28. December 2007 by admin.

A few safety tips we want to pass along when using MySpace and some tips to protect your privacy.

1. Set your profile to private. There are a lot of teens that don’t protect their privacy and therefore are broadcasting their profile to the world.

2. Change your password regularly and include upper/lower case letters, numbers, and special characters (i.e. &^$#) in combination. Your password for MySpace should NOT be the same as the password that you use to access your e-mail. If someone obtains your MySpace password they also will have access to your e-mail if the MySpace password is the same.

3. Pre-Approve comments before they are posted to your profile.

4. Do not display your status as “Online Now” if you want to protect others from seeing when you are online.

5. Block Users and Report them to MySpace

6. Remember that MySpace is a public place. Once a picture is posted online it is like a picture that never comes down. Every time the picture is displayed it is stored on a user’s computer. NEVER post any obscene or inappropriate pictures!!

7. Avoid including your age and high school you attend in your profile is set to public. A child predator or an identity thief would have an easy time locating you.

8. Remember if you do not know them then DON’T add them as a friend!

Be Safe!!

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20. December 2007 by admin.

If you’re traveling for the holidays, be careful when you use wi-fi hotspots in public places. “Few things expose your [computer] to greater security risks than latching onto a public Wi-Fi service,” USATODAY reports. “Computer criminals can ’sniff’ the traffic in a cafe, or set up a fake hot spot that you might innocently log into. When that happens, watch out: Everything you type goes directly to the host computer, known as an ‘evil twin’.” The “twin is ready to grab passwords, financial info, etc. Some retailers with wireless service are now advertising secure connectivity, which really helps. If you log on and see “https” instead of “http,” your connecting is also probably secure. USATODAY has a sidebar with other tips.

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4. December 2007 by admin.

The 18-year-old New Zealander’s screenname is “AKILL,” and he is the alleged head “of an international cyber crime network accused of infiltrating 1.3 million computers” and stealing $20+ million from victims’ bank accounts, the Associated Press reports. “Working with the FBI and police in the Netherlands, New Zealand police raided” his house in Hamilton and took him and several computers in custody. His arrest was part of an international crackdown on criminal hackers who hack or social-engineer their way into large numbers of computers, install malicious software, and take control of the machines, turning them into “zombies.” The zombie computers become part of large networks (or “botnets”) of computers that can launch denial-of-service attacks on large Web commercial Web sites, extort, manipulate stocks, etc. “Eight people have been indicted, pleaded guilty or have been convicted since the investigation started in June.”

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