Guide to Social Networking Sites

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National Cybersecurity Awareness Month

National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM), conducted every October since 2004, is a public awareness campaign to encourage everyone to protect their computers and critical cyber infrastructure.

What are you doing for National Cyber Security Awareness Month?

The success of National Cyber Security Awareness Month rests on all of us doing what we can do to engage those around us to be safe and secure online. There are opportunities for everyone, from home users and small businesses to major corporations and government entities, to get involved.

Cybersecurity Coordinator Howard Schmidt answers your questions about National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, the "Stop.Think.Connect" initiative to encourage safety online, and ways to protect yourself online. October 20, 2010.

Hear President Obama talk about Cyber Security Awareness Month (Oct, 2009)

President Obama explains how the growth of digital networks has increased the need to invest in online security, as well as steps individuals can take to protect themselves from online threats. October 14, 2009.

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Safe Computing

Introduction to Safe Computing

Home computers are a popular target for intruders. This is due to the fact that home computers usually use less complex protection and take less work and risk to penetrate than the systems within a secure enterprise network. This is not to say that in the past, hackers haven’t also provided equal headaches for the security administrators in big enterprises, exploiting every possible opportunity to sneak in. The attackers look for credit card numbers, bank account information, and anything else they can find from your home computer. But it’s not just the money-related information they’re after. Intruders also want the compromised computer’s resources, to attack other computers on the Internet. In fact, the more computers an intruder uses, the harder it is for law enforcement to figure out where the attack is really coming from.

Not many of the home computer users are aware of the security issues that can arise out of unsafe computing practices, unless they experience an attack on their computers. When combined with high-speed Internet connections that are always turned on, intruders can quickly find and then attack home computers. While intruders also attack home computers connected to the Internet through dial-up connections, high-speed connections modems and DSL modems) becomes a favored target. As we have discussed earlier, attackers use various methods such as attaching a virus in an email, to enter or access the home computers. They also take advantage of vulnerabilities in the computer’s programs code to gain access.

What follows are some tips to help provide a more secure computing experience.

• Install and Use an Anti-Virus Program
• Update Operating System and Install patches
• Handle Emails with Care
• Install a Firewall
• Beware of Social Engineering Attacks
• Use (strong) Passwords

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How to choose secure passwords??

Passwords are your protection against fraud and loss of confidential information, but few people choose passwords that are truly secure.

Make your password as long as possible

The longer a password is, the harder it is to guess or to find by trying all possible combinations (i.e., a brute force attack). Passwords of 14 characters or more are vastly more difficult to crack.

Use different types of characters

Include numbers, punctuation marks, symbols, and uppercase and lowercase letters.

Don’t use words that are in dictionaries

Don’t use words, names or place names that are usually found in dictionaries. Hackers

can use a dictionary attack (i.e., trying all the words in the dictionary automatically) to

crack these passwords.

Don’t use personal information

Others are likely to know information such as your birthday, the name of your partner or child, or your phone number, and they might guess that you have used them as a password.

Don’t use your username

Don’t use a password that is the same as your username or account number.

Use passwords that are difficult to identify as you type them in

Make sure that you don’t use repeated characters or keys close together on the keyboard.

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What is a Potentially Unwanted Program/Application (PUP)?

Potentially unwanted applications are programs that are not malicious but may be unsuitable for use in a business environment.

Some applications are non-malicious and possibly useful in the right context, but are not suitable for company networks. Examples are adware, dialers, non-malicious spyware, tools for administering PCs remotely and hacking tools. Certain anti-virus and endpoint security programs can detect such applications on users’ computers and report them. The administrator can then either authorize the applications for use or remove them from the computers.

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myLot Account

myLot User Profile

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Identity Theft

When you think of theft, you usually think of someone stealing your possessions. Modern thieves have gone high-tech-they can take your money, use your credit, and ruin your reputation by stealing your identity. Identity theft can happen to anyone because all of our personal information is scattered in so many places-from online shopping websites and corporate databases to wallets and scraps of paper. Identity theft, or identity fraud, occurs when someone steals information that defines your personal identity-such as your name, Social Security number, bank account numbers, and credit card numbers-to reap the benefits of posing as you. These benefits can be financial, such as access to your accounts and credit cards, or they can be reputational in that thieves can use your identity to get a job or commit a crime.

Using your personal details, a thief can open a credit card account and run up charges, create counterfeit checks using your account number, or even obtain an official government document, such as a driver’s license, in your name. When this happens, you not only lose money, you also face losing the ability to take out a loan, receive medical benefits, or get a job due to bad credit and a damaged reputation. In severe cases, you could even get thrown in jail for mistaken identity. Most often, it takes a long time for victims to realize that their identities have been stolen, and by the time they become aware of the fraud the thief is long gone. This explains why it’s so easy for thieves to commit identity theft and why it’s so hard for law enforcement to catch them.

Important Identity Theft Facts

• Javelin’s Identity Fraud Report for 2010 found that 11.1 million adults in the U.S. were victims of identity fraud
• Americans incurred $54 billion in loss from identity theft in 2008
• The average fraud amount per victim was close to $5,000
• Victims who found out about their identity theft more than six months after it happened incurred costs 4x higher than the average
• From 2005 to 2009, there have been more than 500 million consumers whose personal and financial data had been exposed.
• Victims spend an average of 58 hours repairing the damage done to existing accounts and an average of 165 hours repairing damage done by the creation of new, fraudulent accounts.

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