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Protecting your devices with antivirus is a great start, yet it’s only one part of staying safer online. With the way scammers and thieves target people today, you need to protect yourself too—specifically your identity and privacy.
Threats have evolved over the years. While hackers still wage malware attacks on computers, tablets, and smartphones, the devices aren’t the ultimate target. You are. The personal and private information created and kept on your devices have tremendous value because scammers and thieves can use it to steal your identity, open credit cards in your name, and commit all kinds of identity theft and fraud.
Yet just as using antivirus protection can keep you safer online, using privacy and identity protection will keep you far safer still. Let’s look at how all three can work in concert.
Privacy protection focuses on keeping your information from getting into the hands of advertisers, cybercriminals, and data brokers who want to use it for their benefit. To boost your online privacy, consider a few thoughtful additions to your daily browsing, email, and social media routine.
First, think carefully about your social media habits. Do you post everything about your day and childhood, pin your location, and share photos of documents that include your full name, birthday, or address? You may want to consider cutting back on what you broadcast on the internet, especially if your account is public for anyone to view.
Unfortunately, while your friends and family may love your status updates, cybercriminals love them more. After only minutes of snooping, cybercriminals can glean enough personal details about you to impersonate you or target a social engineering attempt at you. To keep your private information more private, limit what you share on social media, pare down your follower and friend lists to only the closest people, and if your social media account platform supports it set your account to private.
One more way to protect your privacy is to use a virtual private network (VPN). A VPN allows you to remain far more anonymous online by shielding your location and device information, along with the data passing along your connection—which includes things like your passwords, account information, and other sensitive info.
A VPN offers further protection when you’re logged on to a public network, like those in coffee shops, libraries, and transportation hubs. Cybercriminals often lurk on non-password-protected Wi-Fi networks and eavesdrop on people paying bills or online shopping to steal their credentials.
However, criminals aren’t the only ones who intrude on your privacy. Online data brokers collect thousands of data points on millions of people, then post bits of that information for anyone to see and offer far more detailed information for a price.
Who buys this information? More legitimate purposes include people conducting background checks, journalists, law enforcement, and, largely, advertisers. With such in-depth information, advertisers can target highly specific audiences with their ads, all based on personal information that can include shopping habits from customer loyalty cards, health data from fitness apps, and information scraped from public social media posts—just to name a few of the umpteen sources they draw from.
Yet data brokers won’t discriminate. They’ll sell to scammers and thieves as well, who can then use that personal information to help them commit identity fraud and theft.
However, you can do something about this. Personal data cleanup can scan some of the riskiest data broker sites and show you which ones are selling your personal info. It can also provide guidance on how you can remove your data from those sites and can even manage the removal for you. And because data brokers continually update their data, personal data cleanup will continue to monitor those sites and help you get your information removed should it crop up again.
In all, if you feel that your privacy shouldn’t be up for grabs, a personal data cleanup service can
Another form of protection focuses on keeping you safer from identity theft and fraud. Here, thieves will steal personal and account information to rack up charges on existing credit and debit cards, open entirely new accounts and lines of credit, or impersonating the victim themselves for employment, health insurance coverage, or to commit other crimes in someone else’s name.
A few forms of identity crime include:
This list provides just a few examples, yet in all its forms, identity crime can affect your finances, credit score, and ability to secure loans, a mortgage, or future credit cards.
One way to keep your identity secure is to guard your PII carefully. Never give out your Social Security Number unless it’s necessary—such for employment, opening bank and credit accounts, applying for public assistance, filing tax returns, or obtaining a driver’s license. While other businesses may ask you for your Social Security Number for identification purposes, you are not legally bound to provide it. You can ask to provide an alternate form. Also, never share it over email or text where it can be potentially intercepted.
Beyond your Social Security Number, you can take steps to protect the many other forms of personal information you have. An identity monitoring service can keep tabs on everything from email addresses to IDs and phone numbers for signs of breaches so you can take action to secure your accounts before they’re used for identity theft. Likewise, credit monitoring can watch for unusual credit activity that could be an indicator of identity theft as well.
Should the unfortunate occur, identity theft & recovery coverage like ours can help you get back on track in several ways. First, it provides $1 million in identity theft coverage that covers travel expenses, legal fees, and stolen funds reimbursement. Additionally, it provides the assistance of a licensed identity theft recovery pro who can help you repair your identity and credit.
The third form of protection involves our devices, like computers, tablets, and phones—protecting them from both physical and digital threats.
The first step you can take is to use a password, PIN, facial recognition, or other form of lock to keep your devices safer in the event of loss or theft. With this protection, your device is effectively an open book, providing a thief with access to all manner of personal information, accounts, and apps.
Taking this protection a step further is learning to remotely locate your devices and then lock or wipe them. Many laptops and mobile devices offer location tracking services to help find a lost device—and yet others allow the owner to remotely lock or even wipe the contents of that device if they fear it’s lost for good or fallen into the wrong hands.
It’s all rather straightforward, and device manufacturers have put up helpful web pages that can walk you through the process:
Another good step you can take is to back up your files, whether with an online cloud service, a physical external drive, or both. By storing your files in the cloud, you can recover them quickly if your device is stolen and you have to remotely wipe its contents. Storing them on an external drive also lets you recover your files if your device is stolen, however, you’ll want to keep it in a secure location so that it can’t be stolen as well. Options include a fireproof safe where you keep other valuables or even a safe deposit box. The drawback is that you will have to back up files manually and regularly whereas cloud backup is practically automatic when you’re connected to the internet.
Another component of device security is defending against malicious software. Viruses and malware can make their way onto your devices through several avenues, including sketchy websites, dishonest downloads, phishing schemes, and clicking on ads. The challenge is that several of these avenues can look rather legitimate at first glance. Sophisticated hackers, scammers, and thieves have learned how to make their bogus websites and search results look like the real thing. One way you can prevent making a bad click or downloading an attachment loaded with malware is to use web advisor software that can protect you while you browse.
And finally, yes, antivirus is a must now just as it’s ever been. When kept up to date with the latest updates, it can prevent malware from getting onto your devices—plus scan, detect, and delete viruses and malware from your devices should they make their way onto them.
The threats out there are many, and they go beyond threats to your devices. Hackers, scammers, and thieves are quite interested in you. Your accounts, your personal information, and anything they can grab to commit theft or fraud. Protecting yourself today calls for not only protecting your devices but your privacy and identity too.
Comprehensive online protection software like ours covers all three—privacy, identity, and devices. It includes the protections mentioned above, plus dozens of features more such as ransomware coverage, credit freezes, security locks, and an online protection score that shows you just how safe you are, along with suggestions that can make you safer still.
In all, it gives you far more control over your privacy and personal information, control that should rest in your hands, and not in the hands of data brokers, hackers, scammers, and thieves.
The post Privacy, Identity, and Device Protection: Why You Need to Invest in All Three appeared first on McAfee Blog.
The internet provides plenty of fun and exciting opportunities for you and your family, from sharing on social media to online shopping. To help you enjoy every minute of it, though, it’s good to be aware of what less savory characters are up to.
And they sure have been busy. In fact, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) received 2.1 million fraud reports in 2020. What is identity theft? Well, it’s the fraudulent use of another individual’s name and details for personal gain.
Those affected by identity fraud may see a dip in their finances and credit scores. They may also deal with anxiety around financial security going forward. However, while it’s important to be aware of the threat of identity theft, this shouldn’t be cause for alarm. There are plenty of tools and techniques that can help protect you and your family so you can continue to enjoy everything modern technology has to offer.
The first step in protecting yourself? Educate yourself. Understanding the different types of identity theft can help you safeguard yourself and your loved ones so that you can continue all your favorite online activities. Here we’ll define and explore the different types of identity theft to watch out for.
We’ve all probably heard of identity theft, but what is it? Identity theft is when someone uses another person’s financial or personal data, usually for monetary gain. This means a fraudster may take sensitive information like names, birthdates, Social Security numbers, driver’s license details, addresses, and bank account numbers or credit card numbers. They might then use this information to make purchases, open credit cards, and even use health insurance to get medical care.
A little knowledge can go a long way in stopping cybercriminals in their tracks — especially since they’re becoming more sophisticated and coming up with new schemes every day.
Here are five common types of identity theft to help you stay one step ahead of hackers.
Financial identity theft is when one person uses another’s personal data for financial benefit. This is the most common form of identity theft (including the credit card example described above). Financial identity theft can take multiple forms, including:
The good news is that it’s easy to protect yourself against financial identity theft by checking your bank accounts, credit card statements, and bills. If you see an unexplained charge, contact your credit card company or bank immediately to report it. Also, check your credit report for changes in your score. An unexplained decrease in your score could mean fraudulent activity. You can do this through AnnualCreditReport.com, where you can get a free credit report every 12 months from each of the three major credit bureaus.
Another idea is to place a one-year fraud alert on your credit reports to keep people from opening new accounts in your name. This encourages creditors and lenders to take extra precautions to verify your identity before granting any loans or credit increases. You can also place a security freeze on your credit report, which blocks others from accessing it to extend credit.
This might not seem like a real form of identity theft, but it happens. Medical identity theft is when a criminal poses as another person to obtain health care services. In fact, fraudsters may use your name and insurance information to:
This can result in you having bills for prescriptions, services, or devices you didn’t need, ask for, or even receive. Your health care and insurance records may even have these things added to them. An inaccurate medical record can make it harder for you to get the care you need in the future and even impact insurance coverage.
Fortunately, you can help minimize the risk of medical identity theft by regularly reviewing your medical claims. Contact your insurer if you see unfamiliar procedures, prescriptions, or services. You’ll also want to let your health care provider know so that they can ensure your medical files are correct. Finally, consider filing a complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
Criminal identity theft occurs when a person arrested by law enforcement uses someone else’s name instead of providing theirs. They might be able to pass this off by creating a fake ID or using a stolen ID, like your driver’s license, to show to the police. This type of fraud can be difficult to detect until the consequences are evident, like:
You can help protect yourself against criminal identity theft by safeguarding your ID. If your license or state-issued ID is lost or stolen, report it to the local Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and law enforcement. Also, limit the information you share online (and encourage family members to do the same). For example, if your teen got their first driver’s license and wants to share a pic of it on social media, explain why this isn’t a good idea.
As one of the fastest-growing types of financial crime in the U.S., synthetic identity theft involves creating fake identities using real people’s information. Fraudsters may use data like birthdates, addresses, and Social Security numbers from real people, blending them to create a fake profile. They can then use this persona to apply for loans or credit cards or commit other financial crimes. Kids and older adults tend to be vulnerable to this type of fraud since they rarely use their SSNs.
The most important thing about synthetic identity theft is knowing the signs and acting fast. Keep an eye out for any mail with your address on it but addressed to a different name and phone calls or mail about new credit accounts. You can further protect yourself by regularly checking your credit reports for unexplained changes and placing a security freeze on them.
There are also identity monitoring services available, which scan the internet, including the dark web, for breached Social Security numbers. If you suspect you or a loved one is the victim of synthetic identity theft, contact the relevant financial institutions to alert them.
We all want to protect our children from bad actors, especially when it comes to identity theft. Child identity theft involves using a minor’s information to commit financial fraud, like opening a new account or line of credit under the child’s name. The thief may even use the child’s identity to get a driver’s license, apply for government benefits, or buy a house. This is often easier than targeting an adult because most kids don’t have credit reports or financial accounts, making them a clean slate.
Unfortunately, child identity theft is often perpetrated within the family by a relative who has access to the child’s data like their birthdate and address. And many children don’t realize they’ve been targeted until they’re older — for example, when they try to take out a student loan. By this point, the issue may have been escalating for years. So, it’s important as a parent to be aware of child identity theft.
The best way to do this is to check whether your child has a credit report with any of the three big credit bureaus (TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian). If so, review the report and report any fraudulent activity. You can also place a freeze on your child’s credit report to help minimize the risk of future fraud.
No one wants to be left in the dark when it comes to identity theft, so knowing the signs can help you spot it and take action quickly. This can help stop fraud in its tracks, minimizing both immediate damage and long-term repercussions. Some warning signs that may indicate identity theft include:
You can also increase your odds of recognizing identity theft with tools like McAfee’s identity protection services. Our continual monitoring can keep tabs on over 60 types of personal information, which allows us to quickly identify security issues, alerting you to potential breaches so that you can fix them. We’ll also notify you up to 10 months sooner than similar services. By combining the best practices described above with a comprehensive identity protection service, you can worry less about identity theft and spend more time enjoying the internet.
The internet makes daily life easier in many ways. You can now learn, work, play, and shop online. You shouldn’t have to forego these conveniences because of the threat of identity theft.
McAfee’s identity theft protection services can help keep you and your loved ones safe. McAfee uses extensive monitoring and an early detection system to notify you of potential risks or breaches. You’ll also have access to 24/7 online security experts and up to $1 million of identity theft coverage. Get the peace of mind you need to continue using the internet with confidence.
The post 5 Common Types of Identity Theft appeared first on McAfee Blog.
We’re online more than ever, in large part because it allows us to take advantage of online conveniences like bill pay and booking appointments. But these many benefits might also leave us exposed to risks, like identity theft.
Identity theft is characterized by one person using another’s personal or financial data for their benefit. Cybercriminals may take information like a person’s name, birthday, Social Security number, driver’s license number, home address, and bank account information and use it for their benefit. A name and matching financial information, for instance, can be used to apply for credit cards or open new accounts.
The good news is that you can safeguard yourself and your family with some best practices — allowing you to enjoy your best life online and worry less about cybercriminals. Share these 10 tips with your family to help keep your entire household safe.
A good habit to get into is to password-protect your computer, tablet, and mobile devices through unique, strong passwords. These devices are home to some of your most sensitive information, including everything from emails to apps that connect to your bank accounts. So, if these devices fall into the wrong hands, a password makes it harder to access your personal data.
Take some time to come up with your passwords, though. It’s important to create strong passwords that hackers can’t guess. A strong password will include a mix of symbols, numbers, and letters. Steer clear of simple passwords like “123456” (it might seem obvious, but this is one of the most common passwords people use). Also, avoid including information that other people can guess, like your birthdate, home address, or name.
