The Target hack that was revealed one year ago today brought new levels of awareness to the problem of cybercrime. Today we review the case and its impact. To go straight to the lessons learned, click here. The Big One: Target “Nationwide retail giant Target is investigating a data breach potentially involving millions of customer
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The holidays are here and many are opting to shop online for their holiday gifts, whether it’s to avoid the crowds or because time is running out. Online shopping is a convenient option, everything is almost guaranteed to be in stock, there are no lines and your purchase gets delivered to your doorstep. But, can this season’s holiday shopping come back to haunt you online?
Ad networks, whether via browser extensions or cookies, track your online browsing activities to target ads tailored to your interests. Some see this is as a good thing as you are only shown ads for products or services that would be useful for you, while others may think it’s creepy that the Internet knows about your guilty pleasures. The holidays are about giving and generosity, so your online browsing activities may differ from what they are the other eleven months of the year. You may be researching whether you should purchase a round or square shovel for Uncle Jack, who put gardening tools on his holiday wish list, or which game you should order for your daughter. Now, do you really want to have ads for gardening tools and games for kids following you around the Internet?
How to shop undercover
Whether you want to protect your privacy or simply want to avoid targeted ads that may result from holiday shopping for family and friends, Avast is here to help!
Avast Online Security comes with a Do Not Track feature. Do Not Track identifies tracking software and shows you a list of all tracking and analytics programs that are trying to track your online behavior. You then have the option to choose which tracking software you want to deny or allow to track your online behavior.
By denying tracking software, you eliminate your digital footprint and exclude targeted ads from following you while you browse. Most browsers do come with some form of Do Not Track, but they rely on HTTP Do Not Track headers. Avast on the other hand uses proprietary technology that cannot be overridden by servers.
Avast Browser Cleanup is another tool that will help ward off targeted ads. Browser Cleanup removes unwanted or poorly rated toolbars that could also be keeping an eye on your browsing sessions. Since Avast Browser Cleanup launched in February 2013, it has identified more than 40 million different toolbars, 95 percent of which have been rated as “bad” by Avast users.
Leave the tracking this holiday season to shipping companies and the post office, not online advertising! Avast wishes you and your loved ones safe and happy holidays (and shopping 
)!
Avast Software’s security applications for PC, Mac, and Android are trusted by more than 200-million people and businesses. Please follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Google+.
Craigslist visitors were left surprised earlier this week, when browsing the popular classifieds website led them to some unexpected places, reports The Register.
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Privacy and security online are hot button topics in America today, as a new survey by the Pew Research Center confirms, mirroring similar results from two different privacy and security surveys conducted by ESET.
The post Privacy and security post-Snowden: Pew Research parallels ESET findings appeared first on We Live Security.
Learn how to update Adobe Flash Player, to help protect against malware attacks.
The post How to make sure Flash is up-to-date and enabling it on-demand appeared first on We Live Security.
National Cyber Security Awareness Month happens every October and NCSAM 2014 has seen more events and resources than ever. This recorded webinar discusses the top topics of NCSAM 2014, from the shortage of skilled cybersecurity workers to the Internet of Things (IoT).
The post Top Cyber Security Awareness Month themes, topics, and resources appeared first on We Live Security.
Security of open source code is a hot topic, what with Heartbleed, Shellshock, and Poodle making the news. Open source code is now widely used everywhere, from big enterprises to small businesses. This recorded webinar discusses how to keep open source tools secure,
The post How do open source tools stay secure? appeared first on We Live Security.
October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month in America and each year this program brings more and more attention to issues that should be of concern to anyone who uses a computer, plus a low of how-to information, security resources, and awareness-raising events.
The post Cyber Security Awareness Month: It’s on! appeared first on We Live Security.
Yahoo CISO Alex Stamos confirmed that three servers had been infected with malware by hackers looking for machines vulnerable to Shellshock.
Apple Mac OS X users concerned about the Bash vulnerability dubbed Shellshock got some relief late yesterday as Apple published fixes for various versions of OS X. But if you use Mavericks you will need to install 10.9.5 before the Bash fix will work.
The post How to fix Shellshock Bash on Mac OS X: Mavericks edition appeared first on We Live Security.
