The Dos and Don’ts of Online Shopping

Chances are that you have used the Internet to shop online. And why wouldn’t you? You have a world of products at your fingertips and you don’t have to deal with parking hassles, mall crowds, and long lines. Sure, you may have to pay a little extra for shipping and handling, but that cost might be offset by the not having to pay sales tax, depending on where you buy from and what you buy.

However, the rising levels of Internet fraud is a major concern for online shoppers.And why wouldn’t you? You have a world of products at your fingertips and you don’t have to deal with parking hassles, mall crowds, and long lines. Sure, you may have to pay a little extra for shipping and handling, but that cost might be offset by the not having to pay sales tax, depending on where you buy from and what you buy.

Dos

• Do your homework. Research any web site that you are unfamiliar with and want to buy items from. See if they have a “Contact Us” page and do call them to check. If they aren’t professional or something arouses suspicions, respond accordingly. If no physical address is provided, and there is only an email address, you will want to think long and hard about purchasing something. Consider all the pain-in-the-neck possibilities, if something should go wrong with your order.
• Do pay by credit card. You are protected by the law and liable only for $50 if your credit-card number is stolen and used.
• Do use a secure* web site or simply pick up the phone and call the online store’s customer line for relaying sensitive data.
• Do keep copies of the sales transactions for future reference in case a dispute arises.
• Do check your credit-card statements to make sure you were charged the proper amount and that no “extras” were added.
• Do check the site’s privacy policy before you order.
• Do purchase comprehensive computer security software like Verizon Internet Security Suite Powered by McAfee® to protect you whenever and wherever you go online.

Don’ts

• Don’t send cash. Pay by credit card because you’re protected.
• Don’t send any financial information via email. It is not a safe method for communicating this sensitive information (credit card or Social Security numbers).
• Don’t forget to read the return policy and other terms of the deal before ordering.
• Don’t buy from a site you don’t feel comfortable with. If you sense something is just not right about the company you are ordering from, then don’t make a deal.
• Don’t forget to inspect your new product as soon as it arrives. Notify the seller as soon as possible if there is a problem.

* = Secure sites have a key or closed lock displayed in the web browser. Another way to know if a site is secure by the web address (URL) on the page begins with "https" instead of just "http." If you are at all unsure, then phone the company and provide your information that way.

Protecting Your Passwords Against Cracking

Password Security

While technology opens new doors for convenience and communication, it also allows for breakthroughs in hacking methods. Most people don’t take password security seriously, and many are paying the price by unwittingly revealing their private information and allowing hackers to access proprietary systems.

Hackers, or "crackers" as they are also commonly referred to, target personal passwords to gain access to restricted information. They use special password-cracking software to guess passwords. Many of these programs are freely available over the Internet, and can be run remotely.

Who is Vulnerable?

Both home and small business users are at risk. Home computer users enter passwords when accessing web sites to perform personal business transactions, such as banking and online shopping. Without proper password management, they make themselves easy targets for hackers.

Remote users and those on home and small-business networks not only allow hackers to intercept their passwords, they allow access to entire networks of private business information. Everyone must take responsibility for creating strong passwords and safeguarding them. A good password is private (known only by you), easily remembered, not easily guessed, and is not written down.

How Password-cracking Programs Work

Password-cracking programs work by extracting passwords from a server’s system registry, from an emergency repair disk, or by intercepting passwords sent over a network. When a consumer logs onto Internet sites and enters their password, it can be caught by a packet sniffer or Trojan horse program. Unlike a login session, a browser sends the password every time it fetches a protected document from a server. This makes it even easier for a hacker to intercept the data. The hacker can then use the password to compromise the user’s personal information or to gain access to any resources tied to that password.

Cracking Techniques

When a hacker wants to gain access to a network resource, the easiest way is to figure out the password of a valid user. Hackers use specialized software to attempt to discover passwords. The most common type of attack is called a “dictionary attack.” A dictionary attack uses a large list of words and tries each of them until an accepted password is found. They start with obvious or weak choices such as names and nouns, and then move on to word lists, combinations, and hybrids of the words.

Other ways hackers obtain passwords are to install software on a computer to record its keystrokes, or simply by watching as a user enters their password. Therefore, it’s important to be aware of who has physical access to a computer and how openly users log onto the computer. It’s also imperative to maintain a secure computing system by installing and upgrading anti-virus and firewall software in case a password breech occurs. Verizon Internet Security Suite Powered by McAfee® offers comprehensive protection.

Cracking Encrypted Passwords

Even encrypted passwords are vulnerable to cracking. Encryption can be done using keys or a hashing algorithm. If a password is encrypted with a key, the hacker needs to obtain the proper key in order to decrypt it. Unix and Windows® passwords are instead commonly encrypted as a hash. A hash is a mathematically derived string that is an alias for the text.

