Things You Should Know

The Internet is full of snakes; don’t let them eat you!

Spike

While you humans are off looking for the perfect gift for your little humans, many of you are considering “pocket pets.”  While I take only minor offense at being called a pocket pet, as I am not thrilled about a ride in a pocket, the thought is a good one.  We are a wonderful way to bring love and joy into a little human’s life.  My human is wonderful, and she treats me well.

Why is your little security advice pig talking about this?  Well here is my personal story.  Five years ago, a family bought me for their son.  He was not ready for me and I was ignored.  Eventually his parents did the right thing and sent me to the Humane Society.  I was sad, scare and lonely but at least I had hope for a new home.  I lived there in a nice cage next to a few other pocket pets for a while.   Until one day a little girl came in looking for a guinea pig to take home to be hers.  She looked at and held the strange pig in the cage next to me, as he had a “cute” fuzzy hat like blob of hair.  He bit her so she put him back.  I was next.  I did not bite her.  She loved my “spike” of white hair on my head, thus my name.

And so here I am today, giving you advice on Internet and privacy safety from my happy little cage because, instead of going to a pet store, my human told her parents to go to the Humane Society where they had pocket pets that needed homes.

Thanks to my human, I have a happy home with good food and fun toys and a family that loves me.

Happy Holidays – next week we are back to keeping you safe on the Internet!

The Internet is full of snakes, but the world can be full of nice people, don’t let either of them eat you!

Spike

Spike has been following Roger Thompson’s  blog for a while now and it is always interesting, but this post is down right SCARY!

Please read Roger’s blog about his Facebook information and friends!!!

go to:     thompson.blog.avg.com – DON’T click here, go type this into your browser and read.

The Internet is full of snakes, don’t let them eat you!

-Spike

I come home from work every day only to find another batch of credit card offers, blank checks from credit card companies, and every other manner of solicitation with my name, address and phone number already filled out for my convenience.

What a nightmare!!  Everything the good privacy thief needs to take over my financial life is right here in these pre-filled offers.  It’s not like the blank signature field will stop them. Ugh - besides the whole green thing of killing trees and all this stuff can really mess up your identity.  

What to do with all this trash?

Meet Shredder, your new best friend. … What?!?… You don’t have a shredder?  

STOP right here in this blog, go out and get one. They are cheap and they’re an essential part of your basic supply kit for life. Make sure you get a “cross cut” or “confetti” shredder. They even come in pink!

No, go now, I can wait. Continue reading when you are back with the new shredder.

OK! Now that you have shredder, keep it plugged in near where you deal with the mail.

What goes into the shredder?

Everything with your name and address on it - shred away.

Now you have a new toy for the kids. They will love it.

And for even more fun, go back through your old files and shred some more!  Whoo Hoo!  Piggy Heaven!

The Internet (and mail, neighborhood and trash processor) are full of snakes; don’t let them eat you!

Spike

A number of respected security sources are reporting fake swine flu emails that are pretending to be the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) and then ask you for information.  Don’t follow these links and read these attached links to see what the emails look like.  This is yet another reminder that hackers like to prey on our fears to fool us into doing things we shouldn’t.  And by the way as a “guinea pig” I am constantly offended at the name “Swine Flu”, its not our fault!

This is the same malware which was infecting people with a fake IRS email.  No the IRS is not suddenly going to give you money if you follow a link in a email out of the blue!

Symantec example of the swine flu email:  http://www.symantec.com/connect/blogs/zeus-trojan-catches-swine-flu

McAfee example of the swine flu email: http://www.avertlabs.com/research/blog/index.php/2009/12/01/h1n1-vaccination-profile-a-path-to-infection/

and for more information about this infection path you can check out the network world article here: http://www.networkworld.com/news/2009/120209-fake-swine-flu-emails-lead.html

The internet is full of snakes; don’t let them eat you!

-Spike