Have you ever wondered why the advertisements that appear on your Facebook feed offer you the exact product and service that you are supposedly interested in? Have you also stopped to think about what information Candy Crush holds on you, or do you just click play anyway?

Facebook offers you information on your privacy, although it’s like that few users have ever reviewed it. Hardly surprising when you consider that it would take it 76 days to read all of the terms and conditions of the services that we use over the course of a year, according to a study carried out by the Carnegie Mellon University.

It’s likely that lots of workers include information relating to their role in the company on their Facebook profile, so both you and they could benefit from a better level of privacy control on the social media site. Here are a few tips to make it harder for companies to follow your tracks online.

Stop giving away personal information to applications

Every time that you install an application from Facebook it tells you what information you will share with it. In that moment, you can edit the information you wish to share. Seeing as you’ve probably ignored this or have logged into Facebook from the external website, we’ll explain to you how to restrict the details that you give away to the apps.

• The first thing you have to do is click on the lock in the top right part of the Facebook page. Click on “see more” form the expandable menu and access “settings and privacy tools”.

• Then, search the left column for the button marked “applications” and click on “see all”. We bet you never expected to see so many websites associated with your Facebook page! Now, it’s time to organize it all.
• You can click beside each application to delete it from your account, or you can click on the pencil icon to edit the information that each app keeps on you. Keep in mind that there may be some details that are obligatory and you can’t keep them hidden.

• When you’ve finished this process, go to the bottom of the page where you’ll find two very interesting options. The first of these is the option to activate “always play anonymously” and the second is to edit the information on Facebook that others can see in the apps that you use by clicking on “applications used by others”.

Repel the advertising

If you want to stop Facebook from using your personal information to show you predetermined advertisements, then there are a few ways you can go about it.

• The first is click on the arrow at the top of the page, beside the lock icon, and access the part for “settings”. In the left column you’ll see “adverts”. From there you can deny Facebook the right to use your actions (for example, things you indicate you like) to offers ads to your friends and that you don’t receive ads based on their preferences either.

To do this, you need to click on the “edit” option for both “other websites” as well as “adverts and friends” in order to change the default setting from “only friends” to “nobody”.

You can also use other tools to avoid this personalized advertising such as Facebook Disconnect or Adblock Plus. So, if you want to improve your privacy on Facebook and control what businesses can analyze from your information, you know what to do. It is also recommended that you read the policy of the company so as you know what you’re getting yourself into.

The post Facebook ads. How to avoid them? appeared first on MediaCenter Panda Security.

The shockwaves that were caused by the massive leaking of user information from the online dating site Ashley Madison can still be felt. The attack that was inflicted upon the Canadian company has left both users and the general public stunned. As the dust settles there remains one large question still hanging in the air – in whose hands are we leaving our confidential information?

Looking beyond the debates on privacy that have been caused by the Ashley Madison saga, there are a few lessons to be learnt about cybersecurity and massive data theft. The companies themselves must take advantage of this scandal to learn some things and avoid being the protagonists of the next leak:

• Security is of utmost importance. When you’re managing information belonging to clients at the same level as that of Ashley Madison, it is extremely important that you protect their confidentiality. However, all companies, in one form or another, work with third-party information so there is no gray area here – your company must look for a security tool that adequately protects the information.
• Make it difficult for the cybercriminals. In the case of Ashley Madison, the information was kept for years and the user IP addresses were directly linked to their email accounts. The management of information is a sensitive job and it should be stored for shorter periods of time and in a more anonymous manner.

• Protect your digital empire. It isn’t just third-party information which is at risk, but also your own company’s private data. In fact, a second leak made public the source code of Ashley Madison, which will allow other cybercriminals to search for new weaknesses.
• Cyber insurance has arrived. The dating website has lost, after the cyberattack, the closest possible to jump into the world market. Its credibility has hit rock bottom and its future is in doubt. In situations like this, companies that could suffer heavy losses after a cyberattack should consider the possibility of having a cyber-insurer, as many US and European companies already do.

In addition to the advice that every company should follow in light of the Ashley Madison incident, employees can take precautions and act accordingly. Thus, one should take extra care to avoid landing your company in a future scandal when registering with a compromising service:

• Avoid using a corporate email account. Every employee (including directors) should avoid using their company email account to register with an online service. A case like Ashley Madison is sufficient to call into question the name of companies, political parties and institutions that have been affected by the leak.

• Separate private and work life. Not only is it recommended that employees of your company don’t use their work email for certain personal matters, but it would be even better if they avoided using the office computers. At the end of the day, even if they don’t use the corporate email account, the IP could be identified, just like what happened in the United States Congress – thanks to his clumsiness, an employee has put the name of his employee at the center of the storm.
• More valuable than gold. Information theft is like the gold rush of the 21^st century and it must be treated with extreme care. All employees should be aware of how important it is, even more so following the Ashley Madison scandal. It’s not only their privacy which is at risk, but sooner or later it is inevitable that a third-party’s information could be put at risk – it is something which is inescapable in business.
• Be wary of everything. For certain things, it is best not to rely too much on the Internet. Each employee can do what they see fit in their private life, but if you use computers and corporate mail accounts, someone should explain to them the dangers of doing so. On the one hand, cybercriminals are always lurking and, secondly, scams are the order of the day. Beyond data theft, not everything was as clear as it seemed with Ashley Madison – there were false accounts to attract customers and a note in the small print which stated the company renounced any responsibility in the event of a leak.