To break a hash, the cracking program encrypts two strings and compares them to see if they’re the same in encrypted form. With a dictionary attack on a hash-encrypted password, the program iterates through the word lists, and compares the hashes until a match is found. The difficulty in cracking the hash depends on the strength of the algorithm initially used to encrypt the password.

Small businesses are especially vulnerable to this type of attack. They must protect themselves by securing data on their servers with strong encryption, and by limiting physical access to prevent someone from installing a keyboard monitoring program or stealing registry files. It’s important to keep servers patched, and to have a strong firewall protection. Businesses must also warn employees and customers not to download suspicious files, which can contain a keystroke-recording worm.

How Users Can Protect Themselves

The more difficult a password is to guess, the more secure it will be. For example, if you choose a one-character password that can be any upper- or lower-case letter or a digit, there are 62 possibilities. A cracking program can guess it very quickly. Using the same possible characters, an eight-digit password has about 218 trillion possibilities. Unfortunately, people generally put the odds in the program’s favor by choosing easily guessed combinations. Therefore, security specialists recommend these guidelines:

• Use as many characters as possible (minimum six)
• Include uppercase and lowercase letters
• Include digits and punctuation marks
• Don’t use personal information, such as names or birthdays
• Don’t use words found in a dictionary

Techniques for strong passwords:

• Use a vanity license plate; for example: “GR8way2B”
• Use several small words with punctuation marks: “betty,boop$car”
• Put punctuation in the middle of a word: “Roos%velt”
• Use an unusual way of contracting a word: “ppcrnbll”
• Use the first letter of each word in a phrase, with a random number: “hard to crack this password” = “htc5tp”

Unfortunately, no matter how strong, a password can be figured out eventually. Therefore, never share your password, change it regularly, never use the same password twice, and do not write down passwords in an obvious place. By securing your systems, creating strong passwords, and following safeguarding techniques, you, your computer, and your identity can be much more secure.

Spam: Definitely Not Kid’s Stuff

Your children may be getting even more spam than you do—and much of it is probably totally inappropriate.

If you have kids in their early teens and you have access to the Internet, then three undeniable facts are apparent.

First, they can’t conceive of a world without the Internet and email. They virtually live online. They can look up anything anytime and they communicate with everyone via email. Second, they’re probably more tech-savvy, and definitely more Net-savvy, than you are are. You might even have turned to them on occasion for help with the computer, and you’re definitely not alone. Third, their level of technical sophistication is not matched by their level of emotional sophistication. They may be kids who are good with the computer—they may be kids who are just plain good—but they’re still kids who are not mature enough to handle all that the Internet can throw at them.

Teens are on the front lines of the battle against spam. Remember, they’re the ones spending all that time online, engaging in electronic back-and-forth with their friends. They’re the ones with—depending on which research report you read—at least one email account they use every day. Research indicates that most of them generally don’t ask for parental permission before posting their email address and other personal information online. They have probably never had their parents sit down and talk to them about spam, and probably wouldn’t take it seriously even if they did.

What all this means is that they are getting tons of spam daily and, as you know from your own inbox experience, a significant portion of it is totally inappropriate for children. Recall your reaction to the first time you got an invitation to visit a site featuring “sexy co-eds.” Now, imagine your 12-year-old getting the same message.

During a hearing on the subject of unsolicited email, Senator Charles Schumer of New York informed the public that his 14-year-old daughter has been virtually inundated with spam, much of it leading to pornographic web sites. Senator Schumer is a powerful man and there’s a lot he can get done. But in this case, as he found to his consternation, there’s absolutely nothing he can do. There wasn’t a single law prohibiting spammers from sending out vast quantities of porn spam, even if much of it goes out to an unintended audience: children.

It’s probably true that most pornographers don’t have any real interest in soliciting kiddie business. Their objection isn’t moral; it’s just that most kids don’t have credit cards, which are needed to get into these sites. However, in many cases, the subject lines in these messages are graphic to begin with, and the web pages they lead to have enough prurient content to make it completely out of bounds for all children.

There’s more to spam than porn, and much of it is carries risk. For example, there’s any number of “free” offers that sound irresistible. “Just fill out this box for a chance at a free DVD player!” What pre-teenager can resist? Another example: the success of online dating services has spawned a deluge of “relationship-related” emails, and many young people can’t pass up the chance to pretend to be older online.

“Speaking for myself, I can’t just look at all this as a technology problem—I’m a parent too, and the idea of my kids, or any of their friends, receiving this stuff is absolutely disgusting to me,” said Bari Abdul, Vice President of World Wide Consumer Marketing, with computer security company McAfee®. “We have to do our part as parents to make sure that we protect our computers just as we safeguard our homes.”

So What’s To Be Done?