Don’t forget to use different passwords for different accounts. If you use the same password across multiple accounts, and a fraudster gains access to one account, they may access the others. Fortunately, McAfee’s identity protection services include a password manager, which can help secure your account credentials across multiple devices. This tool encrypts passwords, storing them safely and making it easy to keep track of them.
Identity thieves are skilled at leveraging new technologies. Phishing is one great example of this. Phishing involves criminals masquerading as trustworthy entities, such as government agencies or banks, and using this trusted position to get sensitive information. Phishing scams started with traditional mail. They’re now also done via phone, text, and email.
As a general rule of thumb, never give out any personal information when contacted by a business, bank, or another entity. Also, make sure your email spam filters detect phishing attempts. Never open emails from people you don’t know, and don’t download email attachments without knowing what they are. Some phishing emails include malware, which can infiltrate your device and access personal data. A McAfee Total Protection plan is an all-in-one protection solution that can help you detect and avoid malware.
Fraudulent websites may also use phishing techniques. A website may look similar to the legitimate website of a mortgage lender, bank, or credit card company but might be a fraudulent platform seeking to get information from consumers. Always verify that any website you visit is the legitimate website of the institution, and consider McAfee antivirus software, which offers a safe browsing solution.
When financial identity theft occurs, this can also impact financial institutions like banks and lenders. So, they’re eager to prevent fraud, as well. One way they do this is through fraud alerts. You can set up your online banking to issue fraud alerts — for example, via an email, text message, or phone call — if your bank suspects suspicious activity on your account.
In some cases, a bank will also freeze your account until you verify whether the activity is legitimate. This is a common tactic used to protect against credit card fraud. Geo-control is one example: If you live in the U.S., but a German IP address uses your credit card, your credit card provider will likely issue an alert. You can also set up alerts for certain transaction amounts or types.
Your credit report is one of the most powerful tools you have at your disposal for catching identity thieves and stopping them in their tracks. You’re entitled to a free credit report every 12 months via AnnualCreditReport.com, an initiative of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). You can get a free copy of your report from each major credit bureau: Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion.
Review your report thoroughly, checking for inaccuracies. When credit monitoring, check your:
If you find any discrepancies, contact the appropriate credit reporting company. You should also contact the relevant financial institution and visit IdentityTheft.gov. You can report the suspected identity theft and find resources to help you recover.
Social media is great for connecting with others online, but it does open the door to some vulnerabilities. Be careful about what you post, and steer clear of sharing personal details like your home address, children’s names, pet’s names, or birthdays, which some people use as passwords. If a social media platform offers two-factor authentication, opt in.
Images are another touchy subject. Never post photos that include private data, like a picture of your passport or vaccine card. Consider what’s in the background of any photos — from your home (with a house number) to mail with your address. Finally, you may want to set your visibility to private on all social media accounts, limiting who can view them. And even if your account is private, you should still follow the above tips.
Some identity thieves get people’s personal information by dumpster diving. One solution? Invest in a paper shredder. You’ll be able to shred documents into tiny bits that are hard to piece together, making it that much harder for someone else to piece together any personal information they contain.
Here are some documents worth shredding:
If you’re not sure whether something needs to be shredded, go ahead and destroy it. It only takes seconds, and you’re better off safe than sorry.
Whether you use a computer, tablet, or mobile device for many of your online activities, like paying bills, these devices contain a lot of personal data. So, it’s good to protect them from hackers. Install antivirus software like McAfee’s to protect against viruses and spyware. It would be best if you also had a firewall, which is a network security system that controls the incoming and outgoing network traffic based on set security parameters.
To take your device security a step further, you may also want to invest in a virtual private network (VPN). This helps hide your online activity. It can safeguard against hackers on public networks but is also worth using at home. It hides details like browsing activity, personal data, and IP address from potential snoops. McAfee also offers VPN services.
While your computer, tablet, or mobile device may hold a great deal of personal data, you likely also have hard copies of sensitive documents worth protecting. Documents like your birth certificate, Social Security card, and passport contain valuable information that identity thieves can use for personal gain, so you want to make sure they’re kept in a safe space.
Don’t simply shove these documents into your desk drawer. It’s best to keep them in a locked, fireproof home safe with a secure code. To keep things organized, put each document in a protective plastic sleeve and put the sleeves in a binder. This can be useful if you have a large family and need to keep track of everyone’s data.
Sophisticated hackers don’t just target individuals. They may also try to infiltrate businesses, government agencies, higher education institutions, health care facilities, and any other organization that gathers sensitive consumer information. If an entity is subject to a data breach, they’re legally required to notify any consumers who may have been impacted.
However, it’s still good to inform yourself about potential breaches that may affect you. Larger-scale data security risks are usually reported in the media. We also post about data breaches on the McAfee blog. If an entity you do business with has been affected, change your passwords and the passwords of any related accounts immediately.
Knowing possible signs of identity theft can help you catch it early so that you can continue to enjoy your time online. Educate yourself and your family about these warning signs, ensuring everybody stays safe. Here are some possible indications identity thieves have targeted you:
The internet keeps all of us connected, but that’s why identity theft protection is important. With people increasingly connected, doing more, and sharing more online, cybercriminals can pinpoint weaknesses and take advantage. Hackers are ready to leverage your information for personal gain, and identity theft is no exception.
McAfee is here to help. McAfee’s identity protection services provide 24/7 monitoring of your email addresses and bank accounts, providing up to $1 million worth of ID theft coverage. You deserve to enjoy the comfort offered by the internet without stressing about identity theft. Implement the best practices above in your household so that you and your loved ones can stay connected with confidence.
The post 10 Ways to Protect Your Identity appeared first on McAfee Blog.
Did you just get word that your personal information may have been caught up in a data breach? If so, you can take steps to protect yourself from harm should your info get into the hands of a scammer or thief.
How does that information get collected in the first place? We share personal information with companies for multiple reasons simply by going about our day—to pay for takeout at our favorite restaurant, to check into a hotel, or to collect rewards at the local coffee shop. Of course, we use our credit and debit cards too, sometimes as part of an online account that tracks our purchase history.
In other words, we leave trails of data practically wherever we go these days, and that data is of high value to hackers. Thus, all those breaches we read about.
Whether it’s a major breach that exposes millions of records or one of many other smaller-scale breaches like the thousands that have struck healthcare providers, each one serves as a reminder that data breaches happen regularly and that we could find ourselves affected. Depending on the breach and the kind of information you’ve shared with the business or organization in question, information stolen in a breach could include:
What do crooks do with that data? Several things. Apart from using it themselves, they may sell that data to other criminals. Either way, this can lead to illicit use of credit and debit cards, draining of bank accounts, claiming tax refunds or medical expenses in the names of the victims, or, in extreme cases, assuming the identity of others altogether.
In all, data is a kind of currency in of itself because it has the potential to unlock several aspects of victim’s life, each with its own monetary value. It’s no wonder that big breaches like these have made the news over the years, with some of the notables including:
As mentioned, these are big breaches with big companies that we likely more than recognize. Yet smaller and mid-sized businesses are targets as well, with some 43% of data breaches involving companies of that size. Likewise, restaurants and retailers have seen their Point-of-Sale (POS) terminals compromised, right on down to neighborhood restaurants.
When a company experiences a data breach, customers need to realize that this could impact their online safety. If your favorite coffee shop’s customer database gets leaked, there’s a chance that your personal or financial information was exposed. However, this doesn’t mean that your online safety is doomed. If you think you were affected by a breach, you can take several steps to protect yourself from the potential side effects.
One of the most effective ways to determine whether someone is fraudulently using one or more of your accounts is to check your statements. If you see any charges that you did not make, report them to your bank or credit card company immediately. They have processes in place to handle fraud. While you’re with them, see if they offer alerts for strange purchases, transactions, or withdrawals.
Our credit monitoring service can help you keep an eye on this. It monitors changes to your credit score, report, and accounts with timely notifications and guidance so you can take action to tackle identity theft.
Breached and stolen information often ends up in dark web marketplaces where hackers, scammers, and thieves purchase it to commit yet more crime. Once it was difficult to know if your information was caught up in such marketplaces, yet now an identity monitoring service can do the detective work for you.
Our service monitors the dark web for your personal info, including email, government IDs, credit card and bank account info, and more. This can help keep your personal info safe with early alerts that show you if your data is found on the dark web, an average of 10 months ahead of similar services. From there, you’ll get guidance that you can act on, which can help protect your info and accounts from theft.
If you suspect that your data might have been compromised, place a fraud alert on your credit. This not only ensures that any new or recent requests undergo scrutiny, but also allows you to have extra copies of your credit report so you can check for suspicious activity. You can place one fraud alert with any of the three major credit reporting agencies (Equifax, Experian, TransUnion) and they will notify the other two. A fraud alert typically lasts for a year, although there are options for extending it as well.
Freezing your credit will make it highly difficult for criminals to take out loans or open new accounts in your name, as a freeze halts all requests to pull your credit—even legitimate ones. In this way, it’s a far stronger measure than placing a fraud alert. Note that if you plan to take out a loan, open a new credit card, or other activity that will prompt a credit report, you’ll need to take extra steps to see that through while the freeze is in place. (The organization you’re working with can assist with the specifics.) Unlike the fraud alert, you’ll need to contact each major credit reporting agency to put one in place. Also, a freeze lasts as long as you have it in place. You’ll have to remove it yourself, again with each agency.
You can centrally manage this process with our security freeze service, which stops companies from looking at your credit profile, and thus halts the application process for loans, credit cards, utilities, new bank accounts, and more. A security freeze won’t affect your credit score.
Ensure that your passwords are strong and unique. Many people utilize the same password or variations of it across all their accounts. Therefore, be sure to diversify your passcodes to ensure hackers cannot obtain access to all your accounts at once, should one password be compromised. You can also employ a password manager to keep track of your credentials, such as the one you’ll find in comprehensive online protection software.
If the unfortunate happens to you, an identity theft coverage & restoration service can help you get back on your feet. Ours offers $1 million in coverage for lawyer fees, travel expenses, and stolen funds reimbursement. It further provides support from a licensed recovery expert who can take the needed steps to repair your identity and credit. In all, it helps you recover the costs of identity theft along with the time and money it takes to recover from it.
You can take this step any time, even if you haven’t been caught up in a data breach. The fact is that data broker companies collect and sell thousands of pieces of information on millions and millions of people worldwide, part of a global economy estimated at $200 billion U.S. dollars a year. And they’ll sell it to anyone—from advertisers for their campaigns, to scammers who will use it for spammy emails, texts, and calls, and to thieves who use that information for identity theft.
Yet you can clean it up. Our personal data cleanup service can scan some of the riskiest data broker sites and show you which ones are selling your personal info. It also provides guidance on how you can remove your data from those sites and, with select products, even manage the removal for you.
Comprehensive online protection software will offer you the tools and services listed above, along with further features that can protect you online. That includes a VPN to keep your time online more private from online data collection while protecting it from thieves who’re out to steal credit card and account information. It also includes web browsing protection that can warn you of sketchy websites and malicious downloads that look to steal your information. In all, it’s thorough protection for your devices, privacy, and identity. And in a time of data breaches, that kind of protection has become essential.
The post How to Protect Yourself From Identity Theft After a Data Breach appeared first on McAfee Blog.
Most of us use the internet every day, so we’re comfortable sharing a lot of information online. However, cybercriminals want us to get a bit too comfortable so they can take our personal or financial data and use it for their benefit. This is called identity theft, and it can cost people money and may dip their credit score.
Fortunately, you can help minimize what happens by knowing the signs of identity theft and taking fast action when you recognize them. Find out how below.
Being online comes with many benefits, but it can also come with some risks. Identity theft usually begins with the criminal accessing sensitive personal data, such as Social Security numbers, birth dates, home addresses, bank account information, and driver’s license details. The fraudster can then take this information to fake your identity, using it to take out credit cards, apply for loans, and more.
Here’s a quick look at some ways identity thieves can get their hands on your valuable data:
There are many ways thieves can get their hands on your data. Luckily, there are ways you can protect yourself against these methods. For example, you can protect your computer, tablet, or mobile device against hackers by equipping it with a strong password and safeguarding against phishing by adding a firewall and utilizing a virtual private network (VPN) like those offered by McAfee.
With some best practices, you can protect your data and help safeguard you and your family against identity theft. One way to continue living your best life online is to watch for potential warning signs of identity theft. This ensures you can take fast action and minimize the effects if you’re targeted. Here are some essential signs to look out for.
Financial identity theft is one of the most common types of identity theft, and credit cards are a popular target. The rise in online shopping has made credit card fraud even more common.
Your online banking portal or app should allow you to set up alerts to email, call, or text you about suspected fraudulent credit card charges. If you get an alert, someone may have taken your identity.
If you apply for a loan or line of credit and your application is denied, dig deeper. A rejection could indicate that your credit score is lower than you thought, possibly due to fraudulent activity. For example, someone may use your information to get new credit cards and not pay them off, leaving you responsible.
Changes in your credit score can indicate identity theft. For example, if someone takes out utility bills in your name and doesn’t pay them, your credit score may dip. Checking your credit report from each of the three major credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion) can help pinpoint the problem.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) allows U.S. consumers to get a free credit report every 12 months. Just visit AnnualCreditReport.com to get a copy of yours from the credit reporting agencies. You can also pay for credit monitoring services to track your score.
Once identity thieves obtain enough data, including your name and address, they might be able to open new accounts and credit cards. When you check your credit report, keep an eye out for new accounts that you didn’t open. Another red flag is if you start getting bank statements or bills addressed to you for accounts you don’t recognize.
Companies are required to notify customers of data breaches that could impact them. For example, if you save your payment information and home address on a music streaming provider’s website and their database is hacked, identity thieves may get your data. Keep an eye out for notifications and read the news. The McAfee blog is another great resource for information on data breaches.
If debt collectors start calling, be cautious, especially if they’re referring to accounts you aren’t familiar with. Don’t provide personal information to any collection agencies that call, as this can be a potential phishing scam. However, it’s a good idea to follow up on these cases by checking your credit report for new accounts. You could be liable if someone opened accounts under your name and didn’t pay them.
