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In the first step of our doxxing research, we collected a list of our online footprint, digging out the most important accounts that you want to protect and obsolete or forgotten accounts you no longer use. Because the most recent and relevant data is likely to live in the accounts you use regularly, our next step will be to review the full scope of what’s visible from these accounts and to set more intentional boundaries on what is shared.
It’s important to note here that the goal isn’t to eliminate every trace of yourself from the internet and never go online again. That’s not realistic for the vast majority of people in our connected world (and I don’t know about you, but even if it was I wouldn’t want to!) And whether it’s planning for an individual or a giant organization, security built to an impossible standard is destined to fail. Instead, we are shifting you from default to intentional sharing, and improving visibility and control over what you do want to share.
Before making changes to the settings and permissions for each of these accounts, we’re going to make sure that access to the account itself is secure. You can start with your email accounts (especially any that you use as a recovery email for forgotten passwords, or use for financial, medical, or other sensitive communications). This shouldn’t take very long for each site, and involves a few straightforward steps:
The best way to prevent a breached password from exposing another account to attack is to use a unique password for for every website you visit. And while you may have heard previous advice on strong passwords (along the lines of “eight or more characters, with a mix of upper/lower case letters, numbers, and special characters”), more recent standards emphasize the importance of longer passwords. For a great explanation of why longer passwords work better than shorter, multi-character type passwords, check out this excellent XKCD strip:
A password manager will make this process much easier, as most have the ability to generate unique passwords and allow you to tailor their length and complexity. While we’re on the topic of what makes a good password, make sure that the password to access your password manager is both long and memorable.
You don’t want to save or auto-fill that password because it acts as the “keys to the kingdom” for everything else, so I recommend following a process like the one outlined in the comic above, or another mnemonic device, to help you remember that password. Once you’ve reset the password, check for a “log out of active devices” option to make sure the new password is used.
MFA uses two or more “factors” verifying something you know, something you have, or something you are. A password is an example of “something you know”, and here are a few of the most common methods used for an additional layer of security:
If you want to know more about the different ways you can log in with strong authentication and how they vary in effectiveness, check out the Google Security Team blog post “Understanding the Root Cause of Account Takeover.”
Before we move on from passwords and 2FA, I want to highlight a second step to log in that doesn’t meet the standard of strong authentication: password questions. These are usually either a secondary prompt after entering username and password, or used to verify your identity before sending a password reset link. The problem is that many of the most commonly-used questions rely on semi-public information and, like passcodes, are entered on the same device used to log in.
Another common practice is leveraging common social media quizzes/questionnaires that people post on their social media account. If you’ve seen your friends post their “stage name” by taking the name of their first pet and the street they grew up on, you may notice that’s a combination of two pretty common password questions! While not a very targeted or precise method of attack, the casual sharing of these surveys can have consequences beyond their momentary diversion.
One of the first widely-publicized doxxings happened when Paris Hilton’s contact list, notes, and photos were accessed by resetting her password using the password question, “what is your favorite pet’s name?”. Because Hilton had previously discussed her beloved chihuahua, Tinkerbell, the attacker was able to use this information to access the account.
Sometimes, though, you’ll be required to use these password questions, and in those cases I’ve got a simple rule to keep you safe: lie! That’s right, you won’t be punished if you fib when entering the answers to your password questions so that the answers can’t be researched, and most password managers also include a secure note field that will let you save your questions and answers in case you need to recall them later.
We’d love to hear what you think. Ask a Question, Comment Below, and Stay Connected with Cisco Secure on social!
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Technology has typically had a reputation for being exciting and inventive. Unfortunately, this hasn’t always been the case for security. But times have changed. We are now recognizing the crucial role security plays in any groundbreaking technology. Without strong defenses, even the most visionary app is likely to crash and burn. So it’s imperative that big security players like Cisco stay on top of what’s next.
I am thrilled to announce that in November, we will be launching our new video series, “NEXT” by Cisco Secure. In the series, my esteemed co-host TK Keanini and I will interview some of the brightest new minds in tech to find out more about the future of the industry and how we can best secure it. Watch the series preview below!
As the CTO of Cisco Secure, TK has over 25 years of networking and security expertise, as well as a penchant for driving technical innovation. As for me, I’m a cybersecurity specialist of 10 years with an obsession for communication and empathy. Together, TK and I will bring new cyber pioneers to the forefront and highlight the criticality of digital protection and privacy for everyone.
Whether we’re discussing Web3, the metaverse, or next-generation healthcare, we’ll learn and laugh a lot. Through simple conversations about complex topics, we’re building a bridge between leading-edge tech and how Cisco is helping to safeguard what’s on the horizon.
And what better time to preview this series than during Cybersecurity Awareness Month? A time when we focus on the reality that security belongs to everyone — not just the threat hunter, or the product engineer, or the incident responder — but everyone.
We all have a responsibility to protect the world’s data and infrastructure, and should all have a seat at the table for important security conversations. We hope you’ll join us as we dive into what’s making waves out there, and how we can keep it safe.
Follow our Cisco Secure social channels to catch our first episode in November, when we will speak with Michael Ebel, CEO of Atmosfy. Atmosfy is revolutionizing restaurant reviews by incorporating engaging live video that inspires others and supports local businesses. TK and I will chat with Michael about the origin of Atmosfy, and how the company keeps its content authentic and organization resilient.
In the meantime, explore our other Cybersecurity Awareness Month resources.
Who do you want to hear from next? Tell us your ideas for future guests in the comments.
We’d love to hear what you think. Ask a Question, Comment Below, and Stay Connected with Cisco Secure on social!
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Sharing is caring… but on the internet, sharing can also be tricky! When we post something, we have to look at the forest and not just the trees. Doxxers usually start with one or two pieces of relatively innocent or public information, but by connecting the dots between those pieces they can build a frighteningly detailed picture of an individual.
Seemingly innocuous details can be pieced together into a much more personal profile when collected and leveraged to learn more. As one example, your wish list/wedding registry makes it easy for friends and family to get you gifts that you actually want, but could also be used to find out products/services you’re interested in as pretext (setting the scene) of a conversation or phishing email trying to gather more. You may have Google Alerts set up for your name (a great idea!), but this may not flag text in scanned documents such as school yearbooks, newspapers and other digitized paper records available online.
If the above sounds scary – don’t panic! Your first step in this auto-dox is going to be brainstorming as much personally identifying information (PII) shared online as possible. I suggest doing this either in a secure note or longhand. The goal is to write down all of the accounts/addresses/phone numbers that come to mind, as these are some of the top things that attackers will try to gather in their search. Start your list here:
Email addresses are an especially juicy target for someone trying to locate you, because most people only use one personal and maaaybe a second school or work email account. Those accounts are tied to all our other online identities and often double as our username for logging in.
When you finish this process, you will likely have dozens or even hundreds of “breadcrumbs” between your account list and search results. Read through your list again, and we’re going to sort it into three categories:
Great job! You’ve already got a much better idea of what people can learn about you than most folks ever do, and are well on your way to cleaning up your online footprint. In our next step, we’ll start locking down everything that you want to keep!
P.S. If you’re enjoying this process and value keeping people safe online, please check out our open roles at Cisco Secure.
We’d love to hear what you think. Ask a Question, Comment Below, and Stay Connected with Cisco Secure on social!
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Whether or not you’ve heard the term “doxxing” before, you’re probably familiar with the problem it names: collecting personal information about someone online to track down and reveal their real-life identity. The motivations for doxxing are many, and mostly malicious: for some doxxers, the goal in tracking someone is identity theft. For others, it’s part of a pattern of stalking or online harassment to intimidate, silence or punish their victim – and overwhelmingly, victims are youth and young adults, women, and LGBTQ+ people. The truth is, most of us have information online that we don’t realize can put us at risk, and that’s why I’ve written this series: to inform readers about how doxxing happens, and how you can protect yourself from this very real and growing problem by doxxing yourself.
In computer security, we talk about the idea of a “security mindset”: understanding how someone with bad intentions would cause harm, and being able to think like they would to find weak spots. In this series, you will learn by doing. By understanding the tools and methods used by those with ill intent, you’ll be better prepared to keep yourself safe and your information secure.
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to follow along and find out everything the internet knows about… you!
This series will provide simple steps for you to follow as you begin your investigation. Along the way, as you get familiar with the tools and tactics of internet sleuths, you’ll get a better idea of your current internet footprint as well as know what tracks you leave in the future. Our process will be split into three main sections:
Information is power. And in the case of doxxing, most people don’t realize how much of their power they’re giving up! My goal in this series is to demystify the methods used for doxxing, so in the spirit of “showing my work,” here are some of the best resources and collected checklists I referenced when planning these exercises, along with how to best use each:
If this looks like a whole lot of homework… don’t worry! We’ll cover most of the core tools and tips mentioned in these resources through the course of this series, and we’ll revisit these links at the end of the series when you’ve gotten more context on what they cover. In the next article, we’ll take on the review step of our process, getting a holistic inventory of what personal information is currently available online so you can prioritize the most important fixes. See you soon!
We’d love to hear what you think. Ask a Question, Comment Below, and Stay Connected with Cisco Secure on social!
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The joy of purchasing a new device is liberating. Now you can work, learn, and play faster — along with enjoying ample storage space. So, the last thing you’d expect is your apparently safe device being exposed to vulnerabilities, or “bloat.”
Exposure to unwanted software can derail its performance and hog its storage within a few months of usage. In technical terms, such pieces of software are referred to as bloatware. Bloatware has the potential to attack PCs with Microsoft systems and Android devices. It can also attack Apple iPhones and Macs although their systems tend to be built with a bit more protection.
This article defines bloatware, offers common examples, explains how to identify it, and discusses its impact on your computer’s security.
Bloatware, also called Junkware or Potentially Unwanted Programs (PUP), are third-party programs that slow down the performance of your device and lay it bare to cybersecurity risks.
Manufacturers initially introduced bloatware to provide users with more utility, but the programs led to device issues. Software programs that identify as bloatware run in the background, and locating them is not child’s play.
Bloatware finds its way into your device in two ways: it comes pre-installed or through programs downloaded from the internet. Lenovo‘s Superfish bloatware scandal from 2015 explains how bloatware can harm your devices.
Common examples of bloatware apps include:
As a piece of good advice, it is best to uninstall such apps when of no use — whether on your Android smartphone, Windows computer, or an iOS device.
Performance degradation is a common symptom of a device carrying bloatware. Extended boot-up times, clogged storage, and startup delays are common occurrences. Let’s review some programs that may also be bloatware:
Here’s how to identify bloatware:
As mentioned, not all bloatware is a threat to your device. Some may be useful and can be removed easily. But a major chunk of bloatware is known to slow down your computer.
Bloatware eats up a good chunk of the disk space or hard drive as it runs in the background, and it drains the battery life. Bloatware that isn’t removed quickly may clog your device with annoying ads. These ads can pose a security threat or even corrupt your operating system.
Sadly, it can be a challenge to uninstall bloatware because it finds its way back into the device — sometimes even after it has been deleted. In some cases, it may even redirect you to fake bloatware removal websites and offer malicious removal tools. Such websites ask you to install a new program to remove the previous one, trapping your device further. Unfortunately, there are no secret hacks to stop it from finding a way into your system.
Pro tip: Anytime you download a program or software, be sure it’s from an official source (like a secured website, the Google Play Store, or the Apple App Store). Installing a program from a suspicious website can put your device at risk, as the program can download bundles of other programs on the back end without your knowledge.
Windows 10 comes with a special refresh tool to remove any bloatware disguised as user-installed programs. This tool can bring your PC back to a clean slate. It’s important to check your hard drive beforehand, as it can also remove licenses.
Bloatware can be both harmful and annoying. New devices need full-fledged protection so they can last longer. The answer to your bloatware woes is an antivirus program. It safeguards your computer from dangerous security threats and prevents accidental downloads, so malicious bloatware or malware can’t access your device.
Bloatware can compromise your online safety and security. McAfee+’s protection package is the ideal investment for your new device, so you can work without any hassles or doubts.
McAfee+ enables a top-tier level of online security with full protection from pesky software programs like bloatware. Additionally, you get access to antivirus software for unlimited devices, lost wallet protection, a secure VPN, personal data clean-ups, and more. Sign up for McAfee + and rest easy while your devices remain bloatware-free.
The post What Is Bloatware and How Can It Impact Security? appeared first on McAfee Blog.
With regular marketing emails from brands, businesses, and subscription services, our email accounts are more cluttered than ever. The number of daily emails exchanged globally reached an estimated 319 billion in 2021. Unfortunately, the chances that these emails were spam or junk are quite high. In fact, 45% of all email traffic came from spam emails as of December 2021.
With emails often being the preferred mode of communication for official purposes, it’s important to observe good digital hygiene with your inbox. While a cluttered inbox can be overwhelming, it can also double as a cybersecurity threat. Junk emails that contain malware or act as phishing tools are notorious for wreaking havoc in IT systems or aiding identity theft.
Are you tired of opening your inbox to a barrage of unwanted emails? Read this article to learn how to block or eliminate spam emails.
We know you didn’t sign up to be spammed by unwanted emails. So why is your inbox overflowing with spam messages? It could be one of many reasons, including:
Companies also often share information that you’ve entered during registration with other businesses. Applications for loyalty cards and discount coupons at checkout are also sources of customer information for companies. Although companies are mandated to ask permission before sharing your personal information with affiliates, users often ignore the fine print. So, how do you block these unwanted emails?
Fortunately, most email services let you block this contact or other specific email addresses by following a few simple steps. Usually, just notifying your email service that a certain sender is spamming you does the job. The process varies according to the email provider used. Read on to find out how to keep your inbox clean.
Gmail users can block spam mail using the Gmail app or web app. Follow the steps below to block emails while using the web app:
Open a message from the sender you wish to block. If you don’t have a recent email from them, search their address or name in the search box at the top of the page.
Doing this will cause all future emails from this sender to enter your spam folder. If you block someone you didn’t intend to, follow the same procedure to unblock and start receiving mail from their address.
Follow these steps to block an address using the Outlook (the new Hotmail) web app:
By marking the email as junk, Outlook filters and sends all further emails from the sender to your spam folder.
Like all other service providers, the process of blocking a sender from your Yahoo mail account is quite straightforward. Use your web app and follow these steps to get rid of junk mail from your inbox:
Alternatively, you can also block a sender from the Settings menu.
You can unblock any address by navigating to “Blocked addresses” using the same steps and unblock any ID.
To proactively block senders from your AOL Mail inbox, follow the steps below using your web browser:
Following these simple steps marks all future emails from the chosen sender as spam and sends them to the spam folder.
The Apple iOS email app on iPhone, iPad, and Mac only recently allowed unsubscribing from mailing lists. It still doesn’t let you block senders. Follow the steps detailed below to filter and unsubscribe from senders:
Flag any email as spam by forwarding the email to spam@icloud.com.
Widely used and accepted email services are a frequent target of cyberattacks. Attackers can use email to gain control or access your personal information and resources.
Securing email systems is crucial since your email might contain a lot of sensitive information, including financial documents, legal information, important personal documents, or even trade secrets.
As an email sender and receiver, you should be aware of the most common ways the service is used to infect a computer.
A general rule of thumb is to verify and review download links, forms, and email addresses of the sender before clicking on them, as they can pose significant threats to your cybersecurity. If you receive an email from someone you trust but it contains a link that you find suspicious, multiple websites can analyze URLs and files for malware.
Keeping an email system safe involves securing the servers of the client and the user. As an informal email system user, it can be hard to mitigate and manage risks posed by malicious emails on your own.
