Keep your personal information safe

Fraudsters are after your personal information including – full name, address and contact details, bank account numbers, logins and passwords for websites and Identification numbers such as passport details and driving licence.

Once they obtain your full name and other personal details, they can search official records, social media etc to piece together a fuller picture about you, with the intention of scamming you or even identity theft.

How To Stay Safe

  • Use multiple email addresses [link]
  • Use disposable email addresses (https://fightback.ninja/disposable-email-addresses/)
  • Use temporary email addresses [link]
  • Use the magic phone number if you don’t want to be contacted by phone, but a website insists you provide one [https://fightback.ninja/a-magic-phone-number-and-call-blocking]
  • Stop tracking cookies
  • Opt out whenever possible of Marketing emails etc.
  • Withhold data when you can or make something up if it is unimportant

Removing your personal information from the internet

There is a trade-off between having some information on the Internet about you so that prospective employers, old friends and others can find you and the problem of there being so much that criminals can use that information to con and steal from you. Also, it’s virtually impossible to remove all traces of your Internet activity.

  1. Restrict or Delete Social Media Accounts

Scammers seeking your information may start with your social media posts so make sure not to post anything personal or mention holiday dates etc. Simply deleting such accounts is safer.

  1. Close down Blogs and Blog Posts

Close or delete any blogs posts or the whole blog if it gives away personal information on you.

Personal blogs may contain intimate details about your daily life, family, jobs, health information and financial situation — which is information a fraudster could use to scam you or access your accounts. If you publish a blog, be mindful of the details you’re sharing.

  1. Websites, Chat Groups etc. With Your Information

If someone else has posted sensitive information about you on their website or blog, then you can contact the webmaster of the site and ask them to remove the information.

If a website refuses to remove your info, then you can send a legal request to Google and ask to have it removed.

  1. Phone APPS

Many APPS on your smartphone and tablet collect personal details such as your name, email address, spending habits, and geographical location. This information could be accessed by cybercriminals, leaked or stolen, and if it ends up in the hands of scammer, your finances could be at risk.

If you’re unsure whether an app is trustworthy, it’s a good idea to review the Terms of Use and Privacy Notice first to determine what info is collected, why it is collected, and how it may be secured, stored, and shared. You might also check some user reviews.

  1. Block Tracking Software

While browsing the web, you’ve probably noticed disclaimers about “cookies,” which is technology that tracks your web browsing habits. If you don’t want that information tracked and stored, then consider running security software that contains features to block online tracking. You should also understand the limitations of your browser and any do-not-track feature.

  1. Clean out your computer data

There’s a trove of personal information stored on your browser history, including the websites you visit (including financial institutions), passwords, and cached images and files. If a cybercriminal gains access to your device, they may be able to use that information. Regularly clear your browser history, delete cookies and install and use security software that includes online privacy features.

If you do all of the above then you will remove most of the data that anyone can find about you on the open Internet. There will always be data on government systems, retailers you buy from etc. but that is harder for any criminals to access.

If you have any experiences with these scams do let me know, by email.

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Fashion Sale Fake Web Site

We are all used to sales at almost any time of year nowadays even by high fashion companies.

Scammers sometimes go to a lot of trouble to replicate part of the website of a fashion store online.

A recent scam started with a  flood of emails about a Michael Kors sale.

Michael Kors is high fashion and comes with a hefty price tag so you can imagine the interest when the email says Huge Savings.

In fact later in the email it says “Take an additional 90% of your entire purchase of $100 or more”

They would not be in business for long giving away good quality product at 90% discount.

Of course, it’s all fake. Visitors to the fake site from the link in the email will find few items (with bargain prices) but it’s when you hand over your payment card details that the scammer has won and will use your card till it runs dry.

There are genuine sales of course and these are advertised by email sometimes.

But do pay attention to any links and which websites they would take you to.

In the Michael Kors email – it was all copied from genuine emails but the word “stockist” was spelled “srockist” which tells you it’s all fake and the unrealistic discount proves the point.

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Identify a Virus

The website VirusTotal at https://www.virustotal.com was created to help people identify computer viruses. It does this by analysing infected files or URLs supplied to it and it’s a free service.

VirusTotal inspects items by using 70+ antivirus scanners and URL/domain blacklisting services, plus a range of tools to extract signals from the studied content.

How to use the Website

You can select a file on your computer and upload it to VirusTotal in your browser.

There is also the option of desktop uploaders, browser extensions and a programmatic API if this is to become a regular practice.

As with files, URLs can be submitted via several different means including the VirusTotal webpage, browser extensions and the API.

How Does the Virus Checker Work?

A submitted file or URL is scanned and the results shown on screen. The data and results are shared with VirusTotal partners who use the results to improve their own systems. As a result, by submitting files, URLs, domains, etc. to VirusTotal you are contributing to raise the global IT security level.

Scanning reports produced by VirusTotal are shared with the public VirusTotal community. Users can contribute comments and vote on whether particular content is harmful. In this way, users help to deepen the community’s collective understanding of potentially harmful content and identify false positives (i.e. harmless items detected as malicious by one or more scanners).

Commercial Service

The service provides qualified customers and anti-virus partners with tools to perform complex criteria-based searches to identify and access harmful files samples for further study. This helps organizations discover and analyse new threats and fashion new mitigations and defences.

VirusTotal not only tells you whether a given antivirus solution detected a submitted file as malicious, but also displays each engine’s detection label (e.g., I-Worm.Allaple.gen).

This is a valuable resource in the fight against computer viruses.

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