Security

Internet Tip

According to tech guru Leo Notenboom, the number one problem reported in 2011 by the millions of visitors that seek help from his Ask Leo website was email account theft. If you believe your email account has been comprised, immediately login in and change both your password and all your security questions. To learn more about protecting your email account, read Is Changing My Password Enough?

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Internet Tip

Is Somebody Reading Your Email?

by on November 29, 2011


Do you worry about strangers reading your email? Perhaps a nefarious hacker or the government? Sorry to burst your conspiracy bubble, but chances are that the email voyeur reading your email is someone you know, such as a spouse, boss or work colleague. An email privacy survey by Retrvo Blog confirms that there is a “lot of snooping and tracking going on among people who know each other.” Internet guru Bob Rankin offers his viewpoint here.

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Using Facebook Apps and a Secure Connection

August 23, 2011

When Facebook started offering secure browsing, through the use of https://www.facebook.com they created another problem: many Facebook apps do NOT offer a secure connection option, and therefore to use them, you need to turn off SSL for the rest of your session. To better understand the implications, read this article from Simple Help.

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How to Keep Your Gmail Account Secure

July 12, 2011

To help you keep your Gmail account secure, Gmail lists recent sessions at the bottom of your inbox. There you can view recent account activity, and also see if your Gmail account is still logged in another session. If you do see another open session (maybe its simply your laptop?) there is a link to [...]

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Data Leak at Facebook Compromises Users Information

May 31, 2011

Facebook users learned of a data leak earlier this month, when Symantec released details about how advertisers and other third-parties had inadvertent access to your personal information. The bottom line is that by changing your Facebook password now you can stop any additional private information from being leaked.

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Do Complex Passwords Really Ensure Security?

May 11, 2011

Contrary to the commonly offered advice to use complex passwords to ensure security, Baekdal makes a good argument for using a more easily remembered password that is still very hard to guess by using phrases with spaces or dashes between the words. He gives examples by demonstrating how long it would take to crack a [...]

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Google and Facebook Offer Enhanced Security

April 27, 2011

Because our online accounts have become so important, both Google/Gmail and Facebook now offer two-step verification for enhanced security. The basic concept in two-step security is that in addition to your username and password, whenever you login into a new machine/browser you will verify your identity with a single use verification code that is sent [...]

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How To Identify Safe Websites Using the URL

April 13, 2011

Understanding URL addresses is an important part of online security. When evaluating a link, how do you differentiate the domain name from the rest of the link? For example, does http://www.example.com/paypal.com go to PayPal.com? What about http://paypal.com:user@example.com? To learn the ins-and-outs of link security read Ask Leo’s phishing article “How do I know that this [...]

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Twitter Offers Secure Login

March 23, 2011

Now that Facebook offers a secure connection to keep your data away from prying eyes when you are on a shared connection, such as the WiFi at your local favorite coffee stop, Twitter has one too. To turn it on, log into your Twitter.com account, and click on your name in the upper-right hand corner. [...]

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Secure Login For Facebook

February 9, 2011

If you ever use open Wi-Fi spots in coffee shops, hotels or airports, the easiest way to keep your account passwords safe is to use a secure (https) connection for your email and other favorite Internet hangouts, like Facebook. Although not previously available, in the last few weeks Facebook has begun rolling out a secure [...]

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