Medical theft occurs when a fraudster imitates another person to get health care or supplies. For example, a person might use your identity to get prescription medication at a pharmacy. If you get unfamiliar medical bills, follow up. Incorrect medical records could impact your insurance premiums or interfere with your ability to get the care you need in the future.
This could be an indicator of synthetic identity theft. This occurs when a fraudster creates a fake identity using various people’s real information. For example, they may use your address and Social Security number and another person’s photo to create a fake persona that’s creditworthy. They can then take out credit cards in that fake person’s name.
If you receive a confirmation of an annual tax filing before you’ve filed, take note. Criminals may try to file a tax return for another person to access their tax refund. Alternatively, you may find that you’re unable to e-file your taxes, which can occur if someone else has already filed under your name.
No one wants their identity stolen, but it’s still good to be prepared if it does happen. If you notice the above red flags, here are some steps you may need to take:
You may also want to visit IdentityTheft.gov to report identity theft and find resources to help guide your recovery plan.
Worries about identity fraud shouldn’t prevent your household from enjoying the benefits of a connected world. McAfee’s identity theft protection services can help you enjoy everyday conveniences while keeping you safe. Packages can be tailored to your needs, including 24/7 monitoring, ID theft coverage, VPN services, and more. It’s guided online protection made easy.
The post 9 Ways to Determine If Your Identity Has Been Stolen appeared first on McAfee Blog.
What’s the difference between identity fraud and identity theft? Well, it’s subtle, so much so that it’s easy to use them nearly interchangeably. While both can take a bite out of your wallet, they are different—and knowing the differences can help you know understand what’s at stake.
Let’s start with an overview and a few examples of each.
So there’s that subtle difference we mentioned. Identity fraud involves misuse of an existing account. Identity theft means the theft of your personal information, which is then used to impersonate you in some way, such as opening new accounts in your name.
Above and beyond those definitions and examples, a couple of real-life examples put the differences in perspective as well.
As for identity fraud, individual cases of fraud don’t always make the headlines, but that’s not to say you won’t hear about it a couple of different ways.
The first way may be news stories about data breaches, where hackers gain things like names, emails, and payment information from companies or organizations. (Chipotle, RobinHood, and T-Mobile being recent examples.) That info can then end up in the hands of a fraudster, who then accesses those accounts to drain funds or make purchases.
On a smaller scale, you may know someone who has had to get a new credit or debit card because theirs was compromised, perhaps by a breach or by mistakenly making a payment through an insecure website or by visiting a phony login page as part of a phishing attack. These can lead to fraud as well.
Identity theft took on new forms during the pandemic, such as was the case of a Rhode Island man charged with nearly half a million dollars in a pandemic unemployment fraud case. Authorities allege that the man-made 85 unemployment claims in 2020 using the identities of several other people.
Similarly, a Massachusetts man was sentenced for filing fraudulent claims for relief funds, as well as open store credit accounts using fake identities. Court proceedings alleged that the personal information used to commit this fraud came from several sources, including information stolen from a realty company that collected that information from potential renters.
Identity theft can stem from the workplace as well, such as the sentencing of a Maryland man who used stolen lists of personal information from his former employer. From there, he was found guilty of garnering more than a million dollars in funds from food assistance programs and fraudulent car loans.
Identity theft can run far deeper than these examples. Because it effectively allows someone else to pose as you, an identity thief can do more than drain your accounts. They can also claim health insurance benefits, file taxes in your name, or possibly purchase the property. Further, an identity thief can potentially get a job, driver’s license, or other forms of ID in your name, which could ruin your credit history, reputation, or even create a police record in your name.
So while both identity fraud and identity theft are certainly something you want to prevent, identity theft holds the potential to affect far-reaching aspects of your life—which marks a distinct difference between the two.
It usually starts with someone saying anything from, “That’s strange …” to “Oh, no!” There’ll be a strange charge on your credit card bill, a piece of mail from a bill collector, or a statement from an account you never opened—just to name a few things.
With that, I have a few recent blogs that help you spot all kinds of identity crime, along with advice to help keep it from happening to you in the first place:
While there are differences between identity fraud and identity theft, they do share a couple of things in common: you can take steps to prevent them, and you can take steps to limit their impact should you find yourself faced with one or the other.
The articles called out above will give you the details, yet staying safe begins with vigilance. Check on your accounts and credit reports regularly and really scrutinize what’s happening in them. Consider covering yourself with an —and act on anything that looks strange or outright fishy by reporting it to the company or institution in question.
The post What’s the Difference Between Identity Fraud and Identity Theft? appeared first on McAfee Blog.
The internet is meant for all to enjoy. And that’s who we’re looking out for—you and everyone who wants to enjoy life online.
We believe it’s important that someone has your back like that, particularly where some of today’s hacks and attacks can leave people feeling a little uneasy from time to time. You’ve probably seen stories about data breaches at big companies pop up in your news feed. Or perhaps you or someone you know had their debit or credit card number hacked. Problems like these are out there, unfortunate thorns in the side of the internet we’ve come to love. Yet while these issues persist, there’s plenty you can do to avoid them.
That’s where we have your back—doing all we can to make life online enjoyable for everyone, with protection that helps people finally feel safe and stay that way.
The reality is that nobody wants to deal with hackers, malware, and other attacks crop up on the internet. And while it’s important to be aware of those things, we’d rather that you didn’t have to worry about them. Protection should come easy. Whether it’s keeping your banking, shopping, and streaming secure, along with your privacy and personal info too, protection should feel simple and tailored to you. That’s what we strive for.
So as you think about protecting your life online, take a moment to consider what you’re protecting. As you do, you’ll see that it means far more than protecting your computers, phones, and other devices. Ultimately, it’s about protecting you, and all the important things connected to you. You can think of it in three ways …
What’s among the top things people say they want to protect? Their photos. Not far behind photos are all manner of digital treasures that people like to keep close, which ranges anywhere from music they’ve downloaded to old voicemails of their children, nieces, and nephews that they’ve saved over the years. Without a doubt, we have plenty of things stored on our computers and phones that we simply couldn’t do without.
Protecting these things means protecting the devices you use to store and access them. Installing comprehensive online protection software like ours is the first step. In addition to award-winning antivirus software and firewall protection to help keep hackers at bay (and away from your photos and other precious files), it goes a step further.
Our new Online Protection Score shows you just how safe you are and guides you through simple steps that can seal up gaps and improve your protection overall. In all, it’s a personalized and simple way to make sure you’re protected as possible and continually make improvements as they’re needed. It’s a way of getting expert protection without being an expert.
There’s also the “Important Stuff” in life, like our financial records, tax returns, and all the banking that we do on our phones and computers. And let’s throw shopping into mix because shopping’s important too! You can protect the important things like this, which can help hackers out of your business.
For starters, you can protect your important files three ways with our online protection by using a combination of the McAfee® File Lock and Shredder features to manage your privacy:
You can lock down your privacy even further with a VPN that can shield you automatically from snooping attacks online, whether at home or when using public Wi-Fi. It creates an encrypted connection that works like a private tunnel that hides your IP address and the things you’re doing online from cybercrooks. It’s ideal for keeping your sensitive personal information like your financial data, passwords, and browsing history hidden from both hackers and websites.
And here’s another big help. A password manager. You likely have dozens of passwords, plus a few more that you’ve probably forgotten about. You can protect your passwords and the accounts associated with them with a password manager that creates and securely stores a strong, unique password for each of your accounts. Plus, you can use it to update those passwords on the regular. Few things make it tougher for hackers than strong, unique passwords that get changed often. In a time of data breaches and account theft, a password manager is a great call.
While it’s important to focus on protecting things like laptops, phones, photos, files, and data, you’re ultimately protecting something far greater You. Your privacy, your personal information, your accounts, all the things that taken together make you—you. The thing is that our lives are more fluid and mobile than ever before. One moment we’re banking on our laptop, the next we’re splitting the cost of dinner with a payment on our phone. The constant here is you. You’re at the center of all this activity regardless of the device you’re using. The same goes for your family and the people you care about.
That’s why we protect people, not just their devices.
McAfee Identity Protection Service monitors the dark web for your personal info such as emails and associated passwords, up to 60 different types of critical info. If we detect that your data was stolen, you’ll get immediate alerts on the devices of your choice and guidance on how to secure your info quickly and effectively. In all, you can keep tabs on your identity any time you’re connected to the internet, and if an issue crops up you can click, solve, and carry on.
Extended identity protection offers up the extra comfort of knowing that you have licensed recovery pros on the case if identity theft does happen to you. This includes monitoring and restoration services, along with identity theft insurance for lawyer fees, travel expenses, lost wages, and more.
While that’s just a few of the ways McAfee has your back, we hope it gives you a good sense of what online protection should do—how it should protect you and all the things connected to you. And on today’s internet, that’s quite a bit. There’s so much to experience online today, and we believe you should enjoy all of it, freely and with the confidence that comes from knowing you’re safe.
The post The Internet is for Everyone to Enjoy—We’re Helping See to It appeared first on McAfee Blog.
It happens with more regularity than any of us like to see. There’s either a headline in your news feed or an email from a website or service you have an account with—there’s been a data breach. So what do you do when you find out that you and your information may have been caught up in a data breach? While it can feel like things are out of your hands, there are actually several things you can do to protect yourself.
Let’s start with a look at what kind of information may be at stake and why crooks value that information so much (it’s more reasons than you may think).
The fact is that plenty of our information is out there on the internet, simply because we go about so much of our day online, whether that involves shopping, banking, getting results from our doctors, or simply hopping online to play a game once in a while.
Naturally, that means the data in any given breach will vary from service to service and platform to platform involved. Certainly, a gaming service will certainly have different information about you than your insurance company. Yet broadly speaking, there’s a broad range of information about you stored in various places, which could include:
As to what gets exposed and when you might find out about it, that can vary greatly as well. One industry research report found that 60% of breaches were discovered in just days from the initial attack while others could take months or even longer to detect. Needless to say, the timeline can get rather stretched before word reaches you, which is a good reason to change your passwords regularly should any of them get swept up in a breach. (An outdated password does a hacker no good—more on that in a bit.)
The answer is plenty. In all, personal information like that listed above has a dollar value to it. In a way, your data and information are a kind of currency because they’re tied to everything from your bank accounts, investments, insurance payments—even tax returns and personal identification like driver’s licenses.
With this information in hand, a crook can commit several types of identity crime—ranging from fraud to theft. In the case of fraud, that could include running up a bill on one of your credits cards or draining one of your bank accounts. In the case of theft, that could see crooks impersonate you so they can open new accounts or services in your name. Beyond that, they may attempt to claim your tax refund or potentially get ID issued in your name as well.
Another possibility is that a hacker will simply sell that information on the dark marketplace, perhaps in large clumps or as individual pieces of information that go for a few dollars each. However it gets sold, these dark-market practices allow other fraudsters and thieves to take advantage of your identity for financial or other gains.
Most breaches are financially motivated, with some researchers saying nearly 90% of breaches are about the money. However, we’ve also seen hackers simply dump stolen information out there for practically anyone to see. The motivations behind them vary, yet could involve anything from damaging the reputation of an organization to cases of revenge.
A list of big data breaches is a blog article of its own, yet here’s a quick list of some of the largest and most impactful breaches we’ve seen in recent years:
Needless to say, it’s not just the big companies that get hit. Healthcare facilities have seen their data breached, along with the operations of popular restaurants. Small businesses find themselves in the crosshairs as well, with one report stating that 43% of data leaks target small businesses. Those may come by way of an attack on where those businesses store their records, a disgruntled employee, or by way of a compromised point-of-sale terminal in their store, office, or location.
In short, when it comes to data breaches, practically any business is a potential target because practically every business is online in some form or fashion. Even if it’s by way of a simple point-of-sale machine.
When a business, service, or organization falls victim to a breach, it doesn’t always mean that you’re automatically a victim too. Your information may not have been caught up in it. However, it’s best to act as if it was. With that, we strongly suggest you take these immediate steps.
Given the possibility that your password may be in the hands of a hacker, change it right away. Strong, unique passwords offer one of your best defenses against hackers. Update them regularly as well. As mentioned above, this can protect you in the event a breach occurs and you don’t find out about it until well after it’s happened. You can spare yourself the upkeep that involves a password manager that can keep on top of it all for you. If your account offers two-factor authentication as part of the login process, make use of it as it adds another layer of security that makes hacking tougher.
If you spot unusual or unfamiliar charges or transactions in your account, bank, or debit card statements, follow up immediately. That could indicate improper use. In general, banks, credit card companies, and many businesses have countermeasures to deal with fraud, along with customer support teams that can help you file a claim if needed.
If you haven’t done so already, consider signing up for a service that can monitor dozens of types of personal information and then alert you if any of them are possibly being misused. Identity protection such as ours gives you the added benefit of a professional recovery specialist who can assist with restoring your affairs in the wake of fraud or theft, plus up to $1 million in insurance coverage.
Our advice is to take a deep breath and get to work. By acting quickly, you can potentially minimize and even prevent any damage that’s done. With that, we have two articles that can help guide the way if you think you’re the victim of identity theft, each featuring a series of straightforward steps you can take to set matters right:
Again, if you have any concerns. Take action. The first steps take only minutes. Even if the result is that you find out all’s well, you’ll have that assurance and you’ll have it rather quickly.
The post What to Do If You’re Caught Up in a Data Breach appeared first on McAfee Blog.
If there’s a particularly clear picture that’s developed over the past couple of years, it’s that our privacy and our personal identities are worth looking out for. With that, we have your back. And here’s why.
In the U.S., reported cases of identity theft continue to rise. In the first half of 2022, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reported more than 600,000 cases of identity theft, with more than 230,000 of those reported cases involving credit card theft.
And that’s just what’s been reported in the U.S. Far more crime goes unreported, and it is estimated that the cost of identity theft and fraud goes well into the billions of dollars.
Yet behind each stat is a person, a family, and a household that dealt with anything from a financial headache to a major life event no thanks to identity theft and fraud. Accordingly, we’re seeing to it that every person has the tools to prevent this from happening to them.