Fortunately, you can utilize McAfee+and Identity Theft Protection. McAfee ensures complete cyber protection with advanced monitoring, customized tips according to your usage, and data clean-ups. With multiple subscription plans at your disposal, you can protect yourself and your family from all kinds of cyberthreats.
The post How to Block Emails appeared first on McAfee Blog.
Until recently, people had little control over how companies used their online data. But, with data privacy now a human right, people are pickier about who can access their data and how they use it.
Every time you visit a website by typing its address on the address bar, your browser history holds a record of information like the name of the site, its location, and when you visited it. Unfortunately, third parties can access this data, leaving you vulnerable to identity theft and data misuse. Simply deleting your Internet Explorer browser history is not enough to safeguard your data.
This article explains how to keep your internet activities private and delete your web browser history for good.
Most people don’t know that clearing your browsing history doesn’t actually delete it.
Even after you’ve clicked on the “clear browsing history” option in your selected browser, there’s still a record of every Google search from the beginning of time. This information can be accessed by third parties like your internet service provider, the websites you visit, and advertisers. So, clearing your browsing history is not enough to safeguard your data.
While clearing your browser history has benefits like better application efficiency, you should invest in useful online tools like McAfee’s identity theft protection and you better protect your data online. to help you truly protect your data online. to help you truly protect your data online.
Before diving into how to clear your browser history, let’s talk about why you should give importance to deleting your data for good.
Just like you have to clear out the dust from your vacuum cleaner to continue cleaning, you should clear the data on your browser so it remains speedy and efficient.
Your browsing history records are cluttered with cache files, cookies, search history, and autofill data. All this digital clutter fills up your Random Access Memory (or RAM), slowing your PC, Apple iOS device, or Android device’s functioning.
You might see pop-ups on websites telling you that they use cookies. Without giving it much thought, you might click the “OK” or “Accept cookies” button and continue browsing the site. But do you know how these cookies are used?
Cookies are temporary internet files that store browsing data and preferences to make your future online experiences easier. For example, this helps you personalize your search results to an extent. The cache stores parts of pages, websites, or images you visit, enabling the pages to load faster the next time you open them.
These types of files sound like they help you have a better internet experience, so why should you delete them?
Here are some reasons to clear your browsing history, cache, and cookies:
However, simply clearing cache and cookies is not enough. This method will clear space on your device and erase some references, but the data is still saved on your device as free space. You should use tools to permanently delete your browsing data from the hard drive because:
So, it’s crucial to properly wipe your data if you’re serious about protecting your privacy online.
Many people switch to incognito mode when making an embarrassing Google search because it seemingly leaves no trace of the search on your device. But, does useing incognito mode or a private browsing window protect your data and ensure your privacy & security?
When you use incognito or private browsing mode, the tracking cookies on the websites you visit are blocked by default, and your cookie data and search history are deleted from the browser as soon as you close the window. Essentially, it auto-deletes your browser history as soon as you close the window.
However, your browser actions are still visible to the websites you have visited and your internet service provider (ISP). In addition, data from your browsing activity is saved to any accounts you’re logged into (like your Google account), even when using incognito mode.
Your internet service provider and other third parties have easy access to your browser activity irrespective of whether you’re in private browsing mode. This means using incognito mode is not enough to protect your online privacy.
If you’re worried about what someone might see on your laptop or you notice your applications slowing down, we’re here to help. We’ll show you how to quickly clear your device’s browser history from some commonly used internet options.
There’s no fixed or recommended time for deleting your browsing history, cache, and cookies. It’s all relative to your system’s storage space and personal preferences. Refer to this step-by-step guide whenever you feel like it’s time to clear junk from your browsers.
To delete your browser history on Google Chrome:
Some of your settings might be deleted when clearing your browser history. For example, you might have to re-sign into your accounts.
If you want to delete cookies and cache for a specific site, you can learn how to change more cookie settings in Chrome.
To delete your browsing, search, and download history on Mozilla Firefox, follow these steps:
Now, you have quickly deleted your browser history on Mozilla Firefox.
To clear your Microsoft Edge browsing data from just the device you are currently using, turn off sync before clearing the data. The selected data will be deleted across all of your synced devices if sync is turned on.
Follow these steps to turn off sync:
To clear browsing data on Microsoft Edge:
This is how to clear your browsing data on Microsoft Edge in a few simple steps.
Here are simple steps to clear browser cache and cookies on Safari 8.0 through 10.0. These steps apply to your Apple laptop running macOS, but an iPad or iPhone might have slightly different steps.
That’s all! You’ve now deleted your browser history on Safari.
To clear cache and browser history in Opera:
There you have it! It’s simple and free to erase your browser history, cache, and cookies, and you should regularly do so.
Now you know how to delete your browser history to keep your device running smoothly and limit how much data advertisers and companies can collect about you.
However, you may be concerned about the identity traces still being captured without your knowledge.
If you’re serious about maintaining complete privacy with your online data, invest in advanced tools to safeguard your online information and prevent identity theft.
McAfee helps keep your digital data private and protected from identity theft. Access various tools to safeguard your online spaces by investing in the McAfee privacy and protection service. This service includes antivirus software for unlimited devices, complete data cleanup from your hard drive and browser, and much more. In addition, this product comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Easily keep your digital spaces safe and your online data private with McAfee+.
The post The Expert’s Guide to Deleting Your Browser History for Good appeared first on McAfee Blog.
Have you seen that small pop-up on your phone or laptop that says your password has been compromised?
Simple and weak passwords are prone to guesswork, and attackers can force their way in if the password length is too short. Attackers can easily guess simple passwords like your birthday, email account, or one of your former phone numbers.
A long password made up of a random string of characters, including letters, numbers, and symbols, is considered strong security against data breaches.
Creating a strong password for each of your accounts is the best way to protect your sensitive information. Coming up with a unique password for every account and learning each one by heart can be challenging. This is where a password generator can help you create a random password. Password generators are also beneficial when you want to change an old password.
The next challenge is storing your passwords safely so that you can keep track of each of your account’s login information. McAfee True Key is another tool to streamline your password security and management. Simply sign in once using a master password, and True Key will auto-save and autofill your passwords for you whenever you want to access one of your accounts.
A password generator is a software that creates random passwords for its users. A random password generator will construct passwords of any length using numbers, letters, and symbols. You can also add customizations to your randomly generated password, such as using only alphanumeric characters with no symbols. Using a password generator is considered a great way to secure your data. Without a strong password to secure your data, you risk financial fraud and identity theft.
In addition to stealing your money, a hacker who controls your account can apply for new credit cards and reduce your credit score.
With the rapid growth of security failure and cybercrime, a strong password from a password generator can protect your data against fraud and malware attacks. Traditional password attacks include brute force attacks, rainbow tables, and dictionary attacks.
A strong password consisting of a long string of ambiguous characters, including alphanumeric and symbols, can shield against this. Whenever you are asked to update a password on one of your account websites, you can immediately create a strong password using a password generator. It’s also a healthy practice to update passwords every three months. You can accomplish this easily using a password generator.
The password strength directly correlates to the computing power needed to crack it. Here are the key elements of a strong password:
A good password generator tool works by creating a random password using “cryptographically secure” random values. In other words, these passwords cannot be predicted by attackers even if they replicate the algorithm employed by the generator. This makes such password generators an incredibly safe and effective way to create unique passwords. In addition to their security, password generators let you tailor your new password to a preferred length and complexity.
You can generate a slew of unique passwords in an instant. Once you find one you like, your password generator can save it for you. Some secure password generators like McAfee True Key also combine password management in their functions. Bid goodbye to the hassle of individually signing into every account with a unique password. You can store all of your unique passwords and sign in to any of your accounts using a single master password.
You can get a range of features with your password generator to improve your data security. Here are some useful characteristics to look for in a good password generator:
McAfee True Key can help you generate strong passwords while also serving as a place to store all of your unique passwords. True Key protects your passwords by scrambling them using AES-256, one of the strongest encryption algorithms available. With factors of your choosing, only you can decrypt and access your sensitive information on True Key by signing in using a single master password.
Access all of your data on True Key by signing in using your secure master password. Every time you sign in to your True Key account, your identity will be verified using at least two factors of your choosing. You can customize your profile by adding more sign-in factors; the more you add, the more secure your information.
True Key is supported by iOS, Android, Mac, and PC devices, meaning you can sign in from any of these operating systems. You also get local data encryption and cross-device syncing across all of these devices. Supported browsers include Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft Edge, and Safari. McAfee respects your privacy, which means your passwords are not accessible to anyone but you. Your data will never be sold or shared with any third parties.
Your password determines your data security. Data breaches can involve cases of identity theft and financial fraud. Create strong passwords for every account to keep your online data free from financial fraud and malicious intent. You can accomplish this using a strong password generator. Ensure your password generator uses cryptographically secure random variables, so hackers can’t predict your passwords even if they have access to the algorithm used for the generator.
In addition to creating unique passwords, a password generator also serves as a secure place to store your passwords. Most people assume they are safe when storing passwords in a document on their PC. If a hacker gains access to your device, they can read the document containing all of your sensitive passwords. Prevent this by using a password manager, which requires a master password and two-factor authentication to log in.
Get these benefits and more completely free when you install McAfee True Key. And to protect yourself even more, consider McAfee+
The post Strong Password Generators appeared first on McAfee Blog.
It’s hard to imagine a world without cellphones. Whether it be a smartphone or a flip phone, these devices have truly shaped the late 20th century and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. But while users have become accustomed to having almost everything they could ever want at fingertips length, cybercriminals were busy setting up shop. To trick unsuspecting users, cybercriminals have set up crafty mobile threats – some that users may not even be fully aware of. These sneaky cyberthreats include SMSishing, fake networks, malicious apps, and grayware, which have all grown in sophistication over time. This means users need to be equipped with the know-how to navigate the choppy waters that come with these smartphone-related cyberthreats. Let’s get started.
If you use email, then you are probably familiar with what phishing is. And while phishing is commonly executed through email and malicious links, there is a form of phishing that specifically targets mobile devices called SMSishing. This growing threat allows cybercriminals to utilize messaging apps to send unsuspecting users a SMSishing message. These messages serve one purpose – to obtain personal information, such as logins and financial information. With that information, cybercriminals could impersonate the user to access banking records or steal their identity.
While this threat was once a rarity, it’s rise in popularity is two-fold. The first aspect being that users have been educated to distrust email messages and the second being the rise in mobile phone usage throughout the world. Although this threat shows no sign of slowing down, there are ways to avoid a cybercriminal’s SMSishing hooks. Get started with these tips:
Public and free Wi-Fi is practically everywhere nowadays, with some destinations even having city-wide Wi-Fi set up. But that Wi-Fi users are connecting their mobile device to may not be the most secure, given cybercriminals can exploit weaknesses in these networks to intercept messages, login credentials, or other personal information. Beyond exploiting weaknesses, some cybercriminals take it a step further and create fake networks with generic names that trick unsuspecting users into connecting their devices. These networks are called “evil-twin” networks. For help in spotting these imposters, there are few tricks the savvy user can deploy to prevent an evil twin network from wreaking havoc on their mobile device:
Fake apps have become a rampant problem for Android and iPhone users alike. This is mainly in part due to malicious apps hiding in plain sight on legitimate sources, such as the Google Play Store and Apple’s App Store. After users download a faulty app, cybercriminals deploy malware that operates in the background of mobile devices which makes it difficult for users to realize anything is wrong. And while users think they’ve just downloaded another run-of-the-mill app, the malware is hard at work obtaining personal data.
In order to keep sensitive information out of the hands of cybercriminals, here are a few things users can look for when they need to determine whether an app is fact or fiction:
With so many types of malware out in the world, it’s hard to keep track of them all. But there is one in particular that mobile device users need to be keenly aware of called grayware. As a coverall term for software or code that sits between normal and malicious, grayware comes in many forms, such as adware, spyware or madware. While adware and spyware can sometimes operate simultaneously on infected computers, madware — or adware on mobile devices — infiltrates smartphones by hiding within rogue apps. Once a mobile device is infected with madware from a malicious app, ads can infiltrate almost every aspect on a user’s phone. Madware isn’t just annoying; it also is a security and privacy risk, as some threats will try to obtain users’ data. To avoid the annoyance, as well as the cybersecurity risks of grayware, users can prepare their devices with these cautionary steps:
The post Cybercrime’s Most Wanted: Four Mobile Threats that Might Surprise You appeared first on McAfee Blog.
Happy Cybersecurity Awareness Month!
Every October, the National Cybersecurity Alliance selects a theme around which to publish extensive awareness resources and practical tips to help you improve your cybersecurity.1 This year’s theme is “It’s easy to stay safe online.” With the number of cyberthreats and breaches dominating the headlines, it can seem like a Herculean task to cover all your bases; however, with just four easy habits, you can actually protect yourself against a large percentage of these threats!
Don’t be scared of hackers, phishers, or cybercriminals this month. Leave that to the ghosts, ghouls, and your upcoming holiday social calendar.
Multifactor authentication (MFA) is an excellent way to frustrate cybercriminals attempting to break into your online accounts. MFA means that you need more than a username and password to log in, such as a one-time code sent to by email, text, or through an authentication app or a face or fingerprint scan. This adds an extra layer of security, because a thief would have to have access to your device, your email, or be able to trick a biometric reader to get into your online account.
Most online sites offer the option to turn on MFA. While it may add an extra few seconds to the login process, it’s well worth it. Username and password combinations can be up for sale on the dark web following a breach. With these in hand, a cybercriminal could then help themselves to your online bank account, online medical records, and possibly your identity. When an account is secured with MFA, a criminal may quickly move on to another target that’s easier to crack.
Most sites won’t even let you proceed with creating an account if you don’t have a strong enough password. A strong password is one with a mix of capital and lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters. What also makes for an excellent password is one that’s unique. Reusing passwords can be just as risky as using “password123” or your pet’s name plus your birthday as a password. A reused password can put all your online accounts at risk, due to a practice called credential stuffing. Credential stuffing is a tactic where a cybercriminal attempts to input a stolen username and password combination in dozens of random websites and to see which doors it opens.
Remembering a different password for each of your online accounts is almost an impossible task. Luckily, password managers make it so you only have to remember one password ever again! Password managers, like the one available in McAfee+. safeguard all your passwords in one secure desktop extension or cellphone app that you can use anywhere. McAfee+ is secured with one of the most secure encryption algorithms available, and multifactor authentication is always standard.
It’s best to create passwords or passphrases that have a secret meaning that only you know. Stay away from using significant dates, names, or places, because those are easier to guess. You can also leave it up to your password manager to randomly generate a password for you. The resulting unintelligible jumble of numbers, letters, and symbols is virtually impossible for anyone to guess.
Software update notifications always seem ping on the outskirts of your desktop and mobile device at the most inconvenient times. What’s more inconvenient though is having your device hacked. Another easy tip to improve your cybersecurity is to update your device software whenever upgrades are available. Most software updates include security patches that smart teams have created to foil cybercriminals. The more outdated your apps or operating system is, the more time criminals have had to work out ways to infiltrate them.
Consider enabling automatic updates on all your devices. Many major updates occur in the early hours of the morning, meaning that you’ll never know your devices were offline. You’ll just wake up to new, secure software!
You’ve likely already experienced a phishing attempt, whether you were aware of it or not. Phishing is a common tactic used to eke personal details from unsuspecting or trusting people. Phishers often initiate contact through texts, emails, or social media direct messages, and they aim to get enough information to hack into your online accounts or to impersonate you.
