If there is a big topic related to SPAM that has been used for years and years, most of us would agree it’s… Viagra sales. It is really interesting to see those mails on the junk folder of our mailing service, trying to sneak in the desired inbox and capture our attention at least for a second.
The post Are Social Networks interested in your sex life? appeared first on Avira Blog.
An attentive and tech-savvy mom, based in Colonie in New York, has been lauded by the police for helping uncover and bring an online predator to justice.
The post Online predator busted after being intercepted by tech-savvy mom appeared first on We Live Security.
What’s the coolest part of the Iron Man movies?
The hyper-intelligent Artificial Intelligence that helps Tony Stark by doing data analysis, charging his armor, presenting information at crucial times and doing other business operations.
That’s right — we are talking about J.A.R.V.I.S., Iron Man’s personal assistant.
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We all dream of having one of its kinds, and
When I was checking my Facebook News Feed this morning, I found this message.
Facebook newsfeed hoax
It seems one of my friends was very excited because Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, was scheduled to give away 4.5 million shares of Facebook stock at midnight. To enter this lottery-like giveaway, all you had to do was copy and paste the message to your own news feed. The message, and variations like it, go on to say that the winners will be announced live on today’s Good Morning America. Other variations look like this,
Facebook hoax image via metro.co.uk
Like others before it, this viral Facebook message is a hoax. You will not be entered by copying and pasting a message. And Mr. Zuckerberg is not giving away 4.5 billion dollars to 1,000 random Facebook users. If this message makes its way to your News Feed, please do not copy and paste it or share with your friends. The best action is to delete it and maybe go buy yourself a lottery ticket. The odds will be a little better. 
Facebook is actually doing something about these hoaxes. Early in December, the Facebook newsroom published a News Feed FYI: Using Surveys to Better Understand Viral Stories. In the article they described how they have started using surveys to improve the news feed experience. Every day they ask thousands of people to rate their experience, share suggestions for improvement, and help them infer what might be an interesting story so they can work their algorithms to take that into account when ranking. Here’s what they say about that,
People also take story surveys where they see two stories that could be in their News Feed and answer which they’d most want to see. We compare their answer to the order we would have put these stories in their News Feed. If the story picked is the one News Feed would have shown higher up, that’s a good sign that things are working well. If the story picked is the one we would have put lower down, this highlights an area for improvement.
So if you receive one of these surveys, make sure you fill it out – your feedback will help to eliminate this type of clutter in everyone’s News Feed. 
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Facebook’s Free Internet access to India has hit a hurdle:
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has ordered the mobile carrier to temporary suspend the Facebook’s Free Basics Internet program.
Facebook’s Free Basics is an app that allows users to access certain Internet websites, including Facebook, for free.
However, India’s independent regulatory body has asked
Yahoo has announced it will follow in the footsteps of Twitter and Facebook and begin warning users when it believes their accounts have been targeted by a state-sponsored actor.
Facebook is at odds with a security researcher over a number of Instagram vulnerabilities that allowed the researcher to access SSL and other private keys, as well as user and employee data.
The “Most used words” app became a Facebook hit within days of its launch. At the moment of writing this article, it has been used by nearly 18 million users globally. There are many controversies about user privacy in relation to data that is collected by the app.
“Most Used Words“ is an unexpected privacy nightmare. Source http://en.vonvon.me/
Earlier this week, the British company Comparitech published a blog post about the privacy nightmare caused by this innocent-looking Facebook app. “Most used words” is presented as a simple, playful quiz in which Facebook scans through and analyzes users‘ posts in order to generate a collection of words they use most frequently on Facebook. Sounds like fun, right? Before you try it yourself, take a closer look at this data-hungry wolf in sheep’s clothing – after some analysis of the app, it has turned out to be a privacy thief. When using the app, users give away following details:
First, the app asks for a couple basic pieces of information:
1. Name
2. Everything you’ve ever posted on your timeline
But then, it asks users to agree to give away the following personal details:
3. Profile picture, age, sex, birthday,and other public info
4. Entire friend list
5. All of the photos and photos you’re tagged in
6. Education history
7. Hometown and current city
8. Everything you’ve ever liked
9. IP address
10. Information about the device you’re using, including browser and language
Let’s face it — our concept of the privacy has unarguably changed in the age of the Internet and social media. In the digital world, we leave our fingerprints on a daily basis while browsing, shopping, playing, and chatting on multiple devices. Regardless of our online activities, there should be limits as to how companies collect, store and process our personal data. In this case, the owner of the app, South Korean company vovon.me, can be accused of a serious breach of user privacy.
