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Learn phishers’ most dangerous tricks and see how you can teach your users to avoid them.What's inside?
A printable checklist of tips and best practices to share with your users to help them recognize and avoid phishing emails. 
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Farid Mheir's insight:
Essential reading to understand the sophistication that ransomware has become today.
WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT Malicious programs that encrypt computer files in exchange for money have become popular and they mark a new threat where end users are the weakest link. Companies should make sure that their users, employees and partners are train to detect and react appropriately when such an attack is detected. Noone is protected and we are all vulnerable. You have been warned!
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Have I been pwned? allows you to search across multiple data breaches to see if your email addresses has been compromised.
Farid Mheir's insight:
Brilliant idea: a website that gathers all the stolen emails and private information, then warns you if your email shows up on one of these lists. Essential tool. Use it now.
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A while ago, all it took to be a great password manager was to keep your passwords in an encrypted vault. Now the best password managers give you the option to sync or keep them local only, change web passwords with a click, log in to sites for you, and more. This week, we're looking at five of the best options.
Farid Mheir's insight:
Whichever you select, use a password manager. Do it now.
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A recent ping from a reader reminded me that I’ve been meaning to blog about the security limitations of using cell phone text messages for two-factor authentication online. The reader’s daughter had received a text message claiming to be from Google, warning that her Gmail account had been locked because someone in India had tried to access her account. The young woman was advised to expect a 6-digit verification code to be sent to her and to reply to the scammer’s message with that code.Click here to edit the content
Farid Mheir's insight:
Brian Krebs describes limitation of 2 factor authentication but also provides very important insights into how to make you more secure.
WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT 2 factor authentication usage at dropbox is at 1% and we need to increase use of 2fa wherever possible and papers like this should help in reaching that goal.
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Surfer en toute liberté, c'est possible! Il existe des alternatives aux Gmail, Slack et autres Dropbox, qui collectent vos données en échange de leurs services. Guide pas à pas pour reprendre le contrôle.
Farid Mheir's insight:
(in french) Afraid that Google and others know too much about you? Want to know how to live and work outside of the major tools and solutions? This blog post offers a list of solutions to help you do just that.
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How the creator of the Samy worm became the friendly face of technological insecurity.
Farid Mheir's insight:
Describes how a hacker youTube channel with 90K subscribers and 5M views describes how to hack everything from credit card readers to garage door openers.
WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT Hacking has become a past time for many and there is an industry forming around this new trend to help users with their hacking projects and solutions. Any digital expert would be well informed to follow such hacking gurus to understand what is possible, how it is done and - possibly - how to prevent it in their strategies and roadmaps.
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Today’s more clueful cybercrooks understand that if they can identify compromised systems inside organizations that may be sought-after targets of organized cybercrime groups, those groups might be willing to pay handsomely for such ready-made access.
Farid Mheir's insight:
Krebs explains how cybercrime organizations profit from the sale of companies they hack and gain access to usernames and systems. It also provides guidance on how to improve security in large organizations.
WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT I find that too often we focus on individual hacks or threats but rarely consider security at a strategic level - assigning real cost to security breaches and thus looking for funding to address the biggest risks. Moreover, as is stated here, awareness training of resources may actually be a very effective - and relatively low cost? - way to improve security and protect an organization.
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Physicians typically have access to sensitive personal information on large numbers of patients, which makes their devices prime targets for hackers looking to steal that information.
Farid Mheir's insight:
3 simple steps that doctors - and everyone else - should use to secure their information and keep them private.
WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT Is there anything more personal than your medical information? I assume not and thus would expect my medical professional to be aware of these 3 basic security principles and respect them strictly. However, it may not be the case and I would recommend this sort of information to be built into the standard medical practice curriculum because I would not want my doctor's laptop to be the weak link in my medical record transmission chain.
For other articles on this field: http://www.fiercehealthcare.com/topic/cybersecurity
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This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences. Bram is a PhD student in computer science at the Expertise Centr
Farid Mheir's insight:
An 8 minute video that will make you rethink your hunt for free wifi in public spaces...
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Here's how to find out what Google knows about you and is sharing with advertisers, and how to get Google to stop.
Farid Mheir's insight:
This is a very good run down of what you'll find out when you go to google history or google dashboard to find out what Google knows about you. https://www.google.com/settings/dashboard
That being said, and as i've noted before, this is not everything they know about you: Google infers a lot from your web activity outside the realm of google properties via the ad beacons they place all over the web. Moreover, Google predicts and creates a user profile of you - and this information they do not share with you!