Luckily, it’s usually easy to identify a phisher. Here are a few tell-tale signs for be on the lookout for:
Never engage with a phishing attempt. Do not forward the message or respond to them and never click on any links included in their message. The links could direct to malicious sites that could infect your device with malware or spyware.
Before you delete the message, block the sender, mark the message as junk, and report the phisher. Reporting can go a long way toward hopefully preventing the phisher from targeting someone else.
The best complement to your newfound excellent cyberhabits is a toolbelt of excellent services to patch any holes in your defense. McAfee+ includes all the services you need to boost your peace of mind about your online identity and privacy. You can surf public Wi-Fis safely with its secure VPN, protect your device with antivirus software, scan risky sites for your personally identifiable information, and more!
This October, make a commitment to improving your cybersecurity with the guidance of the National Cybersecurity Alliance and McAfee.
1National Cybersecurity Alliance, “Cybersecurity Awareness Month”
The post 4 Easy Things You Can Do Today to Improve Your Cybersecurity appeared first on McAfee Blog.
Social media has become a part of our everyday lives. Each day millions of people log on to Facebook, Twitter, and other social sites and engage with friends and family. We share our lives more freely and publicly than ever before, and connect with people around the world more easily than our ancestors could have dreamed of.
While many beautiful things come from sharing online, most of us have experienced discord with other internet users while being social online. In some cases, exchanges can become hostile, with the aggrieved party becoming threatening or malicious. Doxxers also target popular online influencers, movie and tv stars, or anyone they don’t agree with, as a way to seek revenge, bully, shame, or intimidate them.
One way someone may attempt to retaliate is to release sensitive personal private information about the person to the broader internet. This kind of online harassment is known as “doxxing.”
This article explains what doxxing is and how to prevent it from happening to you.
Doxxing (or “doxing”) is the practice of revealing another individual’s personal information (home address, full name, phone number, place of work, and more) in an online public space without the person’s consent.
The term “doxxing” comes from the hacker world and references the act of “dropping dox” (as in “docs”) with malicious intent to the victim. The severity of the personal data leak may also go beyond phone numbers and addresses to include releasing private photos, Social Security numbers (SSNs), financial details, personal texts, and other more invasive attacks.
One of the first incidents of doxxing took place back in the late 1990s when users of the online forum Usenet circulated a list of suspected neo-Nazis. The list included the suspected individuals’ email accounts, phone numbers, and addresses.
In 2021, rapper Kanye West famously doxxed Drake when he tweeted the star’s home address.
While doxxing can hurt people, it’s not necessarily a crime. In some cases, a doxxer finds publicly available information and shares it broadly. Since the data is public record, it’s not illegal to share it. A doxxer might invite others to visit the home or workplace of their target rather than taking a specific action.
That said, it is illegal to hack a device or computer without permission from the owner — even if the information collected is never used. The legality of doxxing must be taken on a case-by-case basis, and law enforcement must build its case based on existing applicable laws.
For example, if the doxxer attempted to apply for a credit card using your private data, they could be prosecuted for fraud or identity theft.
You can follow a few critical practices to help protect yourself from doxxing. Start by limiting what you share online, using strong passwords, and taking advantage of secure technologies like virtual private networks (VPNs).
Limiting the amount of personal information you share online is one of the best ways to protect yourself from doxxing. Avoid oversharing personal details of your life (like your child’s name, pet’s name, or place of work) and maintain the highest possible privacy settings for any social media app or website.
You should also take caution when tagging friends, locations, and photos, as this may give doxxers more access to your data. Check out our Ultimate Guide to Safely Sharing Online to learn more.
Data brokers are companies that mine the internet and public records for financial and credit reports, social media accounts, and more. They then sell that data to advertisers, companies, or even individuals who may use it to doxx somebody.
You might be surprised to see the amount of sensitive information available to anyone who wants it with an online search. Data brokers often have contact information, including real names, current and former addresses, birth dates, phone numbers, social media profiles, political affiliations, and other information that most consider private.
While you can remove your private information from many data broker sites, they tend to make the process tedious and frustrating. McAfee® Personal Data Cleanup makes the process much easier. All you have to do is enter your name, date of birth, and home address, and we’ll scan it across high-risk data broker sites. We’ll then help you remove it.
Having strong passwords can make you less vulnerable to hackers and doxxers. Keep yourself more secure by following a few simple rules.
Make password management much easier by using a password manager and generator tool like True Key from McAfee. True Key uses the strongest encryption available to decrypt your existing passwords and can help generate new strong passwords.
When browsing on public Wi-Fi networks like those at airports and coffee shops, your data is at greater risk of being compromised by cybercriminals who may lift sensitive information for personal gain.
A virtual private network (VPN) service (like the one found in McAfee+) gives you an additional layer of protection by hiding your IP address and browsing activities when you’re on an unsecured network.
Scammers, doxxers, and hackers work hard to get personal information every day. With McAfee Total Protection, you can use the internet with confidence knowing you have the support of award-winning antivirus software to keep you and your family members safe online.
Get real-time threat protection through malware detection, quarantine, and removal, and schedule real-time or on-demand file and application scanning. You’ll also benefit from an advanced firewall for home network security.
We all increasingly rely on the internet to manage our lives. As a result, it’s important to address the risks that come with the rewards.
Comprehensive cybersecurity tools like those that come with McAfee+ can help you avoid scams, doxxing attacks, identity theft, phishing, and malware. We can also help keep your sensitive information off the dark web with our Personal Data Cleanup.
With McAfee’s experts on your side, you can enjoy everything the web offers with the confidence of total protection.
The post What is Doxxing? appeared first on McAfee Blog.
Internet security is a broad term that refers to a wide range of tactics that aim to protect activities conducted over the internet. Implementing internet security measures helps protect users from different online threats like types of malware, phishing attacks, scams, and even unauthorized access by hackers.
In this article, we highlight the importance of internet security in safeguarding your computer network and outline what you can do to have a comprehensive computer security system in place.
As the internet expands and becomes an even bigger part of our lives, cyberthreats continue to grow both in scope and sophistication. According to Forbes, data breaches and cyberattacks saw an increase of 15.1% in 2021 compared to the previous year. These security threats come in different forms and vary in terms of complexity and detectability.
Some common online threats people face today include:
While these internet security threats may seem overwhelming at first glance, safeguarding your computer or mobile devices from them is relatively easy. Below is a detailed look at some security solutions available to you.
As we stated above, setting up an internet security system is a relatively straightforward process. Here are some basic network security measures you can implement right away.
The first step in making sure you have internet security is installing antivirus software. These programs are designed to prevent, search for, detect, and get rid of viruses and other types of malicious software.
Antivirus software can run automatic scans to make sure no network or data breach has occurred and scan specific files or directories for any malicious activity or patterns.
There are plenty of options to choose from when it comes to antivirus software, however, few programs offer the comprehensive level of protection the antivirus software included in McAfee® Total Protection provides to its users.
McAfee’s antivirus software comes with a wide selection of features, including malware detection, quarantine, and removal, different options for scanning files and applications, and an advanced firewall for home network security.
While this may sound obvious, it’s important to create strong and unique passwords for all your online accounts and devices. A significant percentage of data breaches occur as a result of simple password guessing.
Some tips to follow when creating a password include:
It can also be a good idea to use a password manager, as this will help reduce the risk of your passwords getting leaked or lost. McAfee’s password manager, is particularly convenient thanks to its advanced encryption and multi-factor authentication.
A firewall is a network security system built into your operating system. It monitors incoming and outgoing network traffic to prevent unauthorized access to your network. For it to be able to identify and block these threats, you’ll want to make sure your firewall is enabled on your device. If you’re unsure if your device comes with a firewall, you can benefit from one included in McAfee Total Protection.
Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is an authentication method that requires at least two pieces of evidence before granting access to an app or website. Using this method as much as possible can add another layer of security to your applications and reduce the likelihood of a data breach.
Your choice of browser is an important part of implementing internet security measures. In fact, web browsers vary widely in terms of the security features that they offer, with some offering just the basics and others providing a more complete range of features. Ideally, you should opt for a web browser that offers the following security features:
As children grow older, their internet use becomes more extensive. This can also increase their exposure to various security threats. To keep them safe online, educate them about the risks associated with web browsing and introduce them to some of the best practices for avoiding online threats like not sharing passwords.
Explain which information should be shared and which information should be kept private and instruct them to never click on links from unknown sources.
You should also take a more active approach to protect your children by setting parental controls on certain websites. For instance, you can use YouTube’s parental controls to filter any inappropriate content and keep a child-friendly interface.
The following tips can help you stay on the safe side in regard to internet security.
While malware attacks are common, their prevalence shouldn’t deter you from browsing the internet as usual. Adhering to the internet security best practices outlined in this article can help keep you safe from the majority of security threats that you might encounter online.
For added security, consider using an all-in-one antivirus solution like McAfee+. This is one of the most effective ways to safeguard your devices from online threats.
Let McAfee handle your security while you focus on enjoying the web.
The post What Is Internet Security? appeared first on McAfee Blog.
The internet has changed our lives in more ways than we can count. These days, anything we desire — whether it’s knowledge, career opportunities, or consumer products — is seemingly just a few clicks away from us.
And while it’s safe to say the impact of the internet has been an overall net positive, it’s also worth mentioning that its widespread adoption has introduced a number of new challenges we haven’t had to tackle before. Chiefly among them is the need to safeguard our personal data from the prying eyes of uninvited strangers.
These external threats on our data come in the form of malicious software, such as Trojan horses. Trojans are a type of malware that relies on social engineering to infect the device of an unsuspecting target. They get their name from the story of Odysseus when he hid his Greek soldiers inside a wooden horse to get inside the city of Troy.
Basically, Trojans infiltrate computer systems by masquerading as legitimate programs that are unwittingly downloaded and installed by the users. Hackers often use trojans to steal sensitive data such as medical, personal, or financial information. They are one of the most common types of malicious programs and can pose a threat to computer systems if left undetected.
In this article, we go over how to detect a Trojan infection and discuss some of the most effective ways to check for a Trojan on a Windows PC.
Like any computer virus infection, a system that’s infected with a Trojan horse can display a wide range of symptoms. Here are the main signs you should look out for.
Now that you’re familiar with some of the common symptoms of a Trojan infection, let’s delve into how you can check for it on your PC.
The first step you should consider is scanning your PC using an antivirus program. These anti-malware programs are an integral component of cybersecurity and should be the first thing you turn to when you’re trying to detect and remove Trojans.
There are plenty of malware scan options to choose from, with antivirus software included in McAfee® Total Protection being one of the most comprehensive and functional security software you can use.
It offers real-time protection from all types of malicious software threats, including viruses, rootkits, spyware, adware, ransomware, backdoors, and, last but not least, Trojans. McAfee virus protection comes with several valuable features, such as on-demand and scheduled scanning of files and apps, an advanced firewall for home network security, and compatibility with Windows, MacOS, Android, and iOS devices.
The next option you should explore is to search for Trojans in “safe mode.” This is an effective method of Trojan detection since safe mode only runs the basic programs needed for Microsoft Windows operation, making it easy to spot any unfamiliar or suspicious programs.
Here’s how you can search for Trojans in safe mode:
A simple yet effective way to detect unfamiliar applications or suspicious activity in your system is to check the processes in Windows Task Manager. This will allow you to see if there are any unauthorized malicious programs running in the background.
To check a list of all the active processes that are currently running on your PC, press Ctrl+Alt+Del and click on the “Processes” tab. Check the list of active applications and disable the process of apps without verified publishers or ones you don’t remember downloading and installing.
Another method you can try is to scan your PC using built-in Windows virus and threat protection tools. Microsoft Defender (called Windows Defender Security Center in older versions of Windows 10) can perform virus scans and detect various types of malware.
A dedicated antivirus software like McAfee virus protection can also detect and remove malware. Our program comes with a full range of features that are specifically designed to recognize and remove all forms of threats from your system.
Computer security shouldn’t be something you lose sleep over. As long as you’re using a complete virus protection tool like McAfee antivirus software, you can enjoy a stress-free browsing experience.
McAfee virus protection software is especially effective when it comes to scanning for Trojans and other types of malware and removing them before they can cause any damage to your computer system. With real-time, on-demand, and scheduled scanning of files and applications at your disposal, we’ll help you detect any emerging threat in a timely manner.
See how McAfee Total Protection can make your digital life that much more rewarding and check out our Personal Data Cleanup service, which regularly scans some of the riskiest data broker sites to help remove your personal information from the net and protect your identity from theft.
The post Best Ways to Check for a Trojan on Your PC appeared first on McAfee Blog.
A virtual private network (VPN) is a tool that enables users to protect their privacy while using an internet connection. VPNs create an encrypted tunnel — a private link between your device and the VPN server.
Essentially, this private link or tunnel keeps external influences out and allows your data to travel in an encrypted manner, enhancing security. The network’s privacy also makes sure your Internet Protocol (IP) address and browsing history is hidden online.
[Text Wrapping Break]VPNs use several VPN protocols like OpenVPN, IPSec/IKEv2, PPTP, SSTP, and WireGuard to protect you. In particular, McAfee® Safe Connect VPN supports the OpenVPN protocol, which is an open-source and highly secure protocol running on TCP or UDP internet protocol and used by many VPN providers globally. [Text Wrapping Break][Text Wrapping Break]Read on to know more about how VPNs work and learn to install one.
The best way to stay secure online is to minimize your digital footprint. A good VPN service allows you to do exactly this, acting as an additional layer of protection for your online activities.
The primary function of a VPN is encryption. Most websites and online browsers already have some form of encryption. For example, when you purchase something on Amazon, you have to enter your credit card details and address. Encryption creates a private tunnel for data transmission between your device and Amazon to make sure no one else can watch what you’re doing.
A VPN app does the same thing with an added level of security. The data that you pass to a VPN server is anonymized before it goes to the internet. In short, your device establishes an encrypted connection with the VPN server instead of connecting directly through the internet. So, the encryption protects your data and digital footprint from anyone outside the “private tunnel” between you and the secure VPN server.
Additionally, VPNs allow you to change or hide your IP address. An IP address is a number linked to a particular computer and network. Changing your IP address can trick the servers into thinking you’re connecting from a different geographical location. This can help improve security and provide additional benefits discussed below.
You can also use a VPN to hide your IP address. This may be helpful if you’re trying to access content from other countries (for example, Netflix may have different content in different countries) or trying to keep your internet search history away from the prying eyes of a third-party like your internet service provider or a government.
Using a VPN can help improve your online security. Nearly every internet activity — website and social media browsing, paying bills, online shopping, data sharing, and more — can be tracked by others. [Text Wrapping Break][Text Wrapping Break]Read on to learn about who typically uses a VPN and understand whether you should consider installing one.
Given the extra security that VPN connections provide, you can gain something from using a VPN client. So, if you’re an individual concerned about your online privacy or just want to browse online anonymously — consider using a VPN. A VPN enables you to use the internet without third parties seeing your identity or identifying you via your search history since they don’t know what you were searching about or using the internet for.
Big tech has had a long history of tracking private data for their gains. These companies regularly bundle data into coherent profiles and sell it to third parties. Additionally, they use private data to demonstrate targeted advertisements or manipulative content that makes you more likely to purchase their products. [Text Wrapping Break][Text Wrapping Break]So, it’s worthwhile to use a VPN if you regularly shop online or bank online. A VPN gives you that additional protection that can help prevent hackers or malicious third parties from accessing your information.[Text Wrapping Break][Text Wrapping Break]VPNs are excellent mechanisms for you to protect your privacy online. And you should consider your personal context and conduct thorough research to find the best VPN for your needs.