It’s safe to say that keeping your child off the computer, or even just off email, isn’t an option. Emailing, instant messaging, and the Internet, for all their faults, are useful and here to stay. The genie can’t be put back in the bottle. Besides, these really are marvelous inventions, with enormous potential for learning and communication.

So do as you would with any other potentially dangerous situation. Educate yourself about spam and then talk to your kids about it. And use technology to keep your computer safe: Verizon Internet Security Suite Powered by McAfee® offers a set of must-have protections for families. These include a real-time external security alert system that assesses, informs, and warns you about your computer’s security vulnerability as well as parental controls that provide child-specific settings for web pages, chat filtering, objectionable word filtering, online time limits, and more.

Another key feature prevents your personal identification and financial information (name, phone number, address, credit-card, and bank-account numbers), and other specified pieces of information about you or your family from being transmitted out over the Internet without your knowledge or permission.

You can customize the Family Protection component included in your Verizon Internet Security Suite Powered by McAfee® for each child by adding words or web sites that you want to prevent your child from seeing when surfing the Internet. Family Protection provides the protection that you need while still allowing your child to use the Internet safely.

How to Protect Children Online

Anyone whose children use the Internet feels caught in a technology paradox. On the one hand, they know how important it is for children to experience new technologies and the wonderful benefits they offer. On the other hand, parents are afraid of the dangers in cyberspace. In many cases, kids are more technologically advanced than adults are, so some parents may feel intimidated and refrain from enforcing rules that are imperative to protect their children as they surf and socialize online.

Fortunately, security software is available that can restrict what kids see and do on the web, taking a lot of pressure off parents to stay current with every new risk. But it’s still important that parents get involved with their kids’ online lives, and make sure that their children know how to act and how to react to what they see on the web.

What Are the Biggest Online Risks?

Meeting a predator online ranks among the worst dangers children face today, but there are many other online experiences that can result in inappropriate or illegal activity. Kids need to be told that not everything they read online is true, and that there is a lot of material on the web that is not meant for them. There are fascist sites, pornography sites, drug sites, and other explicit content that an unprotected child can easily view. Fortunately, there are filtering technologies, child-safe browsers and search engines that restrict where they can surf.

Web Sites and Chat Rooms

Loss of privacy is a big risk. Kids must be shown how important it is to protect their personal information and the information of their family and friends. Many child-oriented web sites solicit information from kids in surveys and forms in exchange for prizes, and get them to register online for fan clubs. In chat rooms, sharing their gender, age, and favorite hangout could seem harmless, but predators can easily use this information to track down the child.

Digital prowlers masquerade as children in order to gather information and ultimately meet their unsuspecting victims. But kids also flirt and pretend to be older than they actually are, not thinking about the potential results of such actions.

It is also common for kids to get into online fights or become the target of bullying via email, chat, and instant messaging, especially when they are of middle school age.

Blogs and Social Networking

Blogs and social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook are places where kids sometimes share too much information—not only names and addresses but also personal photos that sometimes show illegal acts, such as underage drinking. Ask your kids to share their blogs or online profiles with you so you can check the content. You can also use Google, along with the search tools on social networking sites, to search for profiles your child may have posted. Use your child’s full name, phone number, and other identifying information.

P2P File Sharing

Peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing invites new privacy problems. These programs allow people to browse and download files from Internet-connected personal computers of anyone else who uses the same program. This makes it easy for cyber criminals to spread viruses, Trojan horses, and spyware. Kids can also accidentally download pornography that is labeled misleadingly.

What Can A Parent Do?

Parents can protect their children from online threats. Sitting down with your kids and reviewing these 10 rules with them will ensure a worry-free experience that fosters learning and understanding.

Top Ways to Protect Your Kids Online

1. Monitor your children's use of the Internet. Put the computer in a high-traffic family area and limit nighttime use.

2. Fortify your computer with strong security software and make sure to keep it up to date. The Verizon Internet Security Suite Powered by McAfee provides protection from viruses, hackers, and spyware. It filters offensive content, pictures, and web sites. The anti-virus software will also protect your computer from viruses and spyware by automatically scanning email attachments and files downloaded from P2P file-sharing sites.

3. Make sure kids understand basic rules for using social networking sites such as MySpace and blogs. They should guard their passwords, and never post personally identifying information or inappropriate photos. Blogs and social networking sites offer privacy tools that can be turned on to restrict potentially dangerous users. The sites automatically provide these protective tools to kids under 15. Kids should share information only with people they know from the real world.

4. It’s imperative that your kids let you know if they arrange in-person meetings with people they meet online. Before any such meeting, you should confirm the person’s identity, and you should accompany your child to the meeting in a public place.

5. Don’t allow kids to fill out online forms or surveys. If there is a legitimate site where they want to register, such as Nickelodeon or Disney, have them come to you first so you can check the site’s privacy policy and rules of conduct.