Here’s a little bit about our approach. We looked at some of the key areas where people’s private information can be vulnerable and rolled out a set of features and services that can help make you safer than before. They’re all part of McAfee+, our latest line of comprehensive online protection. Depending on your plan and location, the following offer protections that can look after you, your privacy, and your identity—along with your devices and the things on them too.
Unsecured networks can leave us vulnerable, like when we use public Wi-Fi. What’s at issue is that a cybercriminal can potentially capture your login credentials and other personal information as you use a public network in a hotel, airport, coffee shop, library, and so forth.
So, we made sure to include a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to keep your information protected from prying eyes. It does this easily by detecting when you’re on a public network and automatically turning on your VPN. The VPN then scrambles or encrypts, your data as it flows over the network. Unlike some VPNs that require advanced settings to shield your data, our app offers seamless security.
Given that data breaches large and small continue to occur with more regularity than any of us would like, always-on monitoring of your private information is key.
Whether one of your personal accounts is hacked–or worse–another website somehow gets ahold of your data and subsequently gets breached, your data may end up on the dark web. This is where cybercriminals buy and sell information.
To detect these dangerous leaks, we included dark web monitoring, which alerts you if your log-in credentials have been exposed. It can even provide you with a link to the site that uses those credentials when the information is available. This allows you to swiftly reset your passwords, mitigating the risk.
We’ll scan some of the riskiest data broker sites and show you which ones are selling your personal info. We’ll also provide guidance on how you can remove your data from those sites and with select products, we can even manage the removal for you.
Recovering from identity fraud or theft can be expensive. Not to mention time consuming. We’ll help relieve the burden with $1M coverage for lawyer fees, travel expenses, lost wages, and more.
Should the unfortunate happen to you, we have your back. In several ways. We offer licensed recovery experts who can work with you any time, around the clock, all year long. These pros can use a limited power of attorney to do the heavy lifting for identity recovery, taking all necessary steps to repair identity and credit.
Our all-new ransomware coverage is now available, ready to help just in case—all backed by expert advice to help you find the quickest and best possible path to recovery. In addition to eligibility for up to $25,000 in reimbursement due to ransomware losses, our team of experts can help you, determine the severity of a ransomware attack and learn what immediate action steps you can take.
Knowing your safe and staying that way just got far simpler. With a colorful view, you can see exactly what your Protection Score is at a glance, which compiles your overall levels of security, privacy, and identity theft protection. Better yet, if it spots gaps in your protection, it guides you through straightforward fixes that can make you safer than before.
It’s an industry first, and something we all deserve—the ability to clearly see exactly how secure you are and to quickly shore up your protection whenever it’s needed.
Everyone has credit, and everyone needs to protect it. McAfee’s Credit Monitoring does just that. Whether the suspicious change in your report is big or small, we can help you detect it—and take the right steps to correct it.
You can put proactive protection in place by stopping unauthorized access to existing credit card, bank, and utility accounts or from new ones being opened in your name. Security freezes stop companies from looking at your credit profile, which halts the application process for loans, credit cards, utilities, new bank accounts, and more. A security freeze won’t affect your credit score.
Also on our list, we wanted to make personal protection easy to use and available across all your compatible devices. So, whether you’re out with just your phone, or at home working at your PC, you have access to your protection, and can even pick up where you left off on a different device.
Ultimately, that’s what any of us want—to enjoy the internet with confidence, knowing that whatever it is we’re doing online is secure.
The way we use the internet continues to evolve. After all, it wasn’t long ago that the idea of using a phone to see who’s at the front door may have seemed a bit odd. Let alone having a little chat with the speaker on your kitchen counter. Yet that’s where we are today. And as the internet evolves, so will we. The protection we offer will cover your increasingly connected life in whatever shape that takes.
No question about it. We’re committed to protecting you, your privacy, your identity, and certainly your devices too—and making all of it simple.
Here’s to a happy and secure year!
The post Protecting Your Privacy This Year appeared first on McAfee Blog.
We live online these days, sharing everything from vacation pictures to what we eat for breakfast on the internet. The internet is also useful for daily activities, like buying groceries or paying bills.
While it’s convenient to connect with people and complete tasks online, cybercriminals are eager to use the internet to steal financial or personal data for their personal gain — otherwise known as identity theft. This is a criminal act and can affect your credit score in a negative way and cost money to fix. It can also affect employment opportunities since some employers conduct a credit check on top of drug testing and a criminal history check. Identity theft victims may even experience an impact to their mental health as they work to resolve their case.
The good news is that being able to recognize the signs of identity theft means you can act quickly to intervene and minimize any effects in case it happens to you. You can also protect yourself by using preventive measures and engaging in smart online behavior. This article provides essential information about identity theft, giving you the tools you need to become an empowered internet user and live your best life online.
The internet is a great place to be, but identity thieves hope to catch you off-guard and seek access to your personal information for their benefit. This could include private details like your birth date, bank account information, Social Security number, home address, and more. With data like this, an individual can adopt your identity (or even create a fake identity using pieces of your personal profile) and apply for loans, credit cards, debit cards, and more.
You don’t have to be kept in the dark, though. There are several signs that your identity has been stolen, from a change in your credit score to receiving unfamiliar bills and debt collectors calling about unfamiliar new accounts. If you suspect that you’ve been affected by identity fraud, you can act fast to minimize what happens. Here’s what to do.
Start by contacting law enforcement to file a report. Your local police department can issue a formal report, which you may need to get your bank or other financial institution to reverse fraudulent charges. An official report assures the bank that you have been affected by identity fraud and it’s not a scam.
Before going to the police, gather all the relevant information about what happened. This could include the dates and times of fraudulent activity and any account numbers affected. Bringing copies of your bank statements can be useful. Also, make note of any suspicious activity that could be related. For example, was your debit card recently lost or your email hacked? The police will want to know.
You should also notify any businesses linked to your identity theft case. Depending on the type of identity theft, this could include banks, credit card companies, medical offices, health insurers, e-commerce stores, and more. For example, if someone used your credit card to make purchases on Amazon, alert the retailer.
Medical identity theft is another good example. In this case, a fraudster may assume your identity to gain access to health care services, such as medical checkups, prescription drugs, or pricey medical devices like wheelchairs. If someone uses your health insurance to get prescription drugs from a pharmacy, for instance, make sure to alert the pharmacy and your insurer.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is a government body that protects consumer interests. You can report identity theft via their portal, IdentityTheft.gov. They’ll then use the details you provide to create a free recovery plan you can use to address the effects of identity theft, like contacting the major credit bureaus or alerting the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) fraud department. You can report your case online or by calling 1-877-438-4338.
A common consequence of identity theft is a dip in the victim’s credit score. For example, a cybercriminal may take out new lines of credit in the victim’s name, accrue credit card debt, and then not pay the balance. For this reason, contacting the credit monitoring bureaus is one of the most important steps to take in identity theft cases.
There are three main agencies: TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian. You can get a free credit report from each agency every 12 months via AnnualCreditReport.com. Check the report and note all fraudulent activity or false information and flag it with the relevant bureau’s fraud department. You should also initiate a fraud alert with each agency.
A fraud alert requires any creditors to verify your identity before opening a new line of credit. This adds an extra layer of security. An initial fraud alert lasts for 90 days. Once this expires, you can prolong your protection via an extended fraud alert, which will remain valid for seven years. You can notify one of the big three bureaus to set it up. They are then required to notify the other two bureaus.
A credit freeze is another smart move, which you can do through each of the three major credit bureaus. You can either call them or start the process online. This prevents people from accessing your credit report. Lenders, creditors, retailers, landlords, and others may want to see your credit as proof of financial stability. For example, if someone tries to open a phone contract under your name, the retailer may check the credit report. If there is a credit freeze in place, they won’t be able to view it and won’t issue the contract. If you need to allow someone access to your credit report, you can temporarily lift the freeze.
Identity theft is often linked with leaked or hacked passwords. Even if you aren’t sure whether your passwords have been compromised, it’s best to play it safe. Change passwords to any affected accounts. Make sure to use strong passwords with a mix of numbers, letters, and symbols. Further, if there’s a chance to activate two-factor authentication on your accounts, this can provide added protection going forward.
Ideally, you’ll never become the victim of identity theft, but things can happen. Cybercriminals work hard, but you can stay one step ahead by taking a few preventative measures. These include:
You can further protect yourself with antivirus software like McAfee’s Total Protection plan. This can help protect your devices against spyware and viruses. You can also enhance your network security with a firewall and virtual private network (VPN). A firewall controls traffic on your internet network based on predefined security parameters, while a VPN hides your IP address and other personal data.
Don’t let concerns about identity fraud keep you from enjoying all the conveniences and perks the internet offers. McAfee’s identity theft protection services can help you stay connected while keeping you safe. Tailor your package to your household’s needs to get the safeguards you want, like ID theft coverage, VPN, and 24/7 monitoring. Our Total Protection plan also comes with $1 million in identity theft coverage to cover qualifying losses and hands-on support to help you reclaim your identity.
With McAfee by your side, you can stay online confidently.
The post What to Do If Your Identity Has Been Stolen appeared first on McAfee Blog.
Social media is part of our social fabric. So much so that nearly 50% of the global population are social media users to some degree or other. With all that sharing, conversing, and information passing between family and friends, social media can be a distinct digital extension of ourselves—making it important to know how you can protect your social media accounts from hacks and attacks.
Beyond the sheer number of people who’re on social media, there’s also the amount of time we spend on it. People worldwide spend an average of 145 minutes a day on social media. With users in the U.S. spending just over two hours on social media a day and users in the Philippines spending nearly four hours a day, that figure can vary widely. Yet it’s safe to say that a good portion of our day features time scrolling and thumbing through our social media feeds.
Given how much we enjoy and rely on social media, now’s a fine time to give your social media settings and habits a closer look so that you can get the most out of it with less fuss and worry. Whether you’re using Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or whatnot, here are several things you can do that can help keep you safe and secure out there:
Passwords mark square one in your protection, with strong and unique passwords across all your accounts forming primary line of defense. Yet with all the accounts we have floating around, juggling dozens of strong and unique passwords can feel like a task—thus the temptation to use (and re-use) simpler passwords. Hackers love this because one password can be the key to several accounts. Instead, try a password manager that can create those passwords for you and safely store them as well. Comprehensive security software will include one.
Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and others give you the option of making your profile and posts visible to friends only. Choosing this setting keeps the broader internet from seeing what you’re doing, saying, and posting, which can help protect your privacy.
Be critical of the invitations you receive. Out-and-out strangers could be more than just a stranger, they could be a fake account designed to gather information on users for purposes of cybercrime, or they can be an account designed to spread false information. There are plenty of them too. In fact, in Q3 of 2021 alone, Facebook took action on 1.8 billion fake accounts. Reject such requests.
Nothing says “there’s nobody at home right now” like that post of you on vacation or sharing your location while you’re out on the town. In effect, such posts announce your whereabouts to a broad audience of followers (even a global audience, if you’re not posting privately, as called out above). Consider sharing photos and stories of your adventures once you’ve returned.
It’s a famous saying for a reason. Whether your profile is set to private or if you are using an app with “disappearing” messages and posts (like Snapchat), what you post can indeed be saved and shared again. It’s as simple as taking a screenshot. If you don’t want it out there, forever or otherwise, simply don’t post it.
We’re increasingly accustomed to the warnings about phishing emails, yet phishing attacks happen plenty on social media. The same rules apply. Don’t follow any links you get from strangers by way of instant or direct messengers. And keep your personal information close. Don’t pass out your email, address, or other info as well. Even those so-called “quiz” posts and websites can be ruses designed to steal bits and pieces of personal info that can be used as the basis of an attack.
Sadly, social media can also be a place where people pull a fast one. Get-rich-quick schemes, romance cons, and all kinds of imposters can set up shop in ads, posts, and even direct messages—typically designed to separate you from your personal information, money, or both. This is an entire topic to itself, and you can learn plenty more about quizzes and other identity theft scams to avoid on social media.
Some platforms such as Facebook allow users to review posts that are tagged with their profile names. Check your account settings and give yourself the highest degree of control over how and where your tags are used by others. This will help keep you aware of where you’re being mentioned by others and in what way.
Security software can protect you from clicking on malicious links while on social media while steering you clear of other threats like viruses, ransomware, and phishing attacks. It can look out for you as well, by protecting your privacy and monitoring your email, SSN, bank accounts, credit cards, and other personal information. With identity theft a rather commonplace occurrence today, security software is really a must.
Now you can point to a number that shows you just how safe you are with our Protection Score. It’s an industry first, and it works by taking stock of your overall security and grading it on a scale of 0 to 1,000. From there, it calls out any weak spots and then walks you through the steps to shore it up with personalized guidance. This way, you’re always in the know about your security, privacy, and personal identity on social media and practically wherever else your travels take you online.
The post How to Protect Your Social Media Accounts appeared first on McAfee Blog.
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When you logged on to your computer this morning, data privacy probably wasn’t the first thing you were thinking about. The same goes for when you opened your phone to catch up on social media and check emails, turned on your smart TV for a family movie night, or all the other ways we routinely use our connected devices in our everyday lives.
Although we live in an increasingly connected world, most of us give little thought to data privacy until after our personal information has been compromised. However, we can take proactive steps to help ourselves and our loved ones navigate this environment in a safe way. On January 28th – better known as Data Privacy Day – we have the perfect opportunity to own our privacy by taking the time to safeguard data. By making data privacy a priority, you and your family can enjoy the freedom of living your connected lives online knowing that your information is safe and sound.
Did you know that there is a difference between data security and data privacy? Although the two are intimately intertwined, there are various characteristics of each that make them different. National Today3 provides a useful analogy to define the two:
At this point, we already know not to share our passwords or PIN numbers with anyone. But what about the data that is collected by companies every time we sign up for an email newsletter or make an online account? Oftentimes, we trust these companies to guard the personal data they collect from us in exchange for the right to use their products and services. However, the personal information collected by companies today is not regarded as private by default, with a few exceptions. For this reason, it’s up to us to take our data privacy into our own hands.
Because we spend so much of our day online, plenty of our information is available on the internet. But what happens if one of your favorite online retailers experiences a data breach? This is the reality of the world we live in today, as data breaches have been on the rise and hackers are continuously finding clever, new ways to access our devices and information.
Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve become more reliant on technology than ever before. Whether it be for distance learning, online shopping, mobile banking, or remote work, we’ve all depended on our devices and the internet to stay connected. But with more time online comes more opportunities for cybercriminals to exploit. For example, with the massive increase in remote work since the onset of the pandemic, hackers have hijacked online meetings through a technique called ‘Zoombombing4.’ This occurred after the online conferencing company shared personal data with Facebook, Google, and LinkedIn. Additionally, the number of patient records breached in the healthcare industry jumped to 21.3 million in the second half of 2020 due to the increase in remote interactions between patients and their providers5.
When it comes to data breaches, any business is a potential target because practically every business is online in some way. When you put this in perspective, it’s important to consider what information is being held by the companies that you buy from. While a gaming service will likely have different information about you than your insurance company, you should remember that all data has value, and you should take steps to protect it like you would money.
Your browsing history and personal information are private, and we at McAfee want to keep it that way. By using McAfee Secure VPN, you can browse confidently knowing that your data is encrypted.
To further take control of your data privacy, monitor the health of your online protection with McAfee’s Protection Score. This tool provides simple steps to improve your security and allows you to know how safe you are online, which is the first step towards a safer, more confident connected life. Check your personal protection score here.
Here are a few more tips to keep you on top of your data privacy game:
1. Update your privacy and security settings. Begin with the websites and apps that you use the most. Check to see if your accounts are marked as private, or if they are open to the public. Also, look to see if your data is being leaked to third parties. You want to select the most secure settings available, while still being able to use these tools correctly.
2. Lock down your logins. Secure your logins by making sure that you are creating long and unique passphrases for all your accounts. Use multi-factor identification, when available.
3. Protect your family and friends. You can make a big difference by encouraging your loved ones to protect their online privacy. By helping others create solid safety habits as they build their digital footprints, it makes all of us more secure.
Follow the conversation this Data Privacy Day by following #PrivacyAware and #DataPrivacyDay on social media.
The post It’s Data Privacy Day: Here’s How to Stay Protected in 2022 appeared first on McAfee Blog.
For years now, the popularity of online dating has been on the rise—and so have the number of online romance scams that leave people with broken hearts and empty wallets.
According to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the reported costs of online romance scams jumped 50% from 2019 to 2020, to the tune of $304 million. And that’s not entirely because 2020 was a pandemic year. From 2016 to 2020, the volume of reported cases tripled, while reported losses nearly quadrupled. Over that period, online romance scams are not only becoming more common, but they’re also becoming more costly.
Dating and romance scams aren’t limited to online dating apps and sites, they’ll happen on social media and in online games as well. However, the FTC reports that the scam usually starts the same way, typically through an unexpected friend request or a message that comes out of the blue.
With that initial introduction made, a chat begins, and a friendship (or more) blossoms from there. Along the way, the scammer will often rely on a mix of somewhat exotic yet believable storytelling to lure the victim in, often involving their job and where they’re working. Reports say that scammers will talk of being workers on an offshore oil rig, members of the military stationed overseas, doctors working with an international organization, or working in the sort of jobs that would prevent them from otherwise easily meeting up in person.
With the phony relationship established, the scammer starts asking for money. The FTC reports that they’ll ask for money for several bogus reasons, usually revolving around some sort of hardship where they need a “little help” so that they can pay:
The list goes on, yet that’s the general gist. Scammers often employ a story with an intriguing complication that seems just reasonable enough, one where the romance scammer makes it sound like they could really use the victim’s financial help.
People who have filed fraud reports say they’ve paid their scammer in a few typical ways.
One is by wiring money, often through a wire transfer company. The benefit of this route, for the scammer anyway, is that this is as good as forking over cash. Once it’s gone, it’s gone. The victim lacks the protections they have with other payment forms, such as a credit card that allows the holder to cancel or contest a charge.
Another way is through gift cards. Scammers of all stripes, not just romance scammers, like these because they effectively work like cash, whether it’s a gift card for a major online retailer or a chain of brick-and-mortar stores. Like a wire transfer, once that gift card is handed over, the money on it is highly difficult to recover, if at all.
One more common payment is through reloadable debit cards. A scammer may make an initial request for such a card and then make several follow-on requests to load it up again.
In all, a romance scammer will typically look for the easiest payment method that’s the most difficult to contest or reimburse, leaving the victim in a financial lurch once the scam ends.
When it comes to meeting new people online, the FTC suggests the following:
Scammers, although arguably heartless, are still human. They make mistakes. The stories they concoct are just that. Stories. They may jumble their details, get their times and dates all wrong, or simply get caught in an apparent lie. Also, keep in mind that some scammers may be working with several victims at once, which is yet another opportunity for them to get confused and slip up.
As mentioned above, some romance scammers troll social media and reach out through a direct message or friend request. With that, there are three things you can do to cut down your chances of getting caught up with a scammer:
Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and others give you the option of making your profile and posts visible to friends only. Choosing this setting keeps the broader internet from seeing what you’re doing, saying, and posting, which can help protect your privacy and give a romance scammer less information to exploit.
Be critical of the invitations you receive. Out-and-out strangers could be more than a romance scammer, they could be a fake account designed to gather information on users for purposes of cybercrime, or they can be an account designed to spread false information. There are plenty of them too. In fact, in Q3 of 2021 alone, Facebook took action on 1.8 billion fake accounts. Reject such requests.
Security software can protect you from clicking on malicious links that a scammer may send you online, while also steering you clear of other threats like viruses, ransomware, and phishing attacks in general. It can look out for your personal information as well, by protecting your privacy and monitoring your email, SSN, bank accounts, credit cards, and other info that a scammer or identity thief may put to use. With identity theft a rather commonplace occurrence today, security software is really a must.
If you suspect that you’re being scammed, put an end to the relationship and report it, as difficult as that may feel.
Notify the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov for support and next steps to help you recover financially as much as possible. Likewise, notify the social media site, app, or service where the scam occurred as well. In some cases, you may want to file a police report, which we cover in our broader article on identity theft and fraud.
If you sent funds via a gift card, the FTC suggests filing a claim with the company as soon as possible. They offer further advice on filing a claim here, along with a list of contact numbers for gift card brands that scammers commonly use.
Lastly, go easy on yourself. If you find yourself a victim of online dating or romance fraud, know that you won’t be the first or last person to be taken advantage of this way. By reporting your case, you in fact may help others from falling victim too.
The post Phony Valentines: Online Dating Scams and How to Spot Them appeared first on McAfee Blog.
There’s millions of dollars to be made in social media. For scammers.
New data from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) suggests that Americans lost nearly three-quarters of a billion dollars to social media fraud in 2021, signaling that social media may be the most profitable method of scamming victims—marking an 18-fold increase over 2017.
And that’s just cases of reported fraud.
Of the roughly 95,000 cases tallied in 2021, the actual number of reports and losses are arguably much higher because fraud victims infrequently report these crimes to the FTC or other agencies. Likewise, few take advantage of the FTC’s resources for recovering from fraud. Instead, they’ll share the sad news with family or friends if anyone at all.
Despite the rise of these online crimes, there are several things you can do to increase your awareness of social media fraud—what it looks like and how it’s pulled off—along with other ways you can prevent scammers from targeting you and the ones you care about.
Several types of social media fraud abound, yet the FTC reports that three types of scams prevail:
These often involve bogus sites that promote opportunities to mine or invest in cryptocurrencies. Rather than use these sites to trade in legitimate cryptocurrencies, scammers use these as a front to collect funds. The funds are never invested and never returned. Thanks to social media, scammers have a quick and easy way to drive victims to such bogus sites.
By starting up a chat through an unexpected friend request or a message that comes out of the blue, a scammer develops a budding romantic relationship with a victim—and eventually starts asking for money. Public social media profiles are particularly attractive to scammers because they’re loaded with information that scammers can use to win a victim’s confidence or heart.
Using ads on social media, scammers drive victims to phony online stores that will take people’s money but that don’t deliver the goods. They’re simply a way for scammers to harvest cash from unsuspecting shoppers. These sites may impersonate reputable brands and stores or they may sell bogus products altogether. Either way, victims pay and receive nothing in return.
Together, these three types of scams accounted for the overwhelming majority of losses and reports of social media fraud, which are broken down in detail as follows:
As illustrated, investment and romance scams may get reported less frequently, yet they are among the costliest scams going on social media. Meanwhile, online shopping scams on social media are far more common yet rake in fewer dollars overall.
For one, reach. Nearly half of the global population uses social media today. That translates into billions of people who can be made into potential victims. Secondly, social media provides the tools to reach those people through the otherwise legitimate services and features available to the people and businesses that use social media to connect.
In the case of investment and shopping scammers, the ad platforms are of particular use. For romance scammers, direct messaging and profile pages are potential avenues for fraud.
Scammers use the highly targeted ad platform that social media companies use to generate revenue. With millions of detailed user profiles in their data stores, social media companies put that data to work in their ad platforms allow businesses to create ads designed to reach specific age groups, hobbies and interests, past purchases, and so on. Just as easily, a scammer can use the same tools to cook up bogus ads for their bogus products, services, and sites at a relatively low cost.
For example, a scammer could target older females with an interest in investing. From there, the scammer could narrow down that target profile to those who live in areas of the country with a desired average income level, and who have shown interest in investment products before. The scammers would create an ad that takes them to phony website designed to entice that target group into purchasing a bogus product, service, or crypto. The FTC reports that the median loss for an online shopping scam in 2021 was $118, while online investment scams on social media racked up a median loss of $1,800 per victim. These stats make a strong case for sticking to reputable and established retailers and accredited financial services.
In the case of romance scammers on social media, the posts and personal profiles that form the heart of social media offer con artists a treasure trove. With a potential victim’s life a relatively open book, full of birthdays, events, interests, and activities for all to see, scammers have the hooks they need to form a phony romantic relationship online—or at least make the attempt at one.
For example, a scammer reaches out to a potential victim with a friend request. With the profile and posts this romance scammer has at hand, they can spin all manner of intriguing, yet utterly false tales designed to gain the victim’s trust. With that trust established, they can follow up with a similarly intriguing story about needing “a little help” to cover some “unexpected expenses,” often in the form of a gift card or reloadable debit card—sometimes stringing out a series of requests over time. According to the FTC, the median loss for this type of romance scam in 2021 was around $2,000 per victim.
People worldwide spend an average of 145 minutes a day on social media. And with users in the U.S. spending just over two hours on social media a day, that’s a great deal of potential exposure to scams.
Yet, whether you’re using Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or whatnot, here are several things you can do that can help keep you safe and secure out there:
Passwords mark square one in your protection, with strong and unique passwords across all your accounts forming primary line of defense. Yet with all the accounts we have floating around, juggling dozens of strong and unique passwords can feel like a task—thus the temptation to use (and re-use) simpler passwords. Hackers love this because one password can be the key to several accounts. Instead, try a password manager that can create those passwords for you and safely store them as well. Comprehensive security software will include one.
Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and others give you the option of making your profile and posts visible to friends only. Choosing this setting keeps the broader internet from seeing what you’re doing, saying, and posting, which can help protect your privacy and give a possible scammer much less material to work with.
Be critical of the invitations you receive. Out-and-out strangers could be more than just a stranger, they could be a fake account designed to gather information on users for purposes of fraud. There are plenty of fake accounts too. In fact, in Q3 of 2021 alone, Facebook took action on 1.8 billion fake accounts. Reject such requests.
We’re increasingly accustomed to the warnings about phishing emails, yet phishing attacks happen plenty on social media. The same rules apply. Don’t follow any links you get from strangers by way of instant or direct messages. And keep your personal information close. Don’t pass out your email, address, or other info as well. Even those so-called “quiz” posts and websites can be ruses designed to steal bits and pieces of personal info that can be used as the basis of an attack.
When you’re purchasing online, do some quick research on the company. How long have they been around? Have any complaints been recorded by your attorney general or local consumer protection agency? When you meet someone new, do a reverse image search on their profile pic to see where else it appears. Look up their name in search as well. If the results you find don’t match up with the person’s story, it may be a sign of a scam.
Online protection software can protect you from clicking on malicious links while on social media while steering you clear of other threats like viruses, ransomware, and phishing attacks. It can look out for you as well, by protecting your privacy and monitoring your email, SSN, bank accounts, credit cards, and other personal information. With identity theft a rather commonplace occurrence today, security software is really a must. Additionally, our online protection software can also provide you with an online Protection Score that shows you just how safe you are. From there, it calls out any weak spots and then walks you through the steps to shore it up with personalized guidance.
It’s unfortunate seeing a resource we’ve come to know and love over the past years get taken advantage of this way. Yet taking the steps outlined above can go a long way to prevent it from happening to you or someone you love.
One important note is to strongly consider filing a report if you believe you’ve been a victim of a social media scam. While some of the scammers behind these crimes are small-time operators, there are larger, almost business-like operations that conduct these crimes on a broader and sometimes international scale. So whether filing a report will help you recover some or all your losses, it can provide information to businesses and agencies that can help keep it from happening to others.
For more on online theft and fraud, and how you can spot and report it, check out our article on the topic. Doing so may help you, and someone else as well.
The post The Gold Rush of Fraud: Why Scammers Have Flocked to Social Media appeared first on McAfee Blog.
Have you ever been online and replied to a comment or post? Maybe it was on Reddit or on an influencer’s Instagram. Did other people reply to you, and were any of them unexpectedly hostile? When you’re online, a little hostility is sadly par for the course, but most people brush it off and move on to enjoy other aspects of life online. But what would you do if that unpleasant interaction went much farther than was reasonable? What if one day you discovered the most important parts of your identity had been maliciously and intentionally revealed online? Let’s talk about doxxing – what it is and how you can avoid becoming a victim of this kind of harassment.
Doxxing, derived from the hacker term “dropping docs”, is internet slang for revealing someone’s identity online for the purposes of harassing them. It usually goes way beyond simply revealing someone’s email address or name and may involve personal information like a home address or workplace, SSN, financial information, phone number, pictures, texts, IP address, and other important details. The tricky thing about doxxing is that aspects of it may not be a crime, depending on what you’ve made publicly available online. However, the context in which doxxing occurs is crucial. Often it’s the first step taken to incite more severe harassment. For instance, the doxxer may not plan on taking action against their target but instead hope that someone else does. When put up against a recent Pew Research report showing that 41% of U.S. web users experience harassment in some form, it’s clear that Doxxing is a dangerous trend online.