VPNs are particularly helpful if you travel a lot, either for business or for leisure. While traveling, it’s inevitable that you connect to random or unknown Wifi networks and it may be the case that these networks are spying on you. However, if you’re using a VPN to browse the web, these WiFi networks can’t track you or your search history. This ensures you maintain anonymity and are safe while using the internet.
Yes, an additional layer of protection to your online activities is always good practice. A VPN allows individuals using a personal computer to stay vigilant, protect their data, and maintain anonymity while allowing them to still enjoy their online experience.
VPNs provide more benefits than just serving as an additional layer for cybercriminals to pass through.
Depending on the VPN you’re using, it can be a straightforward process to connect a VPN to your Mac, Windows, iPhone, or Android mobile device. McAfee’s VPN works with multiple platforms and operating systems, including Microsoft Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS.
Use this guide to quickly set up a VPN with your device in a few simple steps.
With McAfee +, you can minimize your digital footprint through a secure connection channel without compromising your browsing experience. Connect to public networks, make financial transactions online, and keep your personal data safe with McAfee.
With our bank-grade AES-256 bit encryption technology and automatic protection, McAfee VPN protection can help safeguard all your online activities — allowing you to enjoy the internet the way it was meant to be enjoyed.
Explore our full suite of cybersecurity tools included in McAfee +, including our newest service, Personal Data Cleanup. We can help find and remove your personal data on some of the riskiest data broker sites.
The post What’s the Meaning of VPN? VPN Defined appeared first on McAfee Blog.
Malicious software, or “malware,” refers to any program designed to infect and disrupt computer systems and networks. The risks associated with a malware infection can range from poor device performance to stolen data.
However, thanks to their closed ecosystem, built-in security features, and strict policies on third-party apps, Apple devices tend to be less prone to malware infections compared to their Android counterparts. But it’s important to note that they’re not completely without vulnerabilities.
Several iPhone viruses could infect your smartphone and affect its functionality, especially if you jailbreak your iPhone (that is, opening your iOS to wider features, apps, and themes).
This article covers how you can detect malware infections and how to remove viruses from your device so you can get back to enjoying the digital world.
Malware can affect your iPhone in a variety of ways. Here are a few telltale signs that your iPhone might have an unwelcome visitor.
If you notice any of the signs above, it’s a good idea to check for malware. Here are some steps you can take.
If you’ve confirmed malware on your iPhone, don’t worry. There’s still time to protect yourself and your data. Below is an action plan you can follow to remove malware from your device.
In many cases, hackers exploit outdated versions of iOS to launch malware attacks. If you don’t have the latest version of your operating system, it’s a good idea to update iOS to close this potential vulnerability. Just follow these steps:
It might sound simple, but restarting your device can fix certain issues. The system will restart on its own when updating the iOS. If you already have the latest version, restart your iPhone now.
If updating the iOS and restarting your device didn’t fix the issue, try clearing your phone’s browsing history and data. If you’re using Safari, follow these steps:
Keep in mind that the process is similar for Google Chrome and most other popular web browsers.
Malicious software, such as spyware and ransomware, often end up on phones by masquerading as legitimate apps. To err on the side of caution, delete any apps that you don’t remember downloading or installing.
The option to restore to a previous backup is one of the most valuable features found on the iPhone and iPad. Essentially, this allows you to restore your device to an iCloud backup made before the malware infection.
Here’s how:
If none of the steps above solves the problem, a factory reset might be the next order of business. Restoring your phone to factory settings will reset it to its out-of-factory configuration, deleting all of your apps, content, and settings in the process and replacing them with original software only.
To factory reset your iPhone, follow these steps:
The best way to protect your iOS device is to avoid malware in the first place. Follow these security measures to safeguard your device:
If you have an iPhone and are like most other people, you probably use your device for almost everything you do online. And while it’s amazing to have the internet in the palm of your hands, it’s also important to be aware of online threats like malware, which can put your digital life at risk.
The good news is that McAfee has your back with our award-winning and full-scale mobile security app. McAfee Mobile Security provides full protection against various types of malware targeting the Apple ecosystem. With safe browsing features, a secure VPN, and antivirus software, McAfee Security for iOS delivers protection against emerging threats, so you can continue to use your iPhone with peace of mind.
Download the McAfee Security app today and get all-in-one protection.
The post A Guide to Remove Malware From Your iPhone appeared first on McAfee Blog.
A data broker (also known as an information product company) is an organization that makes money by collecting your personal information, analyzing it, and licensing it out to be used by other companies for things like marketing purposes.
Data providers gather data from many different sources to create a profile of who you are. This profile includes things like your interests, hobbies, demographics, and even the products you use.
Generally, data broker companies only deal with customers to collect information. A few of the top data brokerage companies are Epsilon, Acxiom, and Experian, but there are many data brokerages worldwide that make a hefty profit from aggregating and distributing consumers’ personal data.
This article explains everything you need to know about data brokers, including what they do, how they get your information, and what you can do to limit the data they can access from you.
There are several ways information brokers can get your information — both online and offline.
Generally, it’s legal for data brokers to get your information through public sources. However, different locations have different protections in place for consumers and different rules for how data brokers must operate.
Many countries have laws to protect consumers from having their information shared without their consent. For example, the European Union has the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) to protect data privacy. The GDPR says data brokers need to get consent from consumers before sharing their information. The law also gives consumers the right to demand that companies delete any personal information that they have stored.
On the other hand, the United States doesn’t have federal privacy laws protecting consumer information from data brokers. It’s up to the states to make their own laws. Some states prioritize consumer privacy more than others. For example, California has the Consumer Privacy Act, which gives customers the right to see what data a broker company has and the ability to delete it.
Typically, companies ask for consent to share your information through the fine print of their agreements. You might not be aware of how much of your personal information you’ve allowed organizations to share.
Data brokering is a huge industry. In fact, data brokers around the world bring in hundreds of billions of dollars a year. Here are some of the largest data brokerage companies that may collect your information.
By using various sources, data brokers can aggregate a lot of information about you. This information can be used to create user categories that businesses can market to. For instance, if you visit websites that sell baby products, the broker might put you into a category like “new parents.”
Some of the information that brokers collect might be things you’d like to keep private. For example, a broker might collect sensitive data about health issues, past bankruptcies, or legal issues.
Sometimes, brokers may place you in the wrong category. Let’s say you’re buying a new cookware set as a birthday gift for your mother. You check out several cooking sites before purchasing your set. If the broker sees that you’ve visited cooking sites and purchased cooking products, they may place you in a category like “cooking enthusiasts” even though you brought the gift for your mother.
Here are some personal details that a broker can collect to create a consumer profile of you:
Businesses are always looking for useful consumer information. Purchasing consumer data from brokers helps them tailor marketing campaigns to the demographics that are most likely to buy their products.
Let’s say you’re a fan of virtual reality (VR) gaming. You’ve watched countless YouTube videos about the subject, and you’ve searched Amazon for VR headsets multiple times. You’d likely be an ideal consumer for a company that manufactures VR headsets or a company that creates VR games.
Other companies might use your data for risk mitigation. For example, a bank might use your personal financial history to determine whether you’re likely to default on a mortgage loan.
There are a variety of public records and sources that data brokers can use to gather information about you. The good news is that there are some things you can do to limit the amount of personal information they can access:
There are also a few organizations you can join to protect your information:
Data brokers are always looking for ways to get their hands on your personal information. Many reasons businesses want access to your personal data aren’t malicious. They simply want to provide you with a targeted advertising experience and introduce you to products you might like.
However, the more your personal information gets shared online, the more chances cybercriminals have to get their hands on it. There might also be some sensitive information you don’t want to share with businesses in general. If you’re careful about what you post and take steps to protect your cybersecurity, you’ll greatly reduce the amount of data that a broker can collect from you.
With McAfee’s Total Protection services, you can get a secure online experience for your whole family. Our all-in-one protection suite comes with features like a secure VPN, premium antivirus software, identity monitoring, and up to $1 million in identity insurance and restoration.
McAfee can help you safeguard data like financial records and health care information so you can have less stress online. You’re meant to enjoy the internet — and we’re here to help make that a reality.
The post What Is a Data Broker? appeared first on McAfee Blog.
How do hackers hack phones? Several ways. Just as there are several ways you can prevent it from happening to you.
The thing is that our phones are like little treasure chests. They’re loaded with plenty of personal data, and we use them to shop, bank, and take care of other personal and financial matters—all of which are of high value to identity thieves.
However, you can protect yourself and your phone by knowing what to look out for and by taking a few simple steps. Let’s break it down by first taking a look at some of the more common attacks.
Whether hackers sneak it onto your phone by physically accessing your phone or by tricking you into installing it via a phony app, a sketchy website, or a phishing attack, hacking software can create problems for you in a couple of ways:
Some possible signs of hacking software on your phone include:
In all, hacking software can eat up system resources, create conflicts with other apps, and use your data or internet connection to pass along your personal information into the hands of hackers—all of which can lead to some of the symptoms listed above.
These are a classic form of attack. In fact, hackers have leveled them at our computers for years now too. Phishing is where hackers impersonate a company or trusted individual to get access to your accounts or personal info or both. And these attacks take many forms, like emails, texts, instant messages, and so forth, some of which can look really legitimate. Common to them are links to bogus sites that attempt to trick you into handing over that info or that install malware to wreak havoc on your device or likewise steal information. Learning how to spot a phishing attack is one way to keep yourself from falling victim to one.
Professional hackers can use dedicated technologies that search for vulnerable mobile devices with an open Bluetooth connection. Hackers can pull off these attacks when they are range of your phone, up to 30 feet away, usually in a populated area. When hackers make a Bluetooth connection to your phone, they can possibly access your data and info, yet that data and info must be downloaded while the phone is within range. As you probably gathered, this is a more sophisticated attack given the effort and technology involved.
In August of 2019, the CEO of Twitter had his SIM card hacked by SIM card swapping scam. SIM card swapping occurs when a hacker contacts your phone provider, pretends to be you, and then asks for a replacement SIM card. Once the provider sends the new SIM to the hacker, the old SIM card will be deactivated, and your phone number will be effectively stolen. This means the hacker has taken control of your phone calls, messages, and so forth. This method of hacking requires the seemingly not-so-easy task of impersonating someone else, yet clearly, it happened to the CEO of a major tech company. Protecting your personal info and identity online can help prevent hackers from impersonating you to pull off this and other crimes.
While there are several ways a hacker can get into your phone and steal personal and critical information, here are a few tips to keep that from happening:
The post How Do Hackers Hack Phones and How Can I Prevent It? appeared first on McAfee Blog.
When it comes to passwords, most of us would love nothing more than to set it and forget it. But that’s exactly what hackers are hoping for — in fact, it makes their job a lot easier. This means the best line of defense is frequent password changes.
But how often should you create new passwords? Cybersecurity experts recommend changing your password every three months. There may even be situations where you should change your password immediately, especially if a cybercriminal has access to your account.
This article explores those exact situations and covers some of the best password practices you can use to help safeguard these important combinations of letters and numbers.
There are some situations where you’ll want to change your password immediately.
If you think someone has hacked your account, it’s important to act fast and change your password. Did everyone in your address book get a strange email that looks like it’s from you? Change your email password. Are your Facebook friends getting a new friend request from you? Something’s not right, so you’ll want to change your password.
This can help limit the amount of time a cybercriminal has access to your account.
If there’s a password breach at work or within a company you do business with, you’ll want to change the password for any affected accounts. If you use that password for any other websites, you’ll definitely want to change your password to those accounts. If hackers get access to your password, they may try it on multiple websites to see what else they can steal.
As much as possible, try to avoid logging into your secure accounts on public Wi-Fi, such as at a library or cafe. Generally, an unsecure network means your online activity is public. If you need to use an unsecure network, change your password once you’re on a secure network.
It can also be a good idea to look into a smart VPN like McAfee Secure VPN, which automatically turns on to protect your personal data and credit card information even if you need to use public Wi-Fi.
Your personal information could be at risk if malware infects your computer. If you have quality antivirus software (like what’s included in McAfee Total Protection) and it detects malware, you’ll want to change your passwords from another device.
If you no longer have contact with someone, there’s no need for them to remain on your Netflix or Amazon account. There’s also no need for an ex to share a bank account or have mobile app access. Create new passwords when you’re no longer sharing an account with someone.
You may have an account you haven’t used in a year, such as from an online retailer. Change old passwords for seldom-used accounts and close the account if you don’t intend to use it again.
A good password can make it more difficult for hackers to access your accounts. But what exactly makes a strong password? Here are a few criteria.
A cybercriminal may use a variety of strategies to access your passwords. Here are some of their most common tactics.
When it comes to keeping your data secure, password complexity is just the beginning. Here are a few additional tips for keeping your passwords safe.
Review the passwords for all of your accounts. Make sure you’re not using any for multiple websites. See if your passwords are guessable. Do they include personal information like birthdays or addresses? If you find passwords that are weak or repeated, change those first.
Set up multi-factor authentication for important accounts, such as with financial institutions. Logging into a website with two-factor authentication requires you to enter a code sent by text or email in addition to a username and password.
Some accounts require multi-factor authentication with biometric factors for added security, such as a thumbprint or face scan. Using multi-factor authentication with long, complicated passwords can make an account more secure.
A password manager like McAfee True Key can help prevent unauthorized access to your online accounts by protecting your passwords with strong encryption. It also comes with a password generator to help you create complex passwords while storing them safely.
If you have old or weak passwords or use them on multiple sites, a password manager can generate new ones. It’ll then keep track of them and sign you in to apps and websites — with you only having to remember one master password.
Let McAfee True Key help you defend your personal data. The password management software makes dealing with passwords secure and easy.
McAfee True Key stores your passwords on your device using the strongest encryption available. Once you use a master password to log into True Key, it’ll auto-fill your passwords for any apps or websites you visit. For added convenience, True Key securely syncs your information across all of your devices so you can access it wherever you need it.
While McAfee manages your secure passwords, you can continue enjoying the internet the way it was intended — free from hackers.
The post How Often Should You Change Your Passwords? appeared first on McAfee Blog.
Password protection is one of the most common security protocols available. By creating a unique password, you are both proving your identity and keeping your personal information safer. However, when every account you have requires a separate password, it can be an overwhelming task. While you should be concerned about the safety of your data, you also want to avoid the frustration of forgetting your password and being blocked from the information you need. However, the benefits of using strong, unique passwords outweigh the occasional inconvenience.
The main benefit of a strong password is security. Hackers work quickly when they are trying to access accounts. They want to steal as much information as they can in as short a time as possible. This makes an account with a strong password less inviting because cracking the code is much more involved.
A strong password also limits the damage that hackers can do to your personal accounts. A common strategy involves cracking the passwords of less secure sites with limited personal information. The hackers hope that they can use the password from your gym membership app to access information in your online banking account. Strong password protection prevents this situation.
When someone is registering an online account, it can be tempting to blaze through the password process. In order to move quickly, there are several poor password practices that people employ.
A password is considered strong when it is difficult for a hacker to crack it quickly. Sophisticated algorithms can run through many password combinations in a short time. A password that is long, complex and unique will discourage attempts to break into your accounts.
If you want a password that is memorable but strong, you can easily turn a phrase into a layered, complex password. In this process, it is important to note that you should not use personal information that is available online as part of your phrase.
Now, you have a password that you can remember while challenging the algorithms hackers use.
