A year after Google introduced its controversial ‘right to be forgotten’ feature, the search giant has published some statistics about its implementation.
The post Google turns down 60 percent of ‘right to be forgotten’ requests appeared first on We Live Security.
Here’s what you can do to stay protected while hopping from hotspot to hotspot—or at home.
You may never have wondered if the coffee houses you walk into really have a network. After all, if your computer’s found a network, they must have one, right? Think again. Hackers can easily create a fake hotspot imitating the name of your favorite coffee house, library or other establishment. Connect to one of these fake hotspots, and then everything you do online would be going through them.
Always confirm the name of the network with the owners before you connect to it.
What a mouthful, right? But it’s really quite simple. Most Internet URLs (the addresses or links that you use to navigate the web) start with the four letters http. This is short for Hypertext Transfer Protocol. Well, some web sites offer to connect with a secure, encrypted version of this protocol, called HTTP Secure (or HTTPS for short). Whenever you connect with a website via this secure method, your data to and from it are encrypted so no one else on the same network can see it.
Most important websites like Google, Facebook and more support HTTPS automatically, but keep an eye out for s in the address, and add it if it doesn’t appear. Some browsers have extensions like HTTPS Everywhere that make sure your browser is always seeking the secure connection.
This kind of encryption only works for what happens in your browser. If you have other applications that connect to the Internet, like a mail client such as Outlook or Apple Mail, you’ll need to make sure they have some form of encryption and that its settings are on.
Free Wi-Fi hotspots are high in demand, so you’ll rarely be the only one connected to a network. That means others can reach out through the network and connect to your device if you haven’t changed your sharing and network discovery settings (network discovery lets others find you).
Here’s how you do it:
On Windows: open the start menu (or press the windows key) and type “Manage advanced sharing settings”, then type enter. Make sure that any sharing options are switched off, and that network discovery is also off. Some versions of Windows automatically change these settings for you when you specify you are on a public network vs a home or work one.
On a Mac: Open System Preferences and choose Sharing. Make sure all the boxes are unchecked. Head back to the main System Preferences menu, select Security & Privacy and then the Firewall tab. In the Firewall Options, make sure that stealth mode is checked.
You probably have a favorite browser that you use for everything you do online—and that’s exactly why you should use a “clean browser”. Your usual browser is probably set up to give you a lot of handy features like remembering your passwords and keeping cookies from your favorite websites to load them with your personal settings faster. This is all sensitive information worth stealing. A clean browser knows none of that, so there is nothing there for anyone on the same network to steal.
Virtual Private Networks (VPN) make sure that anything coming in or out of your device is wrapped in strong encryption—not just your browser or email client. This is the safest method of connecting to the Internet when in public. Traditionally used by businesses and governments, VPNs have become affordable for individuals concerned with their security and privacy.
Even with these precautions, however, you should avoid any sensitive browsing like accessing your online bank accounts or making online purchase with your credit card while in public. If it can wait, you should probably do it at home.
If you’re looking to protect your home network from strangers, there are really two main things to keep in mind when setting up your Wi-Fi router:
Our own Michael McKinnon has more on how to protect your network:
Mozilla has fixed 13 security flaws in Firefox 38, including five critical vulnerabilities. The new version of the browser also includes a feature that enables the use of DRM-enabled video content in Firefox, a decision that comes with some controversy. DRM (digital rights management), the generic name for technologies that are used to restrict the […]
Ed Felten, a professor at Princeton University and a well-respected voice on security and privacy issues, is joining the White House as the deputy CTO. In his new role, Felten will be working under Megan Smith, the CTO of the United States and a former Google vice president. Felten has been at Princeton in various […]
Two men were arrested last week for allegedly developing hacking software that steals user information and photos from the image-hosting website Photobucket.
The post Photobucket hackers face charges over photo-stealing app appeared first on We Live Security.
The ruling last week by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals that the NSA’s years-long bulk collection of phone metadata is illegal is a “clear signal” that courts are moving in the direction of striking down some mass surveillance programs, experts say. The decision, issued Thursday, is among the first major rulings to go against […]
The mass collection of American phone records and metadata by the National Security Agency (NSA) has been ruled illegal by a US appeals court.
The post NSA phone surveillance ruled illegal by US appeals court appeared first on We Live Security.
One of the most convenient things about having a Google account is that you can use it to log into various accounts across the web.
However, according to a Google blog, users that log in to third party sites using their Google credentials are potentially at risk of phishing attacks.
To help protect users, Google has introduced a new free to use Chrome extension called Password Alert. Here’s how it works:
“Once you’ve installed and initialized Password Alert, Chrome will remember a “scrambled” version of your Google Account password. It only remembers this information for security purposes and doesn’t share it with anyone. If you type your password into a site that isn’t a Google sign-in page, Password Alert will show you a notice like the one below. This alert will tell you that you’re at risk of being phished so you can update your password and protect yourself.”
While the extension is designed to provide Google users with an extra level of protection when surfing the web it is still a work in progress.
Security researchers have already discovered a number of workarounds the extension but Google is continuing to work on the vulnerabilities.
Checking which Chrome extensions are active is quick and easy. Within Chrome, open the menu in the top right and select More Tools. Select Extensions from the menu.
Here you can view which extensions are currently running, add and remove extensions.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled Thursday that the Patriot Act does not authorize the bulk collection of phone records by the NSA. The ruling undermines the key foundation upon which the federal government’s phone metadata surveillance program is built, Section 215 of the Patriot Act. That program was the […]
Concern over the security of Windows in China has led to a ‘gold rush’, as Chinese firms race to fill the gap left by Microsoft’s operating system, reports Reuters.
The post Security concerns prompts ‘gold rush’ for Chinese enterprise computing market appeared first on We Live Security.