Also see other article abour this same topic: how google mines your data: http://sco.lt/6nPe2z 15 ways google mines your data: http://sco.lt/5mlk5B voting is obsolete: http://sco.lt/5GmLVh or anything about privacy: http://www.scoop.it/t/digital-transformation-of-businesses/?tag=Privacy
SensorsTechForum's curator insight,
May 18, 2016 9:54 AM
You can actually find out what Google knows about you and delete that info!
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Open Source Biometric Recognition A communal biometrics framework supporting the development of open algorithms and reproducible evaluations.
Farid Mheir's insight:
Face recognition, gender detection, and age estimation are all now possible with this open source suite of software code. This should pave the way for wide adoption in all kind of applications, from retail store security cameras to hand held camera devices such as the narrative camera or others. I can think of so many use cases - both good and bad - where this technology can be deployed. Just a question of time...
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/parashoot-smart-wearable-video-mini-hd-camera http://www.getperfectmemory.com/
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Data that sheds light on how laws and policies affect Internet users
Farid Mheir's insight:
Some data from Google that sheds light onto steps they use to protect our privacy and make us secure.
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Just how extensive are Google's tracking activities? When I started cataloging them, I was amazed. Here is a partial list of tracking methods Google is known to use. I'd wager that the list of tracking methods we don't know about is much longer.
Farid Mheir's insight:
I love Google and their products. I love how they've pushed the enveloppe to draw digital into our lives. And I also know enough about what they do with the data to be careful. This article is great because it lists some of the most common ways in which Google tracks info about you.
Today, I don't mind about this invasion of my privacy, because what they do with the data seems pretty harmless to me - even maybe can be considered a service - which is to target better ads to me.
What is really scary is not what Google does with my data: after all, they are being scrutinized by so many and their business model depends on not abusing the information they gather about us. However this is not be true for the other companies that track information about me and do not share the same prying eyes as Google does: Apple? Facebook? Mastercard and Visa? Walmart? Governments?
THAT is something to worry about...
Arnaud Dubois's curator insight,
May 2, 2016 6:03 AM
Google, or probably the biggest assembly of big data in the world
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Twenty-four hours a day, across more than sixty free product “platforms," Google is storing, indexing, and cross-referencing information about the activities of a billion people. What are the 30,000 prodigies at Google, Inc. doing with all that data?Continue Reading…
Farid Mheir's insight:
A long read from a well respected psychologist on the power that Google employees have because of the amount of data the company accumulates. Must read for anyone interested in real-world examples of things that can go wrong with Big Data and data science.
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You have a secret that can ruin your life. It’s not a well-kept secret, either. Just a simple string of characters that can reveal everything about you.
DON’T
DO
Farid Mheir's insight:
You have a secret that can ruin your life. It’s not a well-kept secret, either. Just a simple string of characters that can reveal everything about you.
DON’T
DO
Farid Mheir's insight: An old Wired magazine article from 2012 that is still as current today as it was then. Unfortunately.
If you don't read the whole thing, just skip to the DOs and DONTs. And read these other articles: http://www.scoop.it/t/digital-transformation-of-businesses/?tag=Security
Farid Mheir's curator insight,
March 15, 2016 8:33 AM
An old Wired magazine article from 2012 that is still as current today as it was then. Unfortunately.
If you don't read the whole thing, just skip to the DOs and DONTs. And read these other articles: http://www.scoop.it/t/digital-transformation-of-businesses/?tag=Security 
jasmine moriah gabrielle hummel's curator insight,
March 21, 2016 11:44 AM
An old Wired magazine article from 2012 that is still as current today as it was then. Unfortunately.
If you don't read the whole thing, just skip to the DOs and DONTs. And read these other articles: http://www.scoop.it/t/digital-transformation-of-businesses/?tag=Security
jasmine moriah gabrielle hummel's curator insight,
April 6, 2016 7:40 PM
DON’T •Reuse passwords. . •Use a dictionary word as your password. •Use standard number substitutions. •Use a short password DO •Enable two-factor authentication when offered. •Give bogus answers to security questions. •Scrub your online presence. •Use a unique, secure email address for password recoveries
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Manage your account access and security settings. Your Google Account is protected by the most advanced online security. Keeping these settings up-to-date safeguards your account even more.
Farid Mheir's insight:
Google - Apple, Yahoo, Facebook, and others - all have security checks and solutions that are free to use. They help protect individual accounts and related data. Visit those sites today and then make a note to visit them on a regular basis, say on a monthly or quarterly basis, just to make sure. Here is a list of security links for common solutions and services for your reference:
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Crooks who make a living via identity theft schemes, dating scams and other con games often run into trouble when presented with a phone-based challenge that requires them to demonstrate mastery of a language they don’t speak fluently. Enter the criminal call center, which allows scammers to outsource those calls to multi-lingual men and women who can be hired to close the deal.