When you consider the number of accounts you need to protect, coming up with a properly layered password is a time-consuming task. Even if you are able to decide on a memorable phrase, there are just too many accounts that need passwords. A password manager is a helpful tool to keep you safe while you are online. It acts as a database for all of your passwords. Each time you create a new code, it stores it so that you can automatically enter it later. You only need to remember a single password to access the tools of your manager.
Most managers can also do the work of creating complex, layered passwords for your accounts. These will be a string of random numbers, letters and characters. They will not be memorable, but you are relying on the manager to do the memorizing. These machine-generated passwords are especially helpful for accounts you rarely access or that do not hold significant information.
For critical accounts like your bank account or a work-related account, it can be helpful to keep an offline list of your passwords. Complex passwords are meant to be difficult to remember. You may recall the phrase but not all the detailed changes that make it layered. Keeping a document on a zip drive or even in a physical paper file or journal will allow you to access your information if your hardware fails or you are switching to a new system.
Cracking passwords is just one of the strategies hackers use to steal information. In addition to using strong passwords, it is important to employ comprehensive security software. Strong passwords will help protect your online accounts. Strong overall security will keep your hardware and network safe from danger.
The post Strong Password Ideas to Keep Your Information Safe appeared first on McAfee Blog.
Self-awareness goes a long way in determining your next professional steps. While job searching, it’s critical to identify how to leverage your transferable skills and network, while also evaluating what environmental factors of work and work culture matter to you most. Learn what it’s like to work at Cisco and the top 10 ways to suss out a workplace that suits your needs from leaders at Cisco Secure, Cisco Talos and Duo Security.
First things first. Emily Reid, the newly appointed director of employee experience at Cisco Secure who came from Duo Security, advises, “Do your own research to see how the company and their employees describe the culture publicly — on the company’s website and through other sites, articles and resources. For tech companies specifically I always think, “What else do you have beyond the ping-pong table?”’
The interview process is the next key opportunity to find out what culture is like beyond amenities. To gain multiple perspectives, Reid recommends asking about company culture in every interview you have.
The question at the top of Reid’s list: Do you have programs and resources to support the development and success of your employees? “I want to know how a company will be investing in my career growth and if I will feel welcome and included as part of the team. Seeing what a company chooses to center and highlight when describing their culture is usually very telling,” she said.
Interning at a company is another way to get firsthand knowledge and can lead to full-time employment. “several former interns are now people leaders managing their own teams — and their own interns — coming full circle,” Reid said.
Knowing that there is safety and support in bringing your whole self to work is vital. What policies, programs and initiatives are in place that demonstrate an organization’s commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging?
Cisco’s ongoing commitments to social justice and pay parity include twelve action steps as part of Cisco’s Social Justice Blueprint. Cultivating a conscious culture includes on-going dialogue, programs and events meant to increase equality. Employee Resource Organizations and mentorship programs provide more opportunities to build community and share knowledge, resources and advocacy.
What environment allows you to do your best work? Also consider what perks and processes an employer offers to enhance flexibility and adaptability. During the pandemic, Duo and Cisco transitioned all global events, training and professional development workshops to fully virtual. As in person options resumed following the pandemic, all events are designed to ensure an inclusive experience no matter where you’re joining from.
“We don’t want to go back to a world where people not based in an office feel like they are getting a lesser experience,” Reid said.
Considering how to make programs and information accessible to employees regardless of where they work is also important to Sammi Seaman, team lead of employee experience at Cisco Talos. She’s currently spearheading a new hire program that is “more inclusive of folks whether they’re office based, remote or somewhere across the world.”
It’s essential to consider how you want your life and work to intersect, particularly as hybrid work becomes more popular. How important is paid time off, flexible work options or a consistent structure?
Cisco Secure offers “Days for Me,” days off for employees to decompress and do something to fill their cups. Monthly “Focus Days” are days without meetings, so employees can prioritize the projects that need attention.
Curran recalls one candidate who, despite multiple offers from competitors, chose Cisco Secure because of the flexible work environment: “This person has a young child and felt that the “Days for Me” and flexibility to work from home in a hybrid situation would work best for his career long-term.”
As Reid’s team helps lead the transition to hybrid work, the book Out of Office: The Big Problem and Bigger Promise of Working From Home by Charlie Warzel and Anne Helen Petersen has been inspiring. The book “does an amazing job of sharing a vision for an inclusive future that empowers employees to be successful and have a ‘work/life balance’ that truly works,” Reid said.
Currently Cisco Secure offers a hybrid model while many employees still work remotely. In terms of maintaining accessibility through this transition, Marketing Specialist Julie Kramer advocated for more accessibility and saw changes at Cisco as a result.
“Webex pre-COVID didn’t have any closed captioning. So, another deaf person and I reached out and closed captioning and the transcript option got added,” Kramer shared.
Kramer prefers to have high-quality and frequently the same interpreters who “know the terminology for my job, marketing and technology. In business, the security and marketing industry can really talk fast, so you need a high-quality interpreter that can keep up and one that is qualified and certified,” she said.
Consider what pace of your specific role and within an industry is needed for you to feel engaged without overwhelmed. While different roles within the same organization and industry may run at different paces, it’s important to tune into what might be expected on your potential new team.
Seaman finds that the fast pace of cybersecurity can be “delightful and challenging. There’s a lot of fast-paced pivoting that happens, which makes for an interesting workplace because two days are never the same,” she said.
Do you prefer a hierarchical structure, or one that is more flat? Are you most effective and fulfilled riding solo, or while consistently connecting with coworkers? Does contributing your ideas make you feel empowered?
At Cisco Secure, there is space to join conversations. “No matter where you sit in the company, you have a voice and can speak up and collaborate and self-organize on a project. It feels like a bunch of really hard working, humble, smart people who are trying to solve problems together,” said Manager of Duo’s Global Knowledge and Communities Team Kelly Davenport.
To enhance communication and knowledge among distributed teams, Seaman started a dialogue series called “The More You Know.” Questions include: What do you do? How do you do it? How can that help other parts of Cisco Talos? The conversations lead to future collaboration and resource sharing.
Do you want to grow professionally and increase your skills and knowledge? A culture of teaching and learning within an organization can help hone and expand your skills and connections.
Lead of Strategic Business Intelligence Ashlee Benge finds the security world “very dynamic. You really can never stop learning. Within Cisco Talos, the people around me are such smart, dedicated people that there’s really a lot that you can gain from just being involved in the group as a whole.”
For Seaman, who didn’t come from a technical background, Cisco Talos offered opportunities to expand her technical knowledge, including from colleagues. “Coming into Cisco Talos, people are like, “Here, let me teach you. You can totally do this. Just because you didn’t know how to do it doesn’t mean you can’t learn. Let’s go,” Seaman shared. Seaman’s colleagues have also learned from her expertise in information and knowledge management given her background as a librarian.
More formally, the Learning and Development team recently launched a comprehensive talent development program with enablement resources and support for people leaders. Aspects include: “really thoughtful templates for employees to use with their manager to talk through career goals, development areas, and to define an actionable investment plan. These resources are fueling great career conversations, strong alignment, and thoughtful development plans,” Reid said.
Do you want to refine your skills within your wheelhouse? Or are you driven to try new tasks and potentially change roles within your next organization?
Benge, whose background is in computational astrophysics, has found her interests shift from technical security research to business strategy and data science. At Cisco Talos, she’s been involved in everything from detection research and threat hunting, to community outreach, conference talks and traveling to support sales engagements. Currently, she’s helping to lead threat hunting in Ukraine.
“My leaders have always made it very clear that if there’s an interest, it’s okay to pursue it and it doesn’t have to necessarily be within the scope of my role. Having that freedom to pursue interests within the industry has been really engaging,” Benge said.
In addition to company values and mission statements, leaders and employees contribute to an organization’s culture every day. If you want to enhance your company’s culture, participate.
“Feedback on what employees want to see is crucial,” Reid said. “The easiest way to contribute to developing culture and a positive employee experience in your workplace is to add to what’s already happening! Culture takes participation and ownership from all employees.”
Reid shared that in performance reviews at Cisco, “‘Team Impact” is equally as important as “Results.” Contributing positively to company culture should contribute to performance reviews and promotion justification,” she said.
To learn more about Cisco’s company culture and how you can contribute to it, check out our open roles.
We’d love to hear what you think. Ask a Question, Comment Below, and Stay Connected with Cisco Secure on social!
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Data brokers are companies that collect your information from a variety of sources to sell or license it out to other businesses. Before they can pass your data along, brokers analyze it to put you into specific consumer profiles. Consumer profiles help businesses suggest products you might like and create targeted marketing campaigns based on your interests.
Companies who buy data from brokers use it for things like marketing or risk mitigation. For example, if you’re a guitarist, a guitar manufacturer might try to reach you with an ad for their instruments. If you’re in the market for car insurance, insurance providers might use your personal information to do a background check so they can assess the risk that you’ll be in a car accident.
While businesses don’t typically use your information maliciously, there are risks involved with having your personal data spread online. There might be certain details you don’t want to share with the world, like health or criminal records or financial issues.
Having your data featured online can also expose it to cybercriminals who might use it for identity theft. Sometimes, hackers can even breach information that’s stored in an information broker’s database. When a criminal has your data, they might be able to access your financial accounts, use your credit to secure a loan, or even use your insurance to receive medical care.
This article shows you how to remove your information from data broker sites and protect your data privacy online.
There are various ways for a data broker to access your personal information. Some of these information sources are offline. For example, a broker can peruse public records to view your voter registration information.
Other information sources that brokers use are online. For instance, a broker might track your buying history to see which products you’re likely interested in.
Below are some of the top sources data brokers use to collect consumer information.
Data brokering is a worldwide industry that brings in around $200 billion annually. An estimated 4,000 data broker companies exist. The largest data broker companies include organizations like Acxiom, Experian, and Epsilon.
Most data broker sites will give you the ability to have your personal information removed from their database — but don’t expect it to be easy.
You might have to follow a multi-step process to opt out of a broker site. Even after your information is removed, you may have to repeat the process periodically.
Different regions have different laws when it comes to protecting consumer data. The European Union has the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which gives consumers the right to request that a company deletes any personal information they have stored.
In the United States, states have to create their own laws to safeguard consumer privacy. States like Colorado and California have enacted laws that allow consumers to have their personal information removed from data broker sites.
The next few sections go over steps you can follow to get your information removed from various data broker sites. Many broker sites allow you to opt out of their data collection and advertising programs.
Opting out can prevent brokers from collecting and sharing your information and help you avoid intrusive ads for things like pre-approved credit cards.
The first thing you’ll have to do is visit each data broker’s site that has your information. Some of the biggest data broker sites that might have your information include:
While these are some of the largest data broker sites around, this list is by no means exhaustive. There’s a large number of data-sharing sites out there. For example, people-search sites like PeekYou, Spokeo, and Whitepages, let average consumers search through databases of personal information.
It may seem counterintuitive to sign up for an account with a broker when all you want is to delete your information from their site, but most data brokers require you to register with them to opt out of data collection.
You’ll likely have to create an account with every data broker you want to opt out of. Unfortunately, this will require you to give the brokers some personal information, like your name, email address, and possibly a picture of your driver’s license. Cross out your license number if you have to send a photo of your ID.
After creating an account with a broker, you’ll likely have to visit their portal to find out whether they have your personal information listed. Checking to see what every data broker has listed about you can be a time-consuming process.
Services like DeleteMe and Kanary will delete your information from data brokers. However, most of these sites charge a fee, and they only delete your information from a select number of sites. For example, DeleteMe removes your information from 36 different data broker sites.
You should also be aware that some data broker sites don’t allow third parties to request for information to be deleted on behalf of consumers.
You’ll have to make a separate removal request for every data broker site you want to opt out of. Some data brokers make the process more difficult than others. Remember that data companies are always collecting records, so you may need to repeat the process of removing your information from data broker sites annually.
Here’s how to opt out of some of the largest data brokering companies we mentioned earlier:
The data broker industry is enormous. A data brokerage can collect a wealth of information about you from a huge number of sources, and provide that information to businesses that use it to do things like design targeted marketing campaigns for their ideal consumers.
Brokers can share sensitive information that you want to keep private, like medical data. Having your personal information floating around the internet makes it easier for cybercriminals to use it for personal gain.
By opting out of information-sharing programs, you can protect your online privacy, reduce the number of intrusive advertisements and emails you receive, and make it less likely that identity thieves will target you.
One of the best ways to protect yourself online is to use quality security software. When you sign up for McAfee’s Total Protection services, you’ll get features like award-winning antivirus software, 24/7 account monitoring, a secure virtual private network (VPN), and up to $1 million in identity theft coverage and restoration.
When it comes to protecting your privacy online, McAfee has your back.
The post How to Remove Personal Information From Data Broker Sites appeared first on McAfee Blog.
Our phones store a lot of personal data, including contacts, social media account details, and bank account logins. We use our smartphones for everything under the sun, from work-related communication to online shopping.
However, like computer viruses, our phones can be vulnerable to malware. Viruses are a type of malware that replicate themselves and spread throughout the entire system. They can affect your phone’s performance or, worse, compromise your sensitive information so that hackers can benefit monetarily.
In this article, we give you a rundown of viruses that can infect your phone and how you can identify and eliminate them. We also provide some tips for protecting your phone from viruses in the first place.
iPhones and Android devices run on different operating systems. So, there are differences in the viruses that affect each type of mobile device and how resistant each operating system is to viruses.
Viruses have a harder time penetrating iOS because of its design (although iOS hacks can still happen). By restricting interactions between apps, Apple’s operating system limits the movement of an iPhone virus across the device. However, if you jailbreak your iPhone or iPad to unlock tweaks or install third-party apps, then the security restrictions set by Apple’s OS won’t work. This exposes iPhone users to vulnerabilities that cybercriminals can exploit.
While Android phones are also designed with cybersecurity in mind, their reliance on open-source code makes them an easier target for hackers. Android devices allow users to access third-party apps not available in the Google Play Store.
Cybercriminals today are sophisticated and can launch a variety of cyberattacks on your smartphone. Some viruses that can infect your phone include:
Smartphones and computers get viruses in a similar way. The most common include:
Now that you know how your phone could be the target of a virus, look out for these seven signs to determine if your device has been infected with malicious software.
Most pop-up ads don’t carry viruses but are only used as marketing tools. However, if you find yourself shutting pop-up ads more often than usual, it might indicate a virus on your phone.
Don’t open any apps in your library that you don’t remember installing. Instead, uninstall them immediately. These apps tend to carry malware that’s activated when the app is opened or used.
Your phone isn’t built to support malware. When you accidentally download apps that contain malware, the device has to work harder to continue functioning. In this case, your phone might be overheating.
If your contacts receive unsolicited scam emails or messages on social media from your account, especially those containing suspicious links, a virus may have accessed your contact list. It’s best to let all the recipients know that your phone has been hacked so that they don’t download any malware themselves or forward those links to anybody else.
An unusually slow-performing device is a hint of suspicious activity on your phone. The device may slow down because it needs to work harder to support the downloaded virus. Alternatively, unfamiliar apps might be taking up storage space and running background tasks, causing your phone to run slowly.
Be sure to follow up on charges on your credit card or transactions in your banking statements that you don’t recognize. It could be an unfamiliar app or malware making purchases through your account without your knowledge.
A sudden rise in your data usage or phone bill can be suspicious. A virus might be running background processes or using your internet connection to transfer data out of your device for malicious purposes.
An unusually quick battery drain may also cause concern. Your phone will be trying to meet the energy requirements of the virus, so this problem is likely to persist for as long as the virus is on the device.