Doxxing is a problem that’s grown in scope simply because there’s so much more data about us being kept online. Third-party services, called data brokers, capture our account info, the sites we visit, how long we spent on them, and other kinds of metadata to create profiles they then resell to advertisers. If someone gets access to these troves of data, they can reveal extremely damaging information about an individual, or data that allows a person to be damaged. For instance, with a phone number and a current address, some criminals were able to call in SWAT teams on innocent individuals. Political dissidents are often doxxed by the governments their protesting against. And on a lighter note, the adult website Ashley Madison, which promotes extramarital affairs, had their members’ data leaked online, to the embarrassment of a few public figures.
The response should be very similar to the one you’d take if your wallet was stolen. Move fast, stem the loss, and begin remediation as soon as possible. Here are some broad steps that can be taken.
Of course, not being doxxed in the first place is the ultimate goal of a proactive online protection plan. Here’s what we recommend:
Identity theft protection services help protect your data, monitor your online accounts like emails, SSNs, and more. In addition to online monitoring, they should also offer insurance and even theft remediation if the worst should occur.
Before you tag your location, friends, or workplace in a photo think about who has access to this information. What’s gained or lost by sharing all that info? Also, security questions for your accounts should not use the name of your pet or your first-born child if you have posted those on Facebook.
Public Wi-Fi networks at coffee shops and airports may not be secure against hackers and snooping. That’s why we recommend using a VPN whenever you’re connected online. This powerful tool hides your activity and location whenever you’re online on an unsecured network.
Googling yourself is a great way to see if anyone is using your online identity in bad ways.
Social networks allow you to control who can see your data. Usually, with a few clicks, you can restrict what you show online to a great degree. For instance, makes your payments viewable to other users as a default, but can easily be changed to hide them from the public.
Using long, complex, unique passwords for every account is convenient and maybe the best way to prevent your information from being stolen. Yes, we said convenient because with a password manager you only need to remember one key to create and manage much longer ones for all your most important accounts.
The reality is that the more we live online, the more our identities will too. This does not mean we need to live a restricted life online. In fact, using comprehensive online protection, which features most of the tools above, we can remain free to enjoy life on our terms. Doxxing is something to be aware of, but with great protection, it’s far from anything we need to be worried about as we make the most of our lives online.
The post Doxxing, The Internet, and How You Can Lock Down Your Data appeared first on McAfee Blog.
Quick mental math challenge: How many Apple Watches can you buy with $118 billion dollars? If you guessed around 296 million watches congrats, you’re smarter than the writer of this blog! We had to use a calculator. The point is that’s the predicted size of the US wearable market by 2028 according to a recent report. That means for as much wearable tech as we have in our lives already, even more, is on the way.
If you own a piece of wearable tech it’s easy to understand why it’s so popular. After all, it can track our fitness, provide contextual help in daily life, and, in the case of hearing aids, even do cool things like sync with Bluetooth. As VR and AR gains a foothold who knows what other incredible tech might be headed our way by 2028? However wearable tech also comes with certain risks. The most prominent: cybercriminals potentially gaining access to your data.
The weakest link in the wearables space is your mobile phone, not the actual wearable device itself. That’s because wearables tend to link to your mobile device over a short-range wireless spectrum known as “Bluetooth.” This spectrum is used to send and receive data between your wearable device and your mobile. That makes your mobile a prime target for hackers.
Most commonly, hackers gain access to the data on your mobile through malware-laden apps. These apps are oftentimes designed to look like popular apps, but with enough differences that they don’t flag copyright suspicion.
Hackers can use these malicious apps to do a variety of things from making phone calls without your permission, sending and receiving texts, and extracting personal information—all potentially without your knowledge. They can also, with the help of your wearable, track your location through GPS and record any health issues you’ve entered into your wearable. The point is: once they have permissions to your mobile device, they have a lot of control and a lot of resources.
The hacker can then use this data to conduct varying forms of fraud. Need a special prescription from your doctor that happens to sell well on the black market? Well, so does the hacker. Going out for a jog in the morning? Good information for a burglar to know. These personal details just scratch the surface of information available for the taking on your mobile devices.
These types of threats aren’t limited to wearables, however. The Internet of Things—the phenomenon of devices connected to the Internet for analysis and optimization—encompasses all sorts of other electronic devices such as washing machines and refrigerators that can put your data at risk as well. But these life-changing devices can be secured through education and industry standards. Two things we’re working on day and night.
Of course, securing the weakest link in your wearables environment, your phone will go a long way towards keeping your data safe. But what happens when your computer, where you store backups of your smartphone, is compromised too? We’ve got you covered with McAfee LiveSafe service, our comprehensive security solution that provides protection for your entire online life.
The post The Wearable Future Is Hackable. Here’s What You Need To Know appeared first on McAfee Blog.
You may hear corporate cybersecurity experts hail the benefits of a VPN, or a virtual private network, to keep company information safe from ransomware attacks and cybercriminals seeking to steal valuable business secrets. It’s unlikely that everyday people, such as yourself, will be targeted by a ransomware scheme, so you may be puzzled about how a VPN can help someone like you be safer online. Luckily, with a VPN being very easy to install and use, you can indeed experience these three everyday benefits to keep your browsing activities safe from eavesdroppers seeking to profit from your online comings and goings.
The most widely known benefit of a VPN for daily use is to safeguard your device when it’s connected to a public Wi-Fi network. Coffee shops, libraries, hotels, transportation hubs, and other public places often provide courtesy internet service to visitors. Shifty characters often lurk on unprotected networks to lift personally identifiable information (PII) from people handling sensitive emails, making banking transactions, or shopping online. Public Wi-Fi eavesdroppers can lift credit card numbers, addresses, birthdays, and Social Insurance Numbers.
When you connect to public Wi-Fi that doesn’t have a lock icon, that’s a sign that you should toggle on your VPN. Also, even if you’re required to enter a password, be wary of any network you share with strangers.
A VPN can also hide your location data. How does this help you protect your browsing history? First, when you scramble your location, you’re likely to confuse ad networks trying to send you targeted ads. This will free your social media feeds and search engines from targeted ads that often are so accurate they seem like an invasion of privacy.
Second, hiding your location can protect you from cybercriminals looking to mine PII. VPNs make it impossible for criminals to discover your IP address. (The internet protocol address is what ties your device to a specific local network.) When they’re visible, criminals can trace IP addresses to reveal home addresses, full names, and phone numbers: all of which are key pieces of PII that, in the wrong hands, can jeopardize your identity.
While Canada and the European Union don’t allow ISPs (internet service providers) to even collect the browsing data of their customers, keep in mind that in some countries, like the U.S., ISPs can collect, store, share, and/or sell customer data. While advertisers are often the buyers of customer data, in the case of a breach, the more places your PII lives, the more likely it may be involved in a security incident. The goal is to limit the extent and number of places where your browsing history is stored.
VPNs can scramble your online movements to the point where not even ISPs can track it. Plus, when you log out, your device doesn’t keep a record of what you did while connected to the VPN. Incognito mode on your internet browser hides your IP address, but the websites you visit still collect cookies and store data about your online whereabouts, meaning that it’s not truly private browsing.
McAfee Safe Connect VPN encrypts your online activity to protect your data from prying eyes. With a premium paid plan, you can protect up to five devices at once with bank-grade Wi-Fi encryption. Feel more confident whenever you hop on the internet across all your connected devices with just one quick and easy step.
The post Why Everyone Needs a VPN appeared first on McAfee Blog.
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No one likes the feeling that someone is looking over their shoulder when they work, shop or surf online. But this is just what crooks and scammers do without our knowledge using “spyware.”
Spyware is a piece of software that can covertly gather information on you. It can track the websites you visit and even record what you type on your keyboard, including passwords and credit card numbers.
So, now the bad guys don’t have to steal your wallet to get access to your personal and financial information. All they need to do is trick you into installing spyware on your computer or device. Or they could install it themselves on public or shared computers using a USB drive, or similar device.
One of the more common forms of spyware found on shared computers is called a “keylogger.” It can record everything you type and send it back to the cybercrook. That’s why you should avoid using shared computers in hotels or public libraries, since they can be easily compromised.
Most spyware masquerades as legitimate software, such as free games or mobile apps. In fact, researchers believe that over three years, 1 million Google Play users downloaded a single piece of spyware alone. It appeared to be an official “System Update” application, but actually monitored the users’ location information and text messages without their knowledge.
Spyware can also easily spread online in the form of dangerous links in emails, and on social media or torrent sites, which offer free access to online content. That’s why you need to be careful where you click.
Another common form of spyware is called “adware.” Adware is used to display advertisements on your computer, or redirect your search inquiries to an advertiser’s website. Although this isn’t as harmful as spyware designed to steal your information, it is still invasive and annoying.
Since spyware is so prevalent and potentially harmful, putting both your private information and privacy at risk, it’s important that you take steps to protect yourself.
The post What is Spyware? appeared first on McAfee Blog.
We’re excited to announce the release of McAfee’s Personal Data Cleanup, a new feature that finds and removes your personal info from data brokers and people search sites. Now, you can feel more confident by removing personal info from data broker sites and keeping it from being collected, sold, and used to: advertise products to you, fill your email box with spam, and can even give criminals the info they need to steal your identity. Let’s look at why we’re offering McAfee Personal Data Cleanup, how it protects your privacy, and why it’s a great addition to the online protection we already offer.
There’s so much to enjoy when you live a connected life – free email, online stores that remember what you like, social media that connects you to friends and influencers. It’s a world of convenience, opportunity, and incredible content. It’s also a world where your data is constantly collected.
That’s right, companies are collecting your personal data. They’re called data brokers and they make money by selling information that specifically identifies you, like an email address. They sell this information to marketers looking to target you with ads. Criminals can also use it to build profiles in service of stealing your identity and accessing your accounts. This activity takes place behind the scenes and often without consumers’ knowledge. There are also data brokers known as people search sites that compile and sell info like home addresses, emails, phones, court records, employment info, and more. These websites give identity thieves, hackers, stalkers, and other malicious actors easy access to your info. Regardless of how your data is being used, it’s clear that these days a more connected life often comes at the cost of your privacy.
In a recent survey of McAfee customers, we found that 59% have become more protective of their personal data over the past six months. And it’s no wonder. Over the past two years, trends like telehealth, remote working, and increased usage of online shopping and financial services have meant that more of your time is being spent online. Unsurprisingly, more personal data is being made available in the process. This leads us to the most alarming finding of our survey – 95% of consumers whose personal information ends up on data broker sites had it collected without their consent.
We created Personal Data Cleanup to make it easy for you to take back your privacy online. McAfee’s Personal Data Cleanup regularly scans the riskiest data broker sites for info like your home address, date of birth, and names of relatives. After showing where we found your data, you can either remove it yourself or we will work on your behalf to remove it. Here’s how it works:
Ready to take back your personal info online? Personal Data Cleanup is available immediately with most of our online protection plans. If you have an eligible subscription, you can start using this new feature through McAfee Protection Center, or you can get McAfee online protection here.
The post Introducing Personal Data Cleanup appeared first on McAfee Blog.
Outfitting your smart home could get a whole lot easier this year.
A new industry standard called Matter aims to remove a big barrier in smart home technology, one that makes different smart home devices compatible with any smart home platform—something that wasn’t possible until now.
For years, different smart home devices have run on several different competing platforms, such as Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit, Google Assistant, or Samsung SmartThings. And put plainly, those different platforms didn’t work with each other. And that was unfortunate. After all, the vision for the smart home was to run everything from lights, appliances, doorbell cameras, and all kinds of connected things in your home from a central set of controls, regardless of device manufacturer or platform.
But that hasn’t been the case, and this lack of compatibility created some headaches for homeowners. They’ve had to choose between one smart home platform over another and then only use smart devices built for that platform. For example, if you’re running a bunch of devices on Apple HomeKit and find a great deal on a new Samsung smart refrigerator with Alexa built-in, you’re pretty much out of luck if you want those devices to all work together as one in your smart home. The result is that consumers have had to check the fine print to see what’s compatible with what when shopping for smart devices. Again, a real headache.
Matter aims to take care of that. It’s hailed as a unifying technology that will make all those devices work together. Right now, the first wave of Matter-enabled devices is on track for a mid-year launch, which means we may finally see that vision of a smart home come true—a place where all your connected stuff works together with just the sound of your voice or a tap on your phone.
With that, let’s take a closer look at the new Matter protocol and what it offers, along with a look at security and privacy for smart home devices in general.
Without getting too technical about it, Matter is designed to create a more energy-efficient, secure, and reliable network for your smart home devices. Additionally, it’s designed to run independently of your internet connection, so if your internet goes out, you can still control your smart devices locally—from the app or device of your choice.
The tech industry looks like they’re very much on board. Matter is led by the Connectivity Standards Alliance, a body of more than 200 technology companies working together to create this new standard. And if you’re wondering Amazon, Apple, Google, and Samsung are among the many members of this alliance. If the launch goes as planned, you can expect to see Matter-enabled devices and the Matter logo on several new products by the middle of the year.
Additionally, several companies have announced that they will provide an upgrade path for existing products so that their existing customers don’t have to scrap their current smart home devices to take advantage of Matter.
In all, the idea is exciting. What remains to be seen is how security and privacy matters are handled, not only by the network but by the devices on it.
As far as security goes, Matter uses a combination of encryption and blockchain technology to secure transmitted data and ensure that only the devices you trust can use the network. Considering that you may be heating your home, warming up your oven, or even locking your front door, security features like these only make sense.
Yet looking beyond Matter and thinking about connected homes more broadly, there are a few question marks when it comes to privacy.
Imagine for a moment what a highly connected home might look like—and all the data those connections will generate. That data will show what time of day your front door tends to unlock and lock when family members go to and from work, school, or what have you. It’ll also show when you tend to turn on your lights, cook your dinner, or turn on the house alarm for the night.