The storm caused by the leaking of information in the Ashley Madison case will pass, but these lessons will remain valid and essential for all companies. Information theft is a real issue and it’s vital to protect yourself, your business, and others.

The post The lessons we’ve learnt from the Ashley Madison leak appeared first on MediaCenter Panda Security.

They are everywhere and are one of the main negatives of Twitter. The bots, an army of fake accounts that has invaded the social media site, can actually pose a serious risk for users.

They reached the height of their infamy thanks to a fight between politicians to see who could get the most followers on Twitter. This showed, rather humorously, that the network of bots is a double-edged sword. On one hand, they allow you to inflate the number of followers that you have, but on the other hand they can also lead to an embarrassing situation if you’re caught with your hand in the cookie jar.

Nevertheless, this is the harmless side to the bots because, in reality, this coordinated network of fake accounts could put the security of other users at risk. This is because in the hands of a cybercriminal, a network of bots could steal your personal information.

Even if they are most famous for spreading spam, the robots on twitter are also a powerful tool that are used for spreading different types of malware. All it takes is a few hundred false accounts and a shortened URL to infect your computer.

That means that a shortened linked that is tweeted by a large groups of these bots could be a trap to steal user information via phishing, or even a Trojan which could gain access to your bank details.

This is how cybercriminals make a profit from creating fake accounts on Twitter. By stealing user information, they can make money by selling the information or, in extreme cases, stealing directly from your bank account.

Careful with shortened links

It’s important to remind users to be wary before clicking on a shortened link and to follow some advice to be sure that a link is safe. These include checking to see if it has been tweeted by a trusted account or by taking a look at its statistics and web page by adding the “+” symbol to the URL. This is a quick and easy way to avoid a nasty surprise.

Apart from being wary of the shortened links that come from unknown sources, users of Twitter should also be careful with hashtags, which are also becoming a way to spread malicious software.

Bots that are created and coordinated by a cybercriminal can take advantage of the tags on twitter to easily spread malware. This means that you need to keep an eye on trending topics as they are the most dangerous – the cybercriminals know that this is an easy way to take advantage of careless users.

It has to be repeated that the spreading of spam is not the worst thing that these bots can do – if they manage to rob from you via Twitter then that is a far more worrying prospect. In order to avoid this scenario, be wary of every Tweet before opening the content that is contains and, where possible, avoid really popular hashtags. You never know which of them has been infiltrated by an army of bots with bad intentions.

The post The bots on Twitter aren’t harmless – cybercriminals use them to steal your information! appeared first on MediaCenter Panda Security.

They are everywhere and are one of the main negatives of Twitter. The bots, an army of fake accounts that has invaded the social media site, can actually pose a serious risk for users.

They reached the height of their infamy thanks to a fight between politicians to see who could get the most followers on Twitter. This showed, rather humorously, that the network of bots is a double-edged sword. On one hand, they allow you to inflate the number of followers that you have, but on the other hand they can also lead to an embarrassing situation if you’re caught with your hand in the cookie jar.

Nevertheless, this is the harmless side to the bots because, in reality, this coordinated network of fake accounts could put the security of other users at risk. This is because in the hands of a cybercriminal, a network of bots could steal your personal information.

Even if they are most famous for spreading spam, the robots on twitter are also a powerful tool that are used for spreading different types of malware. All it takes is a few hundred false accounts and a shortened URL to infect your computer.

That means that a shortened linked that is tweeted by a large groups of these bots could be a trap to steal user information via phishing, or even a Trojan which could gain access to your bank details.

This is how cybercriminals make a profit from creating fake accounts on Twitter. By stealing user information, they can make money by selling the information or, in extreme cases, stealing directly from your bank account.

Careful with shortened links

It’s important to remind users to be wary before clicking on a shortened link and to follow some advice to be sure that a link is safe. These include checking to see if it has been tweeted by a trusted account or by taking a look at its statistics and web page by adding the “+” symbol to the URL. This is a quick and easy way to avoid a nasty surprise.

Apart from being wary of the shortened links that come from unknown sources, users of Twitter should also be careful with hashtags, which are also becoming a way to spread malicious software.

Bots that are created and coordinated by a cybercriminal can take advantage of the tags on twitter to easily spread malware. This means that you need to keep an eye on trending topics as they are the most dangerous – the cybercriminals know that this is an easy way to take advantage of careless users.

It has to be repeated that the spreading of spam is not the worst thing that these bots can do – if they manage to rob from you via Twitter then that is a far more worrying prospect. In order to avoid this scenario, be wary of every Tweet before opening the content that is contains and, where possible, avoid really popular hashtags. You never know which of them has been infiltrated by an army of bots with bad intentions.

The post The bots on Twitter aren’t harmless – cybercriminals use them to steal your information! appeared first on MediaCenter Panda Security.