You may have an inkling that a virus is housed inside your phone, but the only way to be sure is to check.
An easy way to do this is by downloading a trustworthy antivirus app. The McAfee Mobile Security app scans for threats regularly and blocks them in real time. It prevents suspicious apps from attaching themselves to your phone and secures any public connections you might be using.
If you detect a virus on your iPhone or Android device, there are several things you can do.
It’s never too late to start caring for your phone. Follow these tips to stay safe online and help reduce the risk of your phone getting a virus.
McAfee Mobile Security is committed to keeping your mobile phone secure, whether it’s an iPhone or Android device. In addition to regularly scanning your phone to track suspicious activity, our technology responds to threats in real time. Our comprehensive tools also secure your internet connections and let you browse peacefully. Using our app makes sure that your phone and data are protected at all times.
So, what are you waiting for? Download McAfee Mobile Security today!
The post 7 Signs Your Phone Has a Virus and What You Can Do appeared first on McAfee Blog.
Here’s one way you can help reduce your chances of identity theft: remove your personal information from the internet.
And chances are, you have more personal information posted online than you think.
According to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), consumers registered 1.4 million identity theft complaints in 2021, all part of a year where consumers reported losing $5.8 billion to fraud overall—a 70% increase over the year prior.
What fuels all this theft and fraud? Access to personal information.
Scammers and thieves can get a hold of personal information in several ways, such as through phishing attacks that lure you into handing it over, malware that steals it from your devices, by purchasing your information on dark web marketplaces, or as a result of information leaked in data breaches, just to name a few.
However, scammers and thieves have other resources to help them commit theft and fraud—data broker sites, places where personal information is posted online for practically anyone to see. Which makes removing your info from them so important, from both an identity and privacy standpoint.
Think of data broker sites as huge repositories of personal information. Search your name and address online and you’ll see. You’ll likely find dozens of sites that turn up information about you, some of which offer a few pieces for free and others that offer far more information for a price.
Data brokers collect and then aggregate personal information from several sources, including:
Data brokers also buy personal information from other data brokers. As a result, some data brokers have thousands of pieces of data for billions of individuals worldwide.
What could that look like? A broker may know how much you paid for your home, your education level, where you’ve lived over the years and who your lived with, your driving record, and possibly your political leanings. A broker may also know your favorite flavor of ice cream and your preferred over-the-counter allergy medicine thanks to information from loyalty cards. Further, they may also have health-related information from fitness apps. The amount of personal information can run that broadly, and that deeply.
With information at this potential level of detail, it’s no wonder that data brokers rake in an estimated at $200 billion U.S. dollars worldwide every year.
On the legitimate side, it’s used by advertisers to create targeted ad campaigns. With information sold by data brokers, they can generate lists based on highly specific criteria, such as shopping histories, personal interests, and even political leanings as mentioned above. Likely without you being aware of it—and likely with no way to contest that information if it’s incorrect.
Other legitimate uses include using these sites for background checks. Law enforcement, reporters, and employers will use data brokers as a starting point for research because the leg work has largely been done for them. Namely, data brokers have aggregated a person’s information already, which is an otherwise time-consuming process.
If this seems a little shady, it’s still legal. As of now, the U.S. has no federal laws that regulate data brokers or require data them to remove personal information if requested. A few states, such as Nevada, Vermont, and California, have legislation in place aimed at protecting consumers. Meanwhile, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the European Union has stricter rules about what information can be collected and what can be done with it. Still, the data broker economy thrives.
On the darker side, scammers and thieves use personal information for identity theft and fraud. With enough personal information gathered from enough sources, they can create a high-fidelity profile of their victims. One that gives them enough information to open new accounts in their name.
So, from the standpoint of both privacy and identity, cleaning up your personal information online makes a great deal of sense.
Let’s review some ways you can remove your personal information from data brokers and other sources on the internet.
The process starts with finding the sites that have your information. From there, you can request to have it removed. Yet as mentioned above, there are dozens and dozens of these sites. Knowing where to start is a challenge in of itself, as is manually making the requests once you have identified the sites that post and sell information about you.
Our Personal Data Cleanup can do the work for you. Personal Data Cleanup scans some of the riskiest data broker sites and shows you which ones are selling your personal info. It also provides guidance on how you can remove your data from those sites and can even manage the removal for you depending on your plan. It also monitors those sites, so if your info gets posted again, you can request its removal again.
As of September 2022, Google accounts for just over 92% of search engine market share worldwide. Aside from being a search engine, Google offers a myriad of other services and applications, such as Gmail and Google Maps. While Google offers plenty of tools for productivity, travel, work, and play for free, they still come at a cost—the gathering and analysis of your personal information.
You can limit the data Google associates with you by removing your name from Google search results with a removal request. This will disable anyone online from getting any results if they search your name. (Note that this will not remove your information from the original sites and sources where it’s posted.) Moreover, Google collects all your browsing data continuously. You have the option to turn on “Auto Delete” in your privacy settings to ensure that the data is deleted regularly and help limit the amount of time your sensitive data stays vulnerable.
You can also occasionally delete your cookies or use your browser in incognito mode to prevent websites from being tracked back to you. Go to your Google Chrome settings to clear your browser and cookie history.
As discussed above, data brokers can collect information from public social media profiles. You can minimize your presence on social media to the bare minimum. Make a list of the ones you use or have used in the past. If there are old accounts that you no longer use or websites that have gone by the wayside like Myspace or Tumblr, you may want to deactivate them or consider deleting them entirely.
For social media platforms that you still may use regularly, like Facebook and Instagram, consider adjusting your privacy settings to ensure that your personal information on these social media platforms is the bare minimum. For example, on Facebook you can lock your profile, while on Instagram you can stay private.
If you’ve ever published articles, written blogs, or created any content online, it might be a good time to consider taking it down if it is no longer serving a purpose. Depending on what you’ve posted, you may have shared personal details about your life. Additionally, you might be mentioned by other people in various social media posts, articles, or blogs. It is worth reaching out to these people to request them to take down posts with sensitive information.
Social media and online articles that host your personal information are often used when businesses or hackers are doing “internet scrapes” to find better ways to use your targeted information. Asking your friends or third-party sites to remove that information can help protect your privacy.
Another way you can tidy up your digital footprint online involves deleting all the unnecessary phone apps that you no longer need or use. Even when apps are not open or in use, they may be able to track personal information such as your real-time location and even your payment details if you have a paid subscription to the app.
Some apps even sell this data as it can be extremely advantageous to other companies, which they use to target certain consumer segments and profiles for advertising. Try to share as little information with apps as possible if you’re looking to minimize your online footprint, and provide them access to your photos, contacts, and location only on as-needed basis and only when the app is in use. Your phone’s app and location services settings will give you the tools to do it.
In addition to the steps above, comprehensive online protection software can keep you more private and minimize your risk of cybercrime. It can include:
So while it may seem like all this rampant collecting and selling of personal information is out of your hands, there’s plenty you can do to take control. With the steps outlined above and strong online protection software at your back, you can keep your personal information more private and secure.
The post 5 Steps to Removing Your Personal Information From the Internet appeared first on McAfee Blog.
Whether using the internet for play or work, you want to spend your time online enjoying the peace of mind that comes with having a secure network.
You don’t want to contend with someone taking your personal data — whether it’s credit card information, passwords, or bank account details — via malware or a data breach on your Android, Windows, or Apple iOS device.
Fortunately, with some sensible precautions and simple steps, you can use your connected devices productively without worrying about cybercriminals and malicious software. This article explains how to stop hackers from getting access to your sensitive data.
You can take steps to protect your different computing and mobile devices and operating systems. These steps can be divided into technological solutions and the right awareness and information to provide a comforting measure of self-protection.
It’s like learning karate for self-defense, giving you confidence as you negotiate the wider world (and hoping that you never have to use it).
When it comes to identity protection software, McAfee provides a proven solution with our identity protection and privacy services. The protection includes alerts if your sensitive information is found on the dark web (up to 10 months sooner than other providers), personal data cleanup from sites gathering and selling your information, and an unlimited virtual public network (VPN) service that protects your privacy as you use public Wi-Fi networks.
You’ll also get up to $1 million in identity theft coverage and hands-on restoration support to help you reclaim your identity.
Simple, obvious passwords and passcodes (like your street address, your birthday, your kids’ or pets’ names, or “1234” or “abcd”) are easy for cybercriminals to crack, giving them unwanted access to your private data.
The stronger your password, the better your protection. Some best password practices include:
It’s important not to be a standing target. Just as you should use different passwords for everything, you should regularly change your passwords. You should do this a few times a year (although some cyber experts say this might not be necessary if you have a long and very complicated password).
If you have a number of passwords that you update often, it might be worth getting a password manager like McAfee True Key to keep track of them. Not only will you not be faced with remembering all your different passwords or writing them down (also a no-no), but it can also help you create and store unique passwords.
The software uses the strongest encryption algorithms available to protect your passwords, scrambling them so no one else can access them. It’ll also suggest new passwords and automatically log you into your online accounts with just one master password.
Another important line of defense is multi-factor authentication (sometimes known as two-factor authentication). This system uses a password and a second piece of verification — often an SMS message sent to your Android device or iPhone — to authenticate your identity.
This provides hard-to-beat protection even if a hacker has your password. Besides receiving SMS codes, there are also code-generating apps and physical security keys.
Thinking before you click on an email or text is a very important defense against phishing scams. Your bank won’t send you an email or text notifying you that there’s been suspicious activity on your account.
Does getting a large refund from your phone company sound too good to be true? It is. Similarly, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) won’t text to tell you that you owe them money, and princes aren’t going to give you a fortune out of the blue.
Internet users beware: If you’re not absolutely certain that the text message you received is from a legitimate and trusted source, delete it. You can always contact the business or person directly to confirm that the message is legit.
Any operating system or app you use is open to malicious cyberattacks. This is why you should keep all your software up to date with the latest versions. Software developers are continually fixing holes in their products and offering cybersecurity patches to make them as safe and hacker-proof as possible.
Make sure your software, firmware, and security settings are up to date on your home’s Wi-Fi router, as well. You can often change your settings to allow for automatic updates.
Sure, who doesn’t like to go to a cafe, library, or hotel lobby to use the free Wi-Fi? But security is often weak in these public networks. If you open your online banking account or access personal information, you may unwittingly be giving a personal invitation to eavesdropping cybercriminals.
This is where the bank-grade level of protection of McAfee Secure VPN comes in, which automatically turns on when you need it and keeps you safe on public Wi-Fi networks.
Even if your device does get hacked, you can protect vital information on your Windows or macOS system with an encryption program like BitLocker or FileVault. You can protect any hard drive you use, including portable ones and USB keys.
It’s also a good idea to only shop at encrypted websites marked with the prefix “HTTPS” in their URLs.
One of the best ways to surf the web in comfort while keeping hackers at bay is with the comprehensive solutions provided by McAfee Total Protection.
Your protection includes proactive measures (meaning we’ll guide you to the best choices for prevention), early detection, and expert identity theft support.
This means you’ll get identity monitoring, up to $1 million in identity theft coverage, lost wallet protection, premium antivirus software, a secure VPN, and personal data removal. In particular, our Personal Data Cleanup service will help find and remove your personal information from data broker websites and people search sites.
With McAfee, you don’t have to be afraid of hackers. Let us deal with them.
The post How to Stay One Step Ahead of Hackers appeared first on McAfee Blog.
Your digital footprint grows with every internet account you make. While your old Tumblr account may be fun for reminiscing, dormant accounts are actually one of the most significant sources of user data on the internet. These accounts can be used by data brokers or third parties to access your personal information.
To improve your data security, it’s good practice to remove public-facing information by deleting unused accounts. Simply put, having less personal data stored on the internet reduces the risk of theft and/or non-consensual data usage.
Deleting, canceling, unsubscribing, or removing your account can be a long process, depending on the service. This article will walk you through the simplest ways to delete unwanted accounts from various social media platforms.
Deleting unwanted accounts protects your information and prevents the monetization of your data. Your internet accounts often hold personal information like your name, age, email, or home address. What’s more alarming is that some platforms may even have credit card details, phone numbers, and bank account information.
When left unattended, internet accounts become vulnerable to being suspended or taken over by the platform. This means that if your accounts are left inactive for too long, you might be handing some or all of your data over to the tech platform.
For example, even if you believe an old Google account doesn’t have any sensitive information stored, it may be linked to other platforms you use (like Amazon or Google services like Gmail and Google Play). This exposes all of these accounts to several data privacy vulnerabilities.
Moreover, a recent survey found that 70% of surveyed adults admitted using the same password for more than one service. People who don’t use password managers or reuse passwords are at a greater security risk than others, as multiple accounts can become compromised at once. Whether the platform is now out of service or you are cutting down on your app usage, deleting dormant accounts will minimize security threats and safeguard your data.
Every platform has a different process for deleting accounts: Some take only a few clicks to complete and others are a little longer. Companies usually don’t want a user to stop using their services, so account deletion pages are often hidden in a complex web of tabs that you have to navigate.
In addition, some subscription services might require that you send an email to customer support to close your account. You can go to justdelete.me, an online directory that lets you access direct links to account deletion pages of various web services.
Remember to download your personal information and data before pulling the plug on your account. Most platforms let you download your data before initiating a deletion request, which saves you from losing important details and files. It is also important to check whether your Google account is used for your YouTube channel or connected to other online accounts.
To help you get rid of accounts you no longer use, we’ve broken down deleting accounts from some of the most popular social networks. The steps described below are for a desktop browser and may not apply to Android or iOS devices (unless specified).
Facebook’s user privacy policy enables it to store a large amount of user information, including personal messages, posts, search history, name, age, birthdate, and even metadata from posted photos and videos.
Follow these simple steps to delete your Facebook account:
LinkedIn collects information on users and uses it for targeted advertising. As a result, it amasses quite a lot of your data, from professional details to personal preferences and even your online behavior trail.
Follow these simple steps from your desktop to delete your account:
It’s simple to delete your Twitter account, but you’ll have to wait 30 days for your data and tweets to clear. To delete your account, you first need to deactivate it.
Once you’ve decided to delete your account from the micro-blogging site, follow these steps from your desktop:
Remember to revoke third-party access to your Twitter account to avoid having your account reactivated in the 30 days following deactivation.
Since Facebook and Instagram are both owned by Meta, they share a lot of data for targeted advertising. You can adjust the privacy settings of your Instagram account from the mobile app, but you will need to log in from a web browser like Chrome to delete your account.
To delete your Instagram account:
Your information and data will be permanently deleted after 30 days and you won’t be able to retrieve it. However, completing a deletion process may take up to 90 days.
Tumblr has a fairly simple process to delete your account:
Follow these steps to delete your account from the popular picture-sharing platform:
Pinterest servers continue to store your data after deletion, but your information won’t be visible to other users.
There are different steps to deleting your email account depending on which email service you use. Backing up email data usually takes more time because of the sheer volume of data a mail account can hold.
Complete the following steps to delete your Google account:
Here’s what you need to do to delete your Yahoo email account:
Deleting your Yahoo account also deletes the linked information from Yahoo’s other services.
Follow these steps to delete your Microsoft account on Outlook 2010, 2013, or 2016:
Leaving old information scattered across the internet makes you susceptible to identity theft. There are multiple ways to keep your identity and data secure online, including McAfee’s Total Protection plan.