Over time, all this data can piece together a picture of your comings and goings during a typical week. Shy of a bad actor physically casing out your home over several days, data like this simply hasn’t existed until the age of the connected home. If that data goes unprotected or if the devices creating it don’t give you some control over it, the privacy risks will run high.
Moreover, data privacy policies come into play here as well. As consumers like us are very much aware these days, not every company treats your data the same way. Some companies have different policies around what data they may collect and then what they do with that data—like cloud sites for other smart devices, government agencies, insurance companies, law enforcement, data aggregators, data banks, social media sites, and others according to findings published by some industry groups. In a smart home that’s kitted out with devices from five, seven, or even more different manufacturers, that are multiple privacy policies in play—each of which may view and treat your private data in their own way. That’s potentially volumes of your data circulating out there, potentially in ways you aren’t aware of or that give you any control over its use.
Of course, the issue of data privacy is nothing new and certainly not specific to smart devices. Already, the dozens of different apps and services we use as we go about our day have their own data privacy policies as well. Devices in a smart home only add to that mix, which is worth considering in our already highly connected lives.
As I write this, Matter has yet to be released. Yet if you already have some smart devices in your home, you may be wondering how to make your connected home safer. Let’s take a look at a few of the things you can do to protect your smart devices and the home network they’re running on.
Many smart home devices use a smartphone as a sort of remote control, not to mention as a place for gathering, storing, and sharing data. So whether you’re an Android owner or iOS owner, protect your smartphone so you can protect the things it accesses and controls—and the data stored on it too.
Early on when the first sets of smart home devices rolled out, some found themselves open to attack because they come with a default username and password, which hackers often publish on the internet as part of massive listings. (Baby monitors are a classic example.) And it remains an issue today. When you purchase any IoT device, set a fresh password using a strong method of password creation. Likewise, create an entirely new username for additional protection as well.
Another device that needs good password protection is your internet router. Make sure you use a strong and unique password there as well to help prevent hackers from breaking into your home network. (A password manager as part of comprehensive online protection can help.) Also, consider changing the same of your home network so that it doesn’t personally identify you. (I’ve seen some fun alternatives to using your name or address, everything from movie lines like “May the Wi-Fi be with you” to old sitcom references like “Central Perk.”) Also check that your router is using an encryption method, like WPA2, which will keep your signal secure. If you haven’t done this sort of thing before, check the documentation that came with your router or with the internet provider if you rent or purchased it from them.
Online banks, shops, and other services commonly offer multi-factor authentication to help protect your accounts—with the typical combination of your username, password, and a security code sent to another device you own (often a mobile phone). If your IoT device supports multi-factor authentication, consider using it there too. It throws a big barrier in the way hackers simply try and force their way in with a password/username combination, which will make your device tougher to crack.
In addition to fixing the odd bug or adding the occasional new feature, app and device updates often address security gaps. Out-of-date apps and devices may have flaws that hackers can exploit, so regular updating is a must from a security standpoint. If you can set your smart home apps and devices to receive automatic updates, even better.
Smart homes show plenty of promise. Seeing a new and broadly adopted industry standard like Matter on the horizon may make them even more promising. Ideally, Matter will make it easier for people to bring more smart devices in their homes, and in a way that’s reliable and secure. Moreover, there are steps you can take now to help keep your smart home devices, and smart home in general, more secure as well.
Yet when it comes to thinking about a home full of smart devices, questions around privacy remain. Smart home devices offered by different manufacturers will have different privacy policies and thus use people’s data in different ways, which puts consumers like us in a position to understand the terms, conditions, and implications of each one. Yet with data privacy being such a hot topic for consumers, the industry, and regulators already, it remains to be seen what consumer-friendly standards are set for data collection in the years to come—both in and out of the smart home.
The post Smarter Homes & Gardens: Protecting the Smart Devices in Your Home appeared first on McAfee Blog.
As an avid internet surfer, you’ve most likely heard of cookies. No, we’re not talking about the ones filled with chocolate chips. We’re talking about the ones that allow you to log in to your favorite websites. Cookies may impact your online security, so check out these tips to manage them and keep your online accounts safe.
Ever wonder how a website saves the items you placed in your shopping cart last week, even though you closed the tab before making the purchase? This is made possible by cookies. According to the Federal Trade Commission, a cookie is information saved by your web browser. When you visit a website, the site may place a cookie on your web browser so it can recognize your device in the future. If you return to that site later, it can read that cookie to remember you from your last visit, keeping track of your activities over time.1
Cookies come in either the first-party or third-party variety. There’s no difference between the two in how they function, but rather in where and how you encountered them. First-party cookies belong to sites you visited first-hand in your browser. Third-party cookies, or “tracking cookies,” generally come from third-party advertising websites.
Although cookies generally function the same, there are technically two different types of cookies. Magic cookies refer to packets of information that are sent and received without changes. Historically, this would be used to log in to a computer database system, such as an internal business network. This concept predates the modern cookie we use today.
HTTP cookies are a repurposed version of the magic cookie built for internet browsing and managing online experiences. HTTP cookies help web developers give you more personalized, convenient website experiences. They allow sites to remember you, your website logins, and shopping carts so you can pick back up where you left off from your last visit. However, cybercriminals can manipulate HTTP cookies to spy on your online activity and steal your personal information.
Cookie hijacking (also known as session hijacking) is typically initiated when a cybercriminal sends you a fake login page. If you click the fake link, the thief can steal the cookie and capture anything you type while on the fraudulent website. Like a phishing attack, cookie hijacking allows a cybercriminal to steal personal information like usernames, passwords, and other important data held within the cookie. If you enter your information while on the fake website, the criminal can then put that cookie in their browser and impersonate you online. They may even change your credentials, locking you out of your account.
Sometimes, criminals initiate cookie hijacking attacks without a fake link. If you’re browsing on an unsecured, public Wi-Fi connection, hackers can easily steal your data that’s traveling through the connection. This can happen even if the site is secure and your username and password are encrypted.
Because the data in cookies doesn’t change, cookies themselves aren’t harmful. They can’t infect computers with viruses or malware. But if your cookies are hijacked as part of a cyberattack, a criminal could gain access to your browsing history and use cookies as the key to enter your locked accounts. For example, a hacker may steal your identity or confidential company information, purchase items in your online shopping carts, or loot your bank account.
Preventing cookie hijacking attacks can allow you to browse the internet with greater peace of mind. Follow these tips to not only safeguard your personal information but to also enhance your browsing experience:
Make it a habit to clear your cookie cache regularly to prevent cookie overload, which could slow your search speeds. Also, almost every browser has the option to enable/disable cookies on your computer. So if you don’t want them at all, your browser’s support section can walk you through how to disable them.
Although it’s convenient to not have to re-type your credentials into a website you frequently visit, autofill features could make it easier for a criminal to extract your data with cookie hijacking. Plus, autofill is risky if your physical device falls into the wrong hands. To browse more securely without having to constantly reenter your passwords, use a password manager like McAfee True Key. True Key makes it so you only have to remember one master password, and it encrypts the rest in a vault protected by one of the most secure encryption algorithms available.
Strong, unique passwords for each of your accounts, updated regularly, offer ample protection against hackers. Multi-factor authentication (MFA) adds yet another layer of security by double-checking your identity beyond your username and password, usually with a texted or emailed code. When your accounts offer MFA, always opt in.
Criminals can hijack your cookies if you’re browsing on an unsecured, public Wi-Fi connection. To prevent a criminal from swiping your data, use a virtual private network (VPN), a service that protects your data and privacy online. A VPN creates an encrypted tunnel that makes you anonymous by masking your IP address while connecting to public Wi-Fi hotspots. This is a great way to shield your information from online spies while you’re banking, shopping, or handling any kind of sensitive information online.
McAfee LiveSafe is an antivirus solution that protects your computer and mobile devices from suspicious web cookies by:
The post What Are Browser Cookies and How Do I Manage Them? appeared first on McAfee Blog.
So is your smart speaker really listening in on your conversations?
That’s the crux of a popular privacy topic. Namely, are we giving up some of our privacy in exchange for the convenience of a smart speaker that does our bidding with the sound of our voice? After all, you’re using it to do everything from search for music, order online, and control the lights and temperature in your home.
What is your smart speaker really hearing—and recording?
Let’s take a look at what’s going on inside of your smart speaker, how it processes your requests, and what companies do with the recordings and transcripts of your voice.
More or less, smart speakers are listening to all the time. Each smart speaker has its own “wake word” that it listens for, like Alexa, Siri, or Google. When the device hears that wake word or thinks it hears it, it begins recording and awaits your verbal commands. Unless you have the microphone or listening feature turned off, your device indeed actively listens for that wake word all the time.
Here’s where things get interesting, though. There’s a difference between “listening” and “recording.” The act of listening is passive. Your smart speaker is waiting to hear its name. That’s it. Once it does hear its name, it begins recording for a few seconds to record your command. From there, your spoken command goes into the company’s cloud for processing by way of an encrypted connection.
There are exceptions to when your command may go to the company’s cloud for processing, like Siri on iPhones, which according to Apple, “You don’t sign in with your Apple ID to use Siri, and the audio of your requests is processed entirely on your iPhone.” Also, Google Assistant may process some requests without going to the cloud, like “When a user triggers a smart home Action that has a local fulfillment path, Assistant sends the EXECUTE intent or QUERY intent to the Google Home or Google Nest device rather than the cloud fulfillment.”
In the cases where information does go to the cloud, processing entails a few things. First, it makes sure that the wake word was heard. If it’s determined that the wake word was indeed spoken (or something close enough to it—more on that in a minute), the speaker follows through on the request or command. Depending on your settings, that activity may get stored in your account history, whether as a voice recording, transcript, or both. If the wake word was not detected, processing ends at that point.
Enter the issue of mistaken wake words. While language models and processing technologies used by smart speakers are constantly evolving, there are occasions where a smart speaker acts as if a wake word was heard when it simply wasn’t said. Several studies on the topic have been published in recent years. In the case of research from Northeastern University, it was found that dialogue from popular television shows could be interpreted as wake words that trigger recording. For example, their findings cite:
“We then looked at other shows with a similarly high dialogue density (such as Gilmore Girls and The Office) and found that they also have a high number of activations, which suggests that the number of activations is at least in part related to the density of dialogue. However, we have also noticed that if we consider just the amount of dialogue (in a number of words), Narcos is the one that triggers the most activations, even if it has the lowest dialogue density.”
Of interest is not just the volume of dialogue, but the pronunciation of the dialogue:
“We investigated the actual dialogue that produced Narcos‘ activations and we have seen that it was mostly Spanish dialogue and poorly pronounced English dialogue. This suggests that, in general, words that are not pronounced clearly may lead to more unwanted activations.”
Research such as this suggests that smart speakers at the time had room for improvement when it comes to properly detect wake words, thus leading to parts of conversation being recorded without the owner intending it. If you own a smart speaker, I wouldn’t be too surprised to hear that you’ve had some issues like that from time to time yourself.
As mentioned above, the makers of smart speakers make constant improvements to their devices and services, which may include the review of commands from users to make sure they are interpreted correctly. There are typically two types of review—machine and human. As the names suggest, a machine review is a digital analysis and human reviews entail someone listening to and evaluating a recorded command or reading and evaluating a transcript of a written command.
However, several manufacturers let you exercise some control over that. In fact, you’ll find that they post a fair share of articles about this collection and review process, along with your choices for opting in or out as you wish:
The quickest way to ensure a more private experience with your smart speaker is to disable listening—or turn it off entirely. Depending on the device, you may be able to do this with the push of a button, a voice command, or some combination of the two. This will keep the device from listening for its wake word. Likewise, this makes your smart speaker unresponsive to voice commands until you enable them again. This approach works well if you decide there are certain stretches of the day where your smart speaker doesn’t need to be on call.
Yet let’s face it, the whole idea of a smart speaker is to have it on and ready to take your requests. For those stretches where you leave it on, there’s another step you can take to shore up your privacy.
In addition to making sure you’re opted out of the review process mentioned above, you can also delete your recordings associated with your voice commands.
Managing your voice history like this gives you yet one more way you can take control of your privacy. In many ways, it’s like deleting your search history from your browser. And when you consider just how much activity and how many queries your smart speaker may see over the course of days, weeks, and months, you can imagine just how much information that captures about you and your family. Some of it is undoubtedly personal. Deleting that history can help protect your privacy in the event that information ever gets breached or somehow ends up in the hands of a bad actor.
Lastly, above and beyond these privacy tips for your smart speakers, comprehensive online protection will help you look out for your privacy overall. In the case of ours, we provide a full range of privacy and device protection, along with identity theft protection that includes $1M identity theft coverage, identity monitoring, and identity restoration assistance from recovery pros—and antivirus too, of course. Together, they can make your time spent online far more secure.
You’re the smart one in this relationship
With privacy becoming an increasingly hot topic (rightfully so!), several companies have been taking steps to make the process of managing yours easier and a more prevalent part of their digital experience. As you can see, there are several ways you can take charge of how your smart speaker uses, and doesn’t use, your voice.
It used to be that many of these settings were tucked away deep in menus, rather than something companies would tout on web pages dedicated to privacy. So as far as smart speakers go, the information is out there, and I hope this article helps make the experience with yours more private and secure.
The post Smarter Homes & Gardens: Smart Speaker Privacy appeared first on McAfee Blog.
Passwords: we entrust our most important data to these strings of letters, numbers, and special characters. So, we should make sure our passwords are words or phrases that we can easily remember, right? While this might be the most convenient option, there are more secure ways to digitally lock up your most sensitive personally identifiable information (PII). In celebration of World Password Day, we’re diving into how you can practice top-notch password security without compromising convenience.1
Over the years, the password has remained a good first line of defense against cyberattacks. However, most of us tend to choose passwords based on memorable things from our lives, like family names or our pets’ birthdays. As it turns out, these details are easy for hackers to find on social media sites like Facebook or LinkedIn. It’s also human nature to opt for convenience, and for many people that means setting easy-to-remember and easy-to-guess passwords. Plus, out of convenience, people often reuse passwords across multiple accounts and services. The downside is that if one account becomes compromised, all accounts become compromised.
