Latest opinions that Robert Siciliano has shared on Finextra

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Robert Siciliano

Security Analyst

Safr.me

Member since

04 Feb 2009

Location

Boston

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Robert's opinions

Time to tighten up Google Privacy Settings

There is good news for the tech-unsavvy out there: Google has made their privacy settings easier to work with. This day has not come a moment too soon. “My Account” is Google’s new dashboard. When you use any Google account, the giant company collects information on you. The new dashboard will reveal what information this is. My Account also has ot...

21 July 2015 /security

Social Media Scams on the rise

Social media is a conduit for thieves to get personal data (they can use it, for instance, to open up a credit line in the victim’s name). Though many people are concerned their personal information will get in the wrong hands, the funny thing is that they continue posting personal information—way too personal. The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint C...

17 July 2015 /security

How to Recognize a Phishing Scam

So someone comes up to you in a restaurant—a complete stranger—and asks to look at your driver’s license. What do you do? Show it to that person? You’d have to be one loony tune to do that. However, this same blindness to security occurs all the time when a person is tricked by a “phishing” e-mail into typing in the password and username for their ...

16 July 2015 /security

Don't Name Your Dog After Your Password

Recently I got a puppy for my child. We decided to name the puppy 4wgu23x5#9. My wife,8yysH3m, thought we should name the dog 0x2%#b5. But I’m sure she’ll get over it. Meanwhile, I’m helping my older child with setting up a few social media accounts, and I suggested the two passwords: Rover and Spot. Is there something wrong with this picture? Of ...

15 July 2015 /security

Catphishing is a Heartless Scam

When someone online presents as a different person than their true self, this is called catphishing, and it occurs on online dating sites. Google the name of the object of your interest. Obviously, “Kelly Smith” and “John Miller” won’t get you far, but “Jaycina McArthur” just might. What comes up? See if they have social media accounts, as these s...

11 July 2015 /security

Beware of Vacation Rental Scams this Summer

Talk about getting taken to the cleaners: Imagine you spot a great summer rental property advertised online. Looks wonderful. The deal sounds too good to be true, but the owner tells you (via e-mail or even phone) that the fee is correct. You apply for the rent and send in the required upfront payment. Then you head down there for the first time t...

10 July 2015 /security

Consumers smartening up to Privacy Issues

According to a recent report from Pew Research, many Americans take privacy seriously—as in the cyber kind, but also offline. 9% of survey respondents thought they had strong control over how much of their personal information was collected and shared. 38% thought they had moderate control; 37% believed they had little control; 13% said they had z...

09 July 2015 /security

ATM Skimming rising, again

Do you know what ATM stands for? For crooks, it stands for A Thief’s Moneymaker. A new report from FICO says that “skimming” crimes have made their biggest spike in the past 20 years. This includes ATMs on bank premises, but of course, public ATM kiosks have seen the biggest spike. The thief tampers with the ATM’s card receiver; the installed gadge...

08 July 2015 /security

Check out Google's Password Alert

Cyber crooks have phony websites that masquerade as the legitimate site you want to log onto. They’ve spun their web and are just waiting for you to fly into it. Google now has Password Alert, which will tell you if you’ve landed into such a non-Google web. For the Chrome browser, this extension will prompt the user to change their password. When y...

07 July 2015 /security

Apple's bizarre Crashing Text and how to fix

Of all the weird things that can happen to your iOS device, the latest is a relatively benign situation in which a string of text is sent to the phone…and it causes the phone to crash. The phone will reboot if the particular nonsensical text string is received while the phone is locked. Data won’t be stolen; nobody will gain remote control of your ...

06 July 2015 /security

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