Total Protection lets you choose from multiple affordable subscription models that provide comprehensive security against identity theft and potential data breaches and offers web protection and several related benefits. In addition, having access to 24/7 online security experts and a 30-day money-back guarantee make the Total Protection plan an easy, reliable, and safe choice. You can also have peace of mind with McAfee’s Personal Data Cleanup feature where our teams will work to find your personal information online and assist in removing it.
The post How to Delete Old Accounts Containing Personal Information appeared first on McAfee Blog.
Private tech companies gather tremendous amounts of user data. These companies can afford to let you use social media platforms free of charge because it’s paid for by your data, attention, and time.
Big tech derives most of its profits by selling your attention to advertisers — a well-known business model. Various documentaries (like Netflix’s “The Social Dilemma”) have attempted to get to the bottom of the complex algorithms that big tech companies employ to mine and analyze user data for the benefit of third-party advertisers.
This article will help you better understand what information is being collected by tech companies, how it’s being used, and how you can protect your privacy online.
Tech companies benefit from personal information by being able to provide personalized ads. When you click “yes” at the end of a terms and conditions agreement found on some web pages, you may be allowing the companies to collect the following data:
For someone unfamiliar with privacy issues, it is important to understand the extent of big tech’s tracking and data collection. Once these companies collect data, all this information can be supplied to third-party businesses or used to improve user experience.
The problem with this is that big tech has blurred the line between collecting customer data and violating user privacy in some cases. While tracking what content you interact with can be justified under the garb of personalizing the content you see, big tech platforms have been known to go too far. Prominent social networks like Facebook and LinkedIn have faced past legal trouble for accessing personal user data like private messages and saved photos.
The information you provide helps build an accurate character profile and turns it into knowledge that gives actionable insights to businesses. Private data usage can be classified into three cases: selling it to data brokers, using it to improve marketing, or enhancing customer experience.
Along with big data, another industry has seen rapid growth: data brokers. Data brokers buy, analyze, and package your data. Companies that collect large amounts of data on their users stand to profit from this service. Selling data to brokers is an important revenue stream for big tech companies.
Advertisers and businesses benefit from increased information on their consumers, creating a high demand for your information. The problem here is that companies like Facebook and Alphabet (Google’s parent company) have been known to mine massive amounts of user data for the sake of their advertisers.
Marketing can be highly personalized thanks to the availability of large amounts of consumer data. Tracking your response to marketing campaigns can help businesses alter or improve certain aspects of their campaign to drive better results.
The problem is that most AI-based algorithms are incapable of assessing when they should stop collecting or using your information. After a point, users run the risk of being constantly subjected to intrusive ads and other unconsented marketing campaigns that pop up frequently.
Analyzing consumer behavior through reviews, feedback, and recommendations can help improve customer experience. Businesses have access to various facets of data that can be analyzed to show them how to meet consumer demands. This could help improve any part of a consumer’s interaction with the company, from designing special offers and discounts to improving customer relationships.
For most social media platforms, the goal is to curate a personalized feed that appeals to the users and allows them to spend more time on the app. When left unmonitored, the powerful algorithms behind these social media platforms can repeatedly subject you to the same kind of content from different creators.
Here are the big tech companies that collect and mine the most user data.
Users need a comprehensive data privacy solution to tackle the rampant, large-scale data mining carried out by big tech platforms. While targeted advertisements and easily found items are beneficial, many of these companies collect and mine user data through several channels simultaneously, exploiting them in many different ways.
It’s important to make sure your personal information is protected. Protection solutions like McAfee’s Personal Data Cleanup feature can help. With this feature, our teams scour the web for traces of your personal information and assist in getting it removed to enhance your online privacy.
McAfee’s Total Protection provides antivirus software for all of your digital devices and a secure VPN connection to avoid exposure to malicious third parties while browsing the internet. Our identity monitoring and personal data removal solutions further remove gaps in your devices’ security systems.
With our airtight data protection and custom guidance (complete with a protection score for each platform and tips to keep you safer), you can be sure that your internet identity is protected.
The post What Personal Data Do Companies Track? appeared first on McAfee Blog.
Our personal and professional lives are becoming increasingly intertwined with the online world. Regular internet usage has made us all prone to cyber-security risks. You leave a digital footprint every time you use the internet, which is a trace of all your online activities.
When you create new accounts or subscribe to different websites, you give them explicit (or implicit, through their family of apps or subsidiary websites) access to your personal and credit card information. In other cases, websites might track basic information without your knowledge, such as your location and search history.
There is an industry of data brokers specifically dedicated to keeping track of user data, packaging it, and supplying it to tech companies who use it to run targeted ads and enhance on-platform user experience. Given the widespread use of the internet and exponential improvements in technology, data has become a valuable commodity — creating a need for the sale and purchase of user data.
This article discusses how data brokers sell your personal information and how you can minimize risk.
Data brokers are companies that aggregate user information from various sources on the internet. They collect, collate, package, and sometimes even analyze this data to create a holistic and coherent version of you online. This data is then supplied to tech companies to fuel their third-party advertising-centered business models.
Companies interested in buying data include but are not limited to:
These companies and social media platforms use your data to better understand target demographics and the content with which they interact. While the practice isn’t unethical in and of itself (personalizing user experiences and creating more convenient UIs are usually cited as the primary reasons for it), it does make your data vulnerable to malicious attacks targeted toward big-tech servers.
Most of your online activities are related. Devices like your phone, laptop, tablets, and even fitness watches are linked to each other. Moreover, you might use one email ID for various accounts and subscriptions. This online interconnectedness makes it easier for data brokers to create a cohesive user profile.
Mobile phone apps are the most common way for data brokerage firms to collect your data. You might have countless apps for various purposes, such as financial transactions, health and fitness, or social media.
A number of these apps usually fall under the umbrella of the same or subsidiary family of apps, all of which work toward collecting and supplying data to big tech platforms. Programs like Google’s AdSense make it easier for developers to monetize their apps in exchange for the user information they collect.
Data brokers also collect data points like your home address, full name, Social Security number, phone number, and date of birth. They have automated scraping tools to quickly collect relevant information from public profiles.[Text Wrapping Break]
Lastly, data brokers can gather data from other third parties that track your cookies or even place trackers or cookies on your browsers. Cookies are small data files that track your online activities when visiting different websites. They track your IP address and browsing history, which third parties can exploit. Cookies are also the reason you see personalized ads and products.
Data brokers collate your private information into one package and sell it to “people search” websites like Spokeo or TruePeopleSearch. You or a tech business can use these websites to search for people and get extensive consumer data. People search sites also contain public records like voter registration information, marriage records, and birth certificates. This data is used for consumer research and large-scale data analysis.
Next, marketing and sales firms are some of data brokers’ biggest clients. These companies purchase massive data sets from data brokers to research your data profile. They have advanced algorithms to segregate users into various consumer groups and target you specifically. Their predictive algorithms can suggest personalized ads and products to generate higher lead generation and conversation percentages for their clients.
We tend to accept the terms and conditions that various apps ask us to accept without thinking twice or reading the fine print. You probably cannot proceed without letting the app track certain data or giving your personal information. To a certain extent, we trade some of our privacy for convenience. This becomes public information, and apps and data brokers collect, track, and use our data however they please while still complying with the law.
There is no comprehensive privacy law in the U.S. on a federal level. This allows data brokers to collect personal information and condense it into marketing insights. While not all methods of gathering private data are legal, it is difficult to track the activities of data brokers online (especially on the dark web). As technology advances, there are also easier ways to harvest and exploit data.
Vermont and California have already enacted laws to regulate the data brokerage industry. In 2018, Vermont passed the country’s first data broker legislation. This requires data brokers to register annually with the Secretary of State and provide information about their data collection activities, opt-out policies, purchaser credentialing practices, and data breaches.
California has passed similar laws to make data brokering a more transparent industry. For risk mitigation of data brokerage, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has published reports and provided recommendations to Congress to reduce the engagement of data broker firms. Giving individuals the right to opt-out of the sale of their personal data is a step toward a more rigorous law regarding data privacy.
Some data brokers let you remove your information from their websites. There are also extensive guides available online that list the method by which you can opt-out of some of the biggest data brokering firms. For example, a guide by Griffin Boyce, the systems administrator at Harvard University’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society, provides detailed information on how to opt-out of a long list of data broker companies.
Acxiom, LLC is one of the largest data brokering firms and has collected data for approximately 68% of people who have an online presence. You can opt-out of their data collection either through their website or by calling them directly.
Epsilon Data Management is another big player in the data broker industry that operates as a marketing service and marketing analytics company. You can opt-out of their website through various methods such as by email, phone, and mail. Credit rating agencies like Experian and Equifax are also notorious for collecting your data. Similarly, you can opt-out through their websites or by calling them.
McAfee is a pioneer in providing online and offline data protection to its customers. We offer numerous cybersecurity services for keeping your information private and secure.
With regard to data brokers, we enable users to do a personal data clean-up. Cleaning up your personal data online may be a difficult task, as it requires you to reach out to multiple data brokers and opt out. Instead, sign up for McAfee’s Personal Data Cleanup feature to do a convenient and thorough personal data clean-up. We will search for traces of your personal data and assist in getting it removed.
The post How Data Brokers Sell Your Identity appeared first on McAfee Blog.
The 911 service as it existed until July 28, 2022.
911[.]re, a proxy service that since 2015 has sold access to hundreds of thousands of Microsoft Windows computers daily, announced this week that it is shutting down in the wake of a data breach that destroyed key components of its business operations. The abrupt closure comes ten days after KrebsOnSecurity published an in-depth look at 911 and its connections to shady pay-per-install affiliate programs that secretly bundled 911’s proxy software with other titles, including “free” utilities and pirated software.
911[.]re is was one of the original “residential proxy” networks, which allow someone to rent a residential IP address to use as a relay for his/her Internet communications, providing anonymity and the advantage of being perceived as a residential user surfing the web.
Residential proxy services are often marketed to people seeking the ability to evade country-specific blocking by the major movie and media streaming providers. But some of them — like 911 — build their networks in part by offering “free VPN” or “free proxy” services that are powered by software which turns the user’s PC into a traffic relay for other users. In this scenario, users indeed get to use a free VPN service, but they are often unaware that doing so will turn their computer into a proxy that lets others use their Internet address to transact online.
From a website’s perspective, the IP traffic of a residential proxy network user appears to originate from the rented residential IP address, not from the proxy service customer. These services can be used in a legitimate manner for several business purposes — such as price comparisons or sales intelligence — but they are massively abused for hiding cybercrime activity because they can make it difficult to trace malicious traffic to its original source.
As noted in KrebsOnSecurity’s July 19 story on 911, the proxy service operated multiple pay-per-install schemes that paid affiliates to surreptitiously bundle the proxy software with other software, continuously generating a steady stream of new proxies for the service.
A cached copy of flashupdate[.]net circa 2016, which shows it was the homepage of a pay-per-install affiliate program that incentivized the silent installation of 911’s proxy software.
Within hours of that story, 911 posted a notice at the top of its site, saying, “We are reviewing our network and adding a series of security measures to prevent misuse of our services. Proxy balance top-up and new user registration are closed. We are reviewing every existing user, to ensure their usage is legit and [in] compliance with our Terms of Service.”
At this announcement, all hell broke loose on various cybercrime forums, where many longtime 911 customers reported they were unable to use the service. Others affected by the outage said it seemed 911 was trying to implement some sort of “know your customer” rules — that maybe 911 was just trying to weed out those customers using the service for high volumes of cybercriminal activity.
Then on July 28, the 911 website began redirecting to a notice saying, “We regret to inform you that we permanently shut down 911 and all its services on July 28th.”
According to 911, the service was hacked in early July, and it was discovered that someone manipulated the balances of a large number of user accounts. 911 said the intruders abused an application programming interface (API) that handles the topping up of accounts when users make financial deposits with the service.
“Not sure how did the hacker get in,” the 911 message reads. “Therefore, we urgently shut down the recharge system, new user registration, and an investigation started.”
The parting message from 911 to its users, posted to the homepage July 28, 2022.
However the intruders got in, 911 said, they managed to also overwrite critical 911[.]re servers, data and backups of that data.
“On July 28th, a large number of users reported that they could not log in the system,” the statement continues. “We found that the data on the server was maliciously damaged by the hacker, resulting in the loss of data and backups. Its [sic] confirmed that the recharge system was also hacked the same way. We were forced to make this difficult decision due to the loss of important data that made the service unrecoverable.”
Operated largely out of China, 911 was an enormously popular service across many cybercrime forums, and it became something akin to critical infrastructure for this community after two of 911’s longtime competitors — malware-based proxy services VIP72 and LuxSocks — closed their doors in the past year.
Now, many on the crime forums who relied on 911 for their operations are wondering aloud whether there are any alternatives that match the scale and utility that 911 offered. The consensus seems to be a resounding “no.”
I’m guessing we may soon learn more about the security incidents that caused 911 to implode. And perhaps other proxy services will spring up to meet what appears to be a burgeoning demand for such services at the moment, with comparatively little supply.
In the meantime, 911’s absence may coincide with a measurable (if only short-lived) reprieve in unwanted traffic to top Internet destinations, including banks, retailers and cryptocurrency platforms, as many former customers of the proxy service scramble to make alternative arrangements.
Riley Kilmer, co-founder of the proxy-tracking service Spur.us, said 911’s network will be difficult to replicate in the short run.
“My speculation is [911’s remaining competitors] are going to get a major boost in the short term, but a new player will eventually come along,” Kilmer said. “None of those are good replacements for LuxSocks or 911. However, they will all allow anyone to use them. For fraud rates, the attempts will continue but through these replacement services which should be easier to monitor and stop. 911 had some very clean IP addresses.”
911 wasn’t the only major proxy provider disclosing a breach this week tied to unauthenticated APIs: On July 28, KrebsOnSecurity reported that internal APIs exposed to the web had leaked the customer database for Microleaves, a proxy service that rotates its customers’ IP addresses every five to ten minutes. That investigation showed Microleaves — like 911 — had a long history of using pay-per-install schemes to spread its proxy software.
Over her 25-year-plus career, Saleema Syed has seen the information security industry from a variety of vantage points, all while championing women in technology. Syed worked as director of business systems and data management for Duo Security before rising to vice president of information technology. Later, after Duo was acquired by Cisco, she transitioned to new roles within the larger organization and now heads up operations for Webex Marketing. In this position Syed brings structure across different functions of marketing including brand, events and technology while also serving as chief operating officer for Chief Marketing Officer Aruna Ravichandran.
“I fell in love with the culture, the kindness, the heart of this company,” Syed said.
Recently, she shared her passion for problem solving and inclusion with the Duo Blog, along with the advice she gives mentees navigating their own career paths.
Saleema Syed: I like chaos and I love putting a method to the madness. With marketing we have to react to the market, react to the business, react internally. What energizes me is there’s never a dull day and there is always this ability to bring some overall end to end process.
I love running towards a burning car and figuring out how to put it out. I love change. I know change is the only constant and rather than running away from it, I thrive in it. I like to look at it and ask, “What can we do to break it down and figure out what we need to do?”
My brain works in terms of boxes and flows and charts and spreadsheets so when I look at something I’m like, “Okay, what is a box? What is a process? How do I untangle it?” I like sitting in the discomfort and understanding what to do to get out of it.
Saleema Syed: There are three things I always keep in mind when I look at what I’m doing and where I want to be. One is, at the core of it, does it fill my cup of empathy and allow me to be true to who I am in how I treat people or how I build a team?
The second thing is, will I have the opportunity to influence and impact the people on the team or my family? How do I show myself to my daughter who is growing and seeing how to become who she is as a career person?