As an alternative to single-word passwords, many security experts advocate for passphrases over passwords. Passphrases are longer strings of words and characters that are easier for you to remember and harder for nefarious software and cybercriminals to guess than random strings of upper and lowercase letters, numbers and symbols. But, according to a study, the average American internet user was projected to have 300 online accounts by 2022.2 Can you imagine memorizing 300 different passphrases? We can all agree that sounds pretty unrealistic, so users tend to look for other solutions.
If the answer is yes, you may want to reconsider, as there are several risks associated with this practice. Although it’s convenient to have your browser save your passwords, they tend to do a lousy job of safeguarding your passwords, credit card numbers and personal details, such as your name and address.
Let’s take Google Chrome, for example. Unlike most dedicated password managers, Chrome doesn’t use a primary password to encrypt all your credentials. (Note that some browsers do use one, and are therefore more secure, though you’ll still need to trust your browser provider.) This makes your Chrome-stored passwords relatively weak to “local” attacks. For example, if someone gets hold of—or guesses—your Windows password, they can then see all the logins stored in your browser’s password manager.
Another consideration to note is that the security of all your accounts is tied to your browser account’s security. Let’s say you use the sync option to make your credentials available on all your devices. This means that logins are stored in the cloud and, though encrypted, if someone manages to hack into your browser account, they will gain access to all your logins.
What can you do to help ensure your online profiles are kept safe without spending hours managing a complex list of passwords? Here are some easy ways to lock down your digital life without sacrificing convenience:
A password manager is a software application that stores your passwords and other sensitive information. You can install it on computers or mobile devices and store all passwords in an encrypted file (or database). The best option is to use a password manager like McAfee True Key to store and create strong, random passwords for each site you visit. You’ll have one primary password that grants access to the rest of them—ideally, a long and random passphrase that you can remember. Once everything is set up, it should be seamless. As you log in to new sites, the password manager will offer to save your credentials for later use.
One of the best ways to protect your accounts against unauthorized access is to turn on two-factor authentication for every site that offers it. Using two-factor authentication means a site will prompt you for a unique security code, in addition to your password, whenever you log in to an account for which you have enabled this feature.
Two-factor authentication adds an extra layer of security by requiring another form of identification after you enter your username and password. Some services send a temporary passcode over a text message. Others require the user to approve login attempts from new devices using an app. If someone steals your device or gains access to your account details, they’re out of luck unless they also have access to this second piece of information. Two-factor authentication is available on a wide range of websites and can help keep your accounts safe from would-be hackers, so you should always use it when available.
A VPN, or virtual private network, encrypts your data and masks your online behavior from snooping third parties. When you go to a website, your computer connects to the server where the site is hosted, and that website can see a certain amount of data about you and your computer. With a VPN, you connect to a private server first, which scrambles your data and makes it more difficult for digital eavesdroppers to track what you’re doing online.
VPNs can provide users with greater peace of mind when on the go. Say you’re traveling on a business trip and need to connect to the Wi-Fi network provided by your hotel. Shifty characters often lurk on unprotected, free networks (such as those provided by hotels, coffee shops, airports, etc.) to lift PII from people handling sensitive emails, making banking transactions, or shopping online. encrypts your online activity with bank-grade encryption to protect your data from prying eyes. With a premium paid plan, you can protect up to five devices at once and enjoy unlimited data protection.
With your growing number of accounts all requiring passwords—emails, social media profiles, online banking—it’s no wonder that people tend to reuse passwords across multiple sites. This may be convenient, but it creates significant security risks if a suspicious actor manages to obtain one of your passwords and attempts to use it elsewhere. That’s why having strong passwords matters.
Do yourself a favor and opt for a dedicated password manager that will auto-save and store your credentials for you, so you only have one password to remember. Who says security and simplicity can’t coexist?
The post This World Password Day, Here’s How a Password Manager Can Simplify Your Life appeared first on McAfee Blog.
Like most things in life, online privacy is a 2-way street. As consumers, we expect the companies we deal with online to manage and safeguard our data to a super professional level however we also have a role to play here too. So, this Privacy Awareness Week (PAW), let’s focus on what we can do to ensure our personal information is kept as secure, and private as possible.
There’s nothing like a dedicated ‘week’ to renew our focus and in my opinion, this year’s PAW does just that. This year’s theme is – The Foundation of Trust – we all have a role to play, a great reminder of how it’s up to all of us to ensure we manage online privacy. There’s no doubt that managing our privacy is low on the to-do list for many. And I get it – we’re all strapped for time, and we don’t ever think privacy breaches will affect us. Well, my friends, I’m here to tell you that privacy breaches do happen. Identity theft is a reality of living life online. In fact, in 2020/21, nearly 155,000 Aussies had their identities stolen and they were the cases that were reported. But the good news is that if you take a proactive approach, you can minimise the risk of this ever happening.
Believe it or not, most of your privacy action plan involves small steps that are, I promise, relatively painless. The most important thing here is that you need to commit to doing them. The last thing you want is to spend months dealing with the fallout from having your identity stolen. It’s exhausting, stressful, and absolutely worth avoiding.
Without further ado, here’s your action plan:
Strong and complex passwords are essential to keeping your online information tight. Ideally, a password should have between 8-10 characters and be a combination of letters – both lower and uppercase, numbers and symbols. Each online account should also have its own password too – which is a very overwhelming concept! Consider using a password manager such as McAfee’s TrueKey to help generate and manage passwords.
Ensure all the family checks their social media accounts to ensure they are set to private. This will mean that only their chosen friends can see their private information. Each social media platform will have its own ‘help’ page which provides specific steps on how to do this.
If you are serious about your online privacy, then you need to use public Wi-Fi sparingly. Unsecured public Wi-Fi is a very risky business. Anything you share could easily find its way into the hands of cybercriminals. So, avoid sharing any sensitive or personal information while using public Wi-Fi. If you travel regularly, consider investing in a VPN. A VPN (Virtual Private Network) encrypts your activity which means your login details and other sensitive information is protected. A great insurance policy!
Adding an additional layer of security to protect yourself when accessing your online accounts is another great way of guarding your online privacy. Turn on two-factor authentication for Google, Dropbox, Facebook and whatever other site offers it. For those new to this option, this means that in addition to your password, you will need to provide another form of identification to ensure you are who you say you are. Most commonly, this is a code sent to your mobile phone or generated by a smartphone app.
Most web surfers rely on Google for their searching but why not use a search engine that doesn’t collect and store the information? And there are loads of more ‘privacy focussed’ options to choose from. Check out DuckDuckGo, that doesn’t profile users or track or sell your information to third parties.
Comprehensive security protection software is an easy way to help firm up your online privacy too as it does a great job of keeping malicious software (malware) at bay. Malware can wreak absolute havoc: from installing pop ups to scanning for personal information. And if you’re likely to click dodgy links (we’re all human after all), then this is a no brainer! Super-duper security software will also guard you against viruses and online threats, direct you away from risky websites and dangerous downloads and protect your smartphones and tablets too, it can also back up your files. McAfee’s LiveSafe protection software comes with a 100% guarantee to protect you against viruses.
So, this Privacy Awareness week, please take the time to ensure you are doing all you can to nail your online privacy. And of course, please get your kids involved too. Do your research and find some stories of ‘real life’ people who have had their identity stolen to share around the dinner table because identity theft can absolutely happen to anyone!
Till next time,
Stay Safe!
Alex
The post Are You Playing A Role In Protecting Your Online Privacy? appeared first on McAfee Blog.
While biometric tools like facial ID and fingerprints have become more common when it comes to securing our data and devices, strong passwords still play an essential part in safeguarding our digital lives.
This can be frustrating at times, since many of us have more accounts and passwords than we can possibly remember. This can lead us to dangerous password practices, such as choosing short and familiar passwords, and repeating them across numerous accounts. But password safety doesn’t have to be so hard. Here are some essential tips for creating bulletproof passwords.
Every year surveys find that the most popular passwords are as simple as “1234567” and just “password.” This is great news for the cybercrooks, but really bad news for the safety of our personal and financial information.
When it comes to creating strong passwords, length and complexity matter because it makes them harder to guess, and harder to crack if the cybercriminal is using an algorithm to quickly process combinations. The alarming truth is that passwords that are just 7 characters long take less than a third of a second to crack using these “brute force attack” algorithms.
Tricks:
Passwords that include bits of personal information, such as your name, address, or pet’s name, make them easier to guess. This is especially true when we share a lot of personal information online. But you can use personal preferences that aren’t well known to create strong passphrases.
Tricks:
If you reuse passwords and someone guesses a password for one account, they can potentially use it to get into others. This practice has gotten even riskier over the last several years, due to the high number of corporate data breaches. With just one hack, cybercriminals can get their hands on thousands of passwords, which they can then use to try to access multiple accounts.
Tricks:
If just the thought of creating and managing complex passwords has you overwhelmed, outsource the work to a password manager! These are software programs that can create random and complex passwords for each of your accounts, and store them securely. This means you don’t have to remember your passwords – you can simply rely on the password manager to enter them when needed.
Tricks:
Now that you’ve made sure that your passwords are bulletproof, make sure you have comprehensive security software that can protect you from a wide variety of threats.
Tricks:
The post 5 Tips For Creating Bulletproof Passwords appeared first on McAfee Blog.
Whether you think you might have a virus on your computer or devices, or just want to keep them running smoothly, it’s easy to do a virus scan. How to check for viruses depends on the software and device you have, so we’ll go through everything you need to know to run a scan effectively and keep your computers, phones and tablets in tip-top shape.
First, let’s cover a few of the telltale signs your device might have a virus. Is your computer or device acting sluggish or having a hard time booting up? Have you noticed missing files or a lack of storage space? Have you noticed emails or messages sent from your account that you did not write? Perhaps you’ve noticed changes to your browser homepage or settings? Or maybe, you’re seeing unexpected pop-up windows, or experiencing crashes and other program errors. These are all examples of signs that you may have a virus, but don’t get too worried yet, because many of these issues can be resolved with a virus scan.
Each antivirus program works a little differently, but in general the software will look for known malware that meets a specific set of characteristics. It may also look for variants of these known threats that have a similar code base. Some antivirus software even checks for suspicious behavior. If the software comes across a dangerous program or piece of code, it removes it. In some cases, a dangerous program can be replaced with a clean one from the manufacturer.
The process of checking for viruses depends on the device type and its operating system. Check out these tips to help you scan your computers, phones and tablets.
If you use Windows 10, go into “Settings” and look for the “Updates & Security” tab. From there you can locate a “Scan Now” button.
Of course, many people have invested in more robust antivirus software that has a high accuracy rate and causes less drain on their system resources, such as McAfee Total Protection. To learn how to run a virus scan using your particular antivirus software, search the software’s help menu or look online for instructions.
Mac computers don’t have a built-in antivirus program, so you will have to download security software to do a virus scan. There are some free antivirus applications available online, but we recommend investing in trusted software that can protect you from a variety of threats. Downloading free software and free online virus scans can be risky, since cybercriminals know that this is a good way to spread malware.
Whichever program you choose, follow their step-by-step instructions on how to perform a virus scan, either by searching under “help” or looking it up on their website.
Yes, you can get a virus on your phone or tablet, although they are less common than on computers. However, the wider category of mobile malware is on the rise and your device can get infected if you download a risky app, click on an attachment in a text message, visit a dangerous webpage, or connect to another device that has malware on it.
Fortunately, you can protect your devices with mobile security software. It doesn’t usually come installed, so you will have to download an application and follow the instructions.
Because the Android platform is an open operating system, there are a number of antivirus products for Android devices, that allows you to do a virus scan.
Apple devices are a little different because they have a closed operating system that doesn’t allow third parties to see their code. Although Apple has taken other security precautions to reduce malware risks, such as only allowing the installation of apps from Apple’s official app store, these measures aren’t the same as an antivirus program.
For more robust protection on your Apple devices, you can install mobile security software to protect the private data you have stored on your phone or tablet, such as contacts, photos and messages.
If safeguarding all your computers and devices individually sounds overwhelming, you can opt for a comprehensive security product that protects computers, smartphones and tablets from a central control center, making virus prevention a breeze.
New online threats emerge every day, putting our personal information, money and devices at risk. In the first quarter of 2019 alone McAfee detected 504 new threats per minute, as cybercriminals employed new tactics. That’s why it is essential to stay ahead of these threats by using security software that is constantly monitoring and checking for new known threats, while safeguarding all of your sensitive information. Virus scans are an essential part of this process when it comes to identifying and removing dangerous code.
Most antivirus products are regularly scanning your computer or device in the background, so you will only need to start a manual scan if you notice something suspicious, like crashes or excessive pop-ups. You can also program regular scans on your schedule.
Of course, the best protection is to avoid getting infected in the first place. Here are a few smart tips to sidestep viruses and other malware:
The post How To Do A Virus Scan appeared first on McAfee Blog.
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The growing number of internet crimes targeting senior adults is mind-blowing.
In 2021, more than 92,000 people over the age of 60 reported losses of $1.7 billion, according to IC3, the FBI’s Internet Crime division. That number reflects a 74 percent increase in losses from 2020.
These numbers tell us a few things. They tell us that scamming the elderly is a multi-billion-dollar business for cybercriminals. It also tells us that regardless of how shoddy or obvious online scams may appear to anyone outside the senior community, they are working.
However, information is power. Senior adults can protect their hard-earned retirement funds and government benefits by staying informed, adopting new behaviors, and putting tools in place designed to stop scammers in their tracks. And, when possible, family, friends, and caregivers can help.
The FBI said confidence fraud and romance scams netted over $281 million in losses.
The top four types of scams targeting seniors: Romance scams (confidence scams), fake online shopping, false utility representatives, and government agent imposters. Here’s how to make a few shifts to mindset and your daily routine and steer clear of digital deception.
Just as the seasons change in our lives, so too must our behaviors when connecting to people and information via our devices. Cybercriminals target older people because they assume they aren’t as informed about schemes or technically savvy as younger people. Senior adults and their loved ones can work daily to change that narrative. With the right mindset, information, and tools, seniors can connect online with confidence and enjoy their golden years without worrying about digital deception.
The post Seniors: How to Keep Your Retirement Safe from Online Scams appeared first on McAfee Blog.
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