Farid Mheir's insight:
More evidence that digital security and privacy issues often resort to "Traditional methods" to perform crimes - what is called social engineering. Here is a description of call centers to impersonate people in multiple languages when companies try to verify your identity byphone during a digital transaction. Krebs also offers a solution which would requires us all to have a voice "fingerprint" available to validate our true identity.
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My PayPal account was hacked on Christmas Eve. The perpetrator tried to further stir up trouble by sending my PayPal funds to a hacker gang tied to the jihadist militant group ISIS. Although the intruder failed to siphon any funds, the successful takeover of the account speaks volumes about why most organizations — including many financial institutions — remain woefully behind the times in authenticating their customers and staying ahead of identity thieves.
Farid Mheir's insight:
A detailed explanation of method by which hackers can access paypal user accounts using easily obtainable personal information. Reminds me of a similar incident where a teenager was able to fool Verizon and AOL employees into giving him access to CIA director email account: http://sco.lt/6qhN5t
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FTC accused the company of violating a 2010 order to protect its users better.
Farid Mheir's insight:
One must remain careful when buying privacy protection service as many have yet to prove their usefulness and some, as in this case, are just plain ineffective.
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The Intercept has written that if you have bought a Windows PC recently then Microsoft probably has your encryption key. This is a reference to Windows' device encryption feature. We wrote about this feature when it was new, back when Microsoft introduced it in Windows 8.1 in 2013 (and before that, in Windows RT).
Farid Mheir's insight:
Microsoft windows 10 stores disk encryption keys in its cloud oneDrive for backup purposes. This article explains why this may represent a privacy concern and what you can do to retrieve the key and store it somewhere else. In the context of the needs to encrypt data to protect our information this is an essential knowledge for Windows 10 owners.
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With little more than a month to go before the start of the 2016 tax filing season, the IRS and the states are hunkering down for an expected slugfest with identity thieves who make a living requesting fraudulent tax refunds on behalf of victims. Here’s what you need to know going into January to protect you and your family.
Farid Mheir's insight:
A very detailed post about potential identity theft and how to prevent it. Must read for any american. Not sure what to do in Canada or in Quebec though?
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"The FBI has interpreted its NSL authority to encompass the websites we read, the Web searches we conduct, the people we contact, and the places we go. This kind of data reveals the most intimate details of our lives, including our political activities, religious affiliations, private relationships, and even our private thoughts and beliefs," said Nicholas Merrill, who was president of Calyx Internet Access in New York when he received the NSL targeting one of his customers in 2004.
Farid Mheir's insight:
Snowden leaks revealed the many different ways NSA surveillance was using. As part of the investigations that followed the leaked, the National Security Letter (NSL) was uncovered and was very well presented in the documentary "United States of Secrets" (PBS Frontline, see http://sco.lt/6kuPfV), which I highly recommend if you want more details about what it is and how far reaching it can be. WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT Companies must be aware that this exists when going with cloud services and when they use digital communications in general. With proper encryption of data at rest and in transit, they should feel more secure that their data remains private, NSL letters or not. That being said, NSL covers mostly metadata which is not encrypted and which can reveal much about a person or group. At this point in time, I am not aware of a good method to protect against that.
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When it’s hundreds of thousands of children including their names, genders and birthdates, that’s off the charts. When it includes their parents as well – along with their home address – and you can link the two and emphatically say “Here is 9 year old Mary, I know where she lives and I have other personally identifiable information about her parents (including their password and security question)”, I start to run out of superlatives to even describe how bad that is.
Farid Mheir's insight:
This security expert performs an investigation into the VTECH security breach that revealed 4.8M user accounts and children photos and chat logs.
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There is no indecision in saying that, in the contemporaneous stage of internet, one cannot benefit the luxury of privacy. It is becoming somewhat impossible with the development in technology. You may get the impression that it is safe to save all of your personal data and information which comprise all of your pictures, videos and other documents in Google Drive
Farid Mheir's insight:
A good reminder of the different ways that Google gathers data about us via its many online solutions, including search and advertising but increasingly via other methods too: Android, Email, etc.
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Curated by Farid Mheir
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A very good introduction to the dangers of phishing email attacks, with good examples and humour that make it a good guide to share with employees as part of an information session of staying vigilant about those attacks.