The third thing is, is it something new and am I learning something? Continuous learning is a huge part of who I am, so that drives me to get out of my comfort zone constantly.
When I’m changing jobs people usually say, “You’ve set up this team, you’re so comfortable. Now all you have to do is sit back and execute.” And my answer is, “That’s exactly why I am moving.”
If I am comfortable I’m not learning, and I don’t know if I’m adding any more value than I’ve set up. That means it’s time for me to move on and elevate somebody. What I’m doing is sending the elevator down to somebody on the team to grow.
That’s why I’ve had people who work for me for many years follow me through multiple organizations, which as a leader has been my pinnacle of what I call my success. Success is not my role; it is how many people I have impacted and influenced.
Saleema Syed: I keep going back to Duo because working at that organization and meeting those people defined me as a human being. One of the strategic pillars of that organization is to be kinder than necessary.
However complicated the work challenges are, those around me must be aligned with what my integral values are and who I am. They have to have empathy and kindness in their heart. If that is not there, no matter how much I love solving challenges and know I can solve them, I’m not going to go for it. I’ve been extremely lucky at Duo, Cisco and Webex that I’ve been around those kinds of people.
If you look at Webex, I love the core of what we are, the journey we are on, the inclusivity. We are not just selling Webex messaging or other products. At the heart of it we are looking at how we are influencing people and things around us by making sure that there is inclusivity in the collaboration tools that we are launching.
Saleema Syed: My leadership style is pretty simple: nobody works for me; people work with me. I lead with making sure that people know this is the problem you’re trying to solve, here is the context of what we are trying to do. Now, let’s figure out how we solve it. That is something that has helped my team be part of the problem solving that I love to do.
When I interview people my first questions are, “What does the job bring to you? How would this job fill your cup?” That throws people off every time. You can teach any technology, you can teach any skill set, but if you don’t have the basic passion, the attitude to be able to do this job, then everything else can just go out the door.
Saleema Syed: I have a very diverse background. I am an Indian by birth and grew up in the Middle East. When I went into engineering, finished my education and started my career, one of the things I realized was that as a woman of color, I always wanted to apply for positions that I was fully qualified for. I wanted to make sure I knew everything about the job because a very big fear was being asked a question in the interview I didn’t know. LinkedIn’s Gender Insights Report found that women apply for 20% fewer jobs than men despite similar job search behaviors. That has been a very challenging mental barrier for me to break.
Trey Boynton, who was at Duo and now she’s leading Cisco in a beautiful journey of diversity as the senior director of inclusion and collaboration strategy always said, “We have to have that bicycle lane on the road, whether it is for females, whether it is for people of color or any LGBTQIA+ community members. That is how we get people to bring that confidence in to learn, grow and then they can merge easily.”
“Passion is a part of who I am and is contributing to my growth.” – Saleema Syed
Whatever I faced as I was growing up, whether it was my dark skin, whether it was my accent, whether it was, “Oh, you’re way too passionate” has been some of the feedback that I’ve gotten. In my career if I’m told I’m way too passionate I turn that around and say, “Passion is a part of who I am and is contributing to my growth.”
Saleema Syed: Within Webex, within Cisco, I try to be part of anything that I can do in terms of giving back to the community. I’m definitely a big proponent of women in technology. In the local Dallas area I run a program by myself and go into schools and advocate for girls in STEM. Cisco is amazing in how it gives us time to volunteer. I love that educating kids is part of my journey of giving back. That’s the generation you can influence.
How do we enable children and women to be more open to technology and being part of the technology field? Let’s look at the percentage of diversity in the technology field and be aware of it. It’s not only about the diversity numbers, but are we bringing in candidates at the leadership level and giving them not just a seat at the table but a voice at the table, too?
You also have to talk about what you do and with passion and energy because if you don’t, people get intimidated. If you can influence one person who comes from an underrepresented community, imagine what you are doing, not just for that person, but for his household, for his family, for his extended community. I have a lot more to do, but as I get into the next decade of my life and my career, that is something that is a huge focus for me.
Saleema Syed: First and foremost it’s very important to spend time and understand the business and the products in whatever industry you’re going into. It is key to your growth. Especially if it’s a security industry, take time to understand the products, the technology or the function that you’re trying to get into. Contextual understanding and product understanding are extremely important.
The second piece is to keep learning. Cisco is amazing in trying to help you learn and support you financially to be able to do it. I went back and got my executive MBA four years ago. Give yourself a goal of learning a new something, whether it is a new function, new technology or new leadership skill.
The third piece is to create a spreadsheet of where you want to be in two years. Put that out there and then work back just like you would do a project plan. Work back month by month, quarter by quarter. What are the skill sets you need to learn to get there?
The last part is: Do the job you want versus the job you are in. Of course, you have to do the job you are in, but do the job you want to get to. Don’t wait for a title, don’t wait for a promotion to act. No. What do you want to be? Show that to your leaders and yourself. The title will come, money will come, everything will come, but am I doing the job that I want and enjoy and I want to get to?
To learn more about Webex, Cisco and Duo Security and how you can apply your passion, advocacy and problem solving to make a difference in cybersecurity, browse our open roles.
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We all love to spend time surfing the web — whether we’re shopping, paying bills, or reacting to funny memes. The internet has also allowed many of us to keep working from home even during the pandemic.
The internet is great, but the best way to keep enjoying it is to know where and how bad actors can pop up in our computer systems.
One way is through the use of ransomware, which is a type of malware that threatens users with blocked access or doxing (exposing personal information) if they don’t pay money to the cybercriminals who sent the malicious software.
We’ll explain what ransomware is, how it works, and how to defend against it so you can stay one step ahead and continue enjoying life online.
Ransomware is malware that uses encryption to hold your information at ransom. This might mean you can’t access critical data in files, databases, or applications. The cybercriminal will then usually demand a ransom to provide access.
Often, ransomware includes a deadline to add a sense of urgency to the threat. Typical ransomware attacks might suggest that your data will be lost or published on the web for the world to see if you don’t pay. Ransom demands generally ask for payment in Bitcoin or some other form of cryptocurrency, where transactions are less regulated and traceable.
Unfortunately, ransomware is often designed to spread across a network and target database and file servers — quickly paralyzing an entire organization. Ransomware attacks represent a growing problem, generating billions of dollars in payments to cybercriminals and inflicting damage and expenses for businesses and governmental organizations.
However, if you have a basic understanding of how ransomware works, you can take steps to protect yourself.
Ransomware uses asymmetric encryption, which uses a mixture of symmetric and asymmetric encryption methods to make it more difficult to decrypt ransomed data files. Put simply, cybercriminals using asymmetric encryption generate a public key to encrypt files and a separate but private key to decrypt the same files. As a result, the victim has to rely on the hacker for the decryption key — for a price, of course — because the private key to decrypt the files is stored on the attacker’s server.
The attacker then makes the private key available to the victim only after the ransom is paid, although this isn’t always the case, as seen in recent ransomware campaigns. Without access to the private key, it can be difficult to decrypt the files being held for ransom.
Many forms of ransomware exist. Often, ransomware (and other malware) is distributed using email spam campaigns or through targeted attacks. Malware needs an attack vector, which is how a cybercriminal gains access to a device to deliver malicious software. This might take the form of an email attachment, webpage, pop-up window, or even instant message. After malware establishes its presence, though, it’ll stay on the system until it finishes its task.
After a successful exploit, ransomware drops and executes a malicious binary on the infected system. This binary then searches and encrypts valuable files, such as Microsoft Word documents, images, databases, and so on. The ransomware may also exploit system and network vulnerabilities to spread to other systems and possibly across entire organizations.
Once files are encrypted, ransomware prompts the user for a ransom to be paid within 24 to 48 hours to decrypt the files, or they’ll be lost forever. If a data backup is unavailable or those backups are encrypted, the victim might have to pay the ransom to recover their personal files.
Cyberattacks, including different types of ransomware, occur and evolve all the time, but there are several ways to avoid them.
It all starts with looking to the past to protect your sensitive data in the future. In the next few sections, we’ll cover how hackers have engaged in extortion across computer systems over the years.
CryptoLocker was one of the earliest adopters of this type of malware — demanding a ransom payment in cryptocurrency for a user to get their data back. In fact, it was probably the first time many people had heard the term “ransomware.”
In 2013, CryptoLocker attacked through an email attachment that looked like the tracking notifications of shipping companies like UPS and FedEx. It resulted in more than 250,000 infected computer systems and up to $27 million in extorted money.
Although a decryption key has existed for CryptoLocker since 2014, it can still cause problems for users who may not recognize the presence of the ransomware before opening the attachment.
In 2017, Wannacry took the “worm” approach to ransomware, spreading across Windows PCs through shared networks. At the time, the ransomware turned everything on the computer into encrypted data, with the hackers threatening not to return the data until the ransom was paid (in this case, cryptocurrency). Estimates point to over 200,000 computers being infected around the world.
A killswitch was created to help operating systems infected with WannaCry, but the hacking group is still out there posing new threats.
The Kaseya ransomware attacks occurred on July 2, 2021, and led to an FBI response because this represented a global cybercrime event. In this instance, though, the ransomware group REvil made damaging use of vulnerabilities found in the on-premises software of Kaseya VSA. The hackers then demanded $70 million in Bitcoin.
The company managed many service providers, so the attack affected all of the downstream customers of those service providers. In fact, the malware attack may have affected around 1,500 organizations across the world.
The good news is that patches have now been developed for affected servers.
You might not immediately think of the world’s largest meat supplier as being one of the victims of ransomware, but that’s exactly what happened to JBS Foods.
Threatening to disrupt the food supply chain in May 2021, organized cybersecurity attacks by REvil targeted JBS’s North American and Australian plants, encrypting data that was then ransomed for over $11 million worth of Bitcoin by the company.
On May 7, 2021, hackers made malicious use of a single leaked password belonging to a virtual private network (VPN) account associated with the Colonial Pipeline Company.
Even though the breached account had been dormant for some time, it was still successfully used as an entry point to the Colonial network. The password to this account was linked to a batch of compromised passwords on the dark web, leading officials to believe it could have been an employee who re-used the same password for other accounts.
This major cybersecurity event showcases the ways that ransomware can set up camp inside computer systems without the use of phishing.
Being proactive is one of the best things you can do to safeguard against ransomware attacks. This means thinking ahead to what vulnerabilities may exist in your current computer network setup and addressing them before they’re used for cyber extortion.
There are several ways you can help reduce your exposure to cybercriminals by simply being alert to where they usually get in. The following sections offer information on how to set up the best possible defense against ransomware.
The best way to avoid the threat of being locked out of your critical files is to ensure that you always have backup copies of them, preferably in the cloud and on an external hard drive. This way, if you do get a ransomware infection, you can wipe your computer or device free and reinstall your files from backup. This protects your data, and you won’t be tempted to reward the malware authors by paying a ransom. Backups won’t prevent ransomware but they can help mitigate the risks.
Make sure your backup data isn’t accessible for modification or deletion from the systems where the data resides. Ransomware will look for data backups and encrypt or delete them so they can’t be recovered, so it’s important to use backup systems that don’t allow direct access to backup files.
Make sure all of your computers and devices are protected with comprehensive security software and keep all of your software up to date. Make sure you update your devices’ software early and often, as patches for flaws are typically included in each update.
Be careful where you click. Don’t respond to emails and text messages from people you don’t know and only download applications from trusted sources. This is important since malware authors often use social engineering to try to get you to install dangerous files.[Text Wrapping Break]
Avoid using public Wi-Fi networks since many of them aren’t secure and cybercriminals can snoop on your internet usage. Instead, consider installing a VPN like McAfee Secure VPN, which provides you with a secure connection to the internet no matter where you go.[Text Wrapping Break]
Keep current on the latest ransomware threats so you know what to look out for. In the case that you do get a ransomware infection and haven’t backed up all of your files, know that some decryption tools are made available by tech companies to help victims.
Ransomware attacks don’t have to spell disaster if you catch them in time and know what to do. If you suspect you’ve been hit with a ransomware attack, it’s important to act quickly.
Fortunately, there are several steps you can take to address ransomware issues quickly and have your computer systems return to business as usual in no time.
We’ve all spent more time online recently in the wake of the pandemic, and no one needs cybersecurity issues on their plates during this or any other time. The good news is that antivirus software is evolving rapidly and there are plenty of steps you can take to shield your computer systems from needless attacks like ransomware.
One surefire way to get peace of mind against hacker groups is to put your trust in the expert care of Total Protection services from McAfee. All of our plans come with a private VPN, antivirus protection, and safe-browsing features. This means you can live your connected life free from threats like ransomware, malware, and more.
With multiple affordable plans, there’s a McAfee protection plan for every person. It’s a small price to pay for staying one step ahead of ransomware attacks.
The post What Are Ransomware Attacks? An In-Depth Guide appeared first on McAfee Blog.
Smartphones and personal computers have enhanced our lives in so many ways that it can be hard to even imagine a world without them. The internet is an awesome place with endless opportunities and possibilities, but it’s also home to some seedy characters that can expose us to certain risks, like malvertising.
Malvertising, which is short for malicious advertising, attacks and compromises systems by spreading advertisements injected with malicious code. Legitimate advertising networks can then display these malicious advertisements without even knowing they’re infected.
In this article, we’ll take a closer look at what malvertising is and what you can do to secure your data and keep your information safe online. We’ll also provide some examples so you can fully understand how malvertising might be used.
Having a thorough understanding of malvertising is the first step toward keeping the internet a safe place for you and your family.
Since malvertising disguises malicious code inside legitimate online advertising, ad networks may find it hard to stop malvertising from appearing as legitimate ads.
Viewing malvertisements can put your personal information at risk, such as your identification information, contact details, and financial data. It can also alter or delete your information, hijack your computer functions, spy on your computer activities, and steal your data. And this all can happen without your knowledge.
The type of risk, though, depends on the programs that the malvertising successfully downloads onto your device. These programs can include:
Cybercriminals use various methods to inject infected code into online ads. Below are some examples of the types of malvertising that can pose a risk to your cybersecurity and exploit vulnerabilities on your devices.
Even highly reputable and popular websites, such as The New York Times, the BBC, Spotify, and AOL, have been targeted in the past by malicious ads, putting billions of visitors at risk. Any website can become a target.
Malvertising is often confused with ad malware. Both are forms of malware and involve infected advertisements, but they’re fundamentally different.
Malvertising uses malicious code that can cause harm to anyone viewing the infected advertisement, while adware is used to target individuals by forcing ads onto their devices to generate clicks. Users can get bombarded with pop-up ads, which can affect their devices. Adware also collects browsing information to sell to advertisers. This is often referred to as browser hijacking.
How to avoid malvertising as a web user
Taking the necessary steps to protect your online activities and personal identifying information can help shield you from malvertising attacks. Massive volumes of online ads are displayed every day, so it’s never been more important to safeguard yourself against any shady activity on the internet.
Taking a few steps can help you avoid malvertising and minimize your risk of identity theft.
With so much sensitive information being shared online, it’s never been more important to take the necessary steps to help keep your data and privacy safe.
McAfee Total Protection services can help increase cybersecurity on your devices and keep your identity private from hackers. We offer all-in-one protection so you can get the peace of mind you deserve while enjoying the internet.
All products include identity monitoring, automated privacy using a virtual private network (VPN), a password manager, a firewall, and much more. We also offer identity restoration assistance and up to $1 million in identity theft coverage to help relieve the burden of data breaches.
Get comprehensive identity protection from McAfee and get back to surfing the internet with confidence.
The post What Is Malvertising and How Do You Avoid It? appeared first on McAfee Blog.
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