What do you give away when installing “Most used words”?
According to Vonvon’s official terms and conditions, you agree to your personal information being used in the following ways:
1. Used after the termination of your membership to the website and/or use of Vonvon’s services, for any reason whatsoever. (This basically means that you already gave away your data if you used the app.)
2. Stored on any of Vonvon’s servers at any location, including the countries that have little to no legal regulations regarding data privacy.
3. Sold to the third parties, which you agreed to according to this statement: […] We do not share your Personal Information with third parties unless We have received your permission to do so, or given you notice thereof (such as by telling you about it in this Privacy Policy) […]
4. Used in any manner by the third parties, as Vonvon doesn’t take any responsibility for it: […] this Privacy Policy does not apply to the practices of entities Vonvon does not own or control, or to individuals whom Vonvon does not employ or manage, including any third parties to whom Vonvon may disclose Personal Information[…]
How to protect yourself?
We have good and bad news for you. The bad one is that if you have already installed any of Vonvon’s apps, it’s unfortunately no longer possible to protect your privacy. (See point 1 in the paragraph above.)
If you haven’t used it yet, let this be a lesson to you. The same lack of privacy concerns can also be seen in other permission-hungry apps – this is why a weather forecast app would like to have access to your pictures and a cooking app requests your IP address.
We also advise you to review the current list of apps that you have already installed on Facebook, determine if you use them on a regular basis and pinpoint what kind of data the apps are requesting from you. You can do this by doing the following:
1. Select Settings in the top right of Facebook
2. Click Apps in the left menu
3. Hover over an app or game and click to edit its settings
You can find out more about Facebook apps‘ privacy and security in the About Apps section of the Help Center.
If you are an Avast user, log in into your Avast account and go to Social Media Security > Apps — we will guide you how to analyze each of your apps‘ security.
You might be surprised how many apps you have installed throughout the years, so don’t forget to make an audit of your apps on a regular basis.
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Our Facebook contest gave participants a chance to win one free year of Avast Premier 2016.
Over the weekend, we ran a fill-in-the blank contest on our Facebook page in celebration of the launch of Avast 2016 products. Participants had the chance to win a 1-year license for Avast Premier 2016, and could do so by finishing the following sentence:
“The best celebrations always include ______________.”
We received many fun, creative answers from our Facebook fans who are passionate about Avast and staying secure. Here are some of our favorite responses:
“The best celebrations always include free food, because who doesn’t like free food? #Avast2016”
“The best celebrations always include close friends, family and the dog. #Avast2016”
“GOOD FOOD (along with family, of course). #Avast2016”
“The best celebrations always include an AVAST amount of love. #Avast2016”
“#Avast2016 The best celebrations always include Czech beer“
We’d like to thank each of our users who participated in the contest, and we encourage you to keep your eyes peeled for more upcoming promotions on our social media channels. Thanks for celebrating the arrival of Avast 2016 with us!
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Don’t ignore Facebook alerts and take your time to improve your security
Facebook has become more concerned about its users’ security. The social giant understands that education is the key to providing users with a secure experience. We have already seen the Facebook “dinosaur” guiding us via privacy settings. Now Facebook pops out a short guide to improve the security of our profiles. We strongly recommend not to ignore it and take those steps to ensure that your profile is properly protected.
Don’t ignore Facebook alerts and take your time to improve your security
We check our Facebook profile on multiple devices: Our smartphones, tablets and via different apps (Facebook group, messenger, Facebook app). Sometimes we don’t even realize it! ‘Log Out of Unused Apps’ will show you all the apps that you use to log in, but haven’t used for a long period of time. From a security perspective that can create a vulnerable situation. If you don’t use the app, better log out!
We have also a solution for that. If you don’t want to be bother with constant login into your social account, we recommend Avast Passwords available for all your mobile devices for FREE. Check it out for Android and iOS. With one password you can safely log in into your all social apps, without remembering multiple passwords!
Login alerts will notify you about unauthorized login attempts into your account
Facebook will let you know when there is an attempt to log into your account via a new device or browser. You can set up both – Facebook notifications as well as email alerts. In this way you have better control over who, when, and where someone tries to login into your profile. You will receive a notification and if it is a hacking attempt, you can block it. We recommend to chose both options, in order to increase your chances to discover a hacker, before he cracks your account.
Follow Facebook rules to protect your password
Follow simple security rules:
Secure Facebooking!
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