6. Only allow your children to use monitored chat rooms, and have them use a screen name that doesn’t hint at their true identity. As with blogs and MySpace, kids should never reveal personal information or share photos. Make sure they understand that people can lie about who they are and that online friends are still strangers.

7. Teach your kids to ignore emails and instant messages from people they don’t know. They should never open attachments they are not expecting nor click on links in messages. As with blogs and MySpace, they should not send out personal information. Configure your child’s instant messaging application correctly to make sure it does not open automatically when they fire up their computer. Have them turn off the computer and disconnect the DSL or modem line when they’re not using it.

8. Use browsers for kids and kid-oriented search engines. Children’s browsers such as Kid Browser 1.1 do not display inappropriate words or images. It comes pre-loaded with kid-safe web sites and pre-set word filters. You only need to make sure you approve, and review the default web sites and words. Kid-oriented search engines including Ask for Kids and Yahooligans perform limited searches and screen search results.

9. Let your kids find appropriate and helpful web sites using lists put together by experts in the field. The American Library Association has a very good list; First Gov for Kids has government-related children sites and also lists groups of kid-friendly sites. Fact Monster is an excellent reference site, packed with information and homework help.

Be Your Own Email Police

Email is a nightmare for clean freaks. No matter how fastidious you are, it's a good bet your inbox is swimming with viruses. Some email messages are innocuous, but many contain programs that can give hackers control of your computer. Others contain links that take you to web sites that trick you into giving online thieves your personal data.

The bad news is that you'll probably never get rid of it all; the good news is that there are simple steps you can take to scrub away most of it. Here are six simple steps that will put you back in control of your email:

1. Vaccinate. All major anti-virus products for home computers contain a mail-scan function. Invest in an anti-virus program, keep it running, and make sure to download the regular virus updates.

2. Don't click on the link. "Phishing" scams dupe consumers into turning over their account numbers and other personal data by luring them to web pages that look identical to legitimate sites run by companies such as Citibank, eBay, and PayPal. Never click on a link in an email asking you to update your account information. If you want to know if the request is real, go to the company's web site in a separate browser window and send an email query. Better yet, call the company's customer-support line.

3. Leave that attachment alone. Unsolicited email attachments often contain viruses. Opening the attachment launches the virus, sidelining your computer and sending copies of itself to everyone in your email address book. If you aren't expecting the attachment, don't open it. Ever.

4. Skip the previews. Some of the more sophisticated viruses spread without any action on your part. As soon as you open a message in the "preview" window of your email program, it can begin installing malicious programs on your computer. Users of the Microsoft® Outlook email program are particularly susceptible. Closing that window so that you have to double-click on a message in order to read it can provide another layer of protection.

5. Don't panic. If you suspect hackers may have got hold of your financial data, contact one or all of the three major credit bureaus—Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion—and ask them to put a fraud alert on your file

6. Use Verizon Internet Security Suite Powered by McAfee® security products and services to help control spam.

8 Tips on How to Protect Yourself Online

1. Be smart when using instant messaging (IM) programs. If you use an IM program to communicate with friends and family, be careful about sending any personal information through online communications. Protect yourself by using a nickname for your IM screen name, so your name isn’t identified through IM. Never accept strangers into your IM groups. Be smart about how you use IM at work because your employer has the right to monitor and view your messages.

2. Watch out for phishing scams. Phishing scams use fraudulent emails and fake websites, masquerading as legitimate businesses, to lure unsuspecting users into revealing private account or login information. To be safe, if you receive an email from a business that includes a link to a website, make certain that the website you visit is legitimate. Instead of clicking through to the website from within the email, open a separate Web browser and visit the business’ website directly to perform the necessary actions. You can also verify that an email is in fact from a legitimate business by calling the business or agency directly.

3. Use email wisely. Email is a great way to keep in touch with friends and family, and as a tool to conduct business. Even if you have good security software on your computer, however, your friends and family might not have the same protection. Be careful about what information you submit via email. Never send your credit-card information, Social Security number, or other private information via email.

4. Create smart and strong passwords. Make it difficult for hackers to crack your password. You can create a smart password by incorporating capital letters, numbers, and special characters, and using more than six characters. An example of a strong password is: Go1dM!n3.

5. Shop safely. Many online stores have the right protection for you to purchase online. Read the online store's privacy and security policies before shopping. If you plan to order from an online store, be sure that the website uses secure technology. When you are at the checkout screen, verify that the Web address begins with https. Also, check to see if a tiny locked padlock symbol appears at the bottom right of the checkout screen, or that there is a statement on the checkout screen stating that the checkout pages are secure with a security technology vendor. Check that the security technology does exist by checking the security technology company’s website.

6. Fun and carefree online gaming. Internet games are fun for the whole family. Make sure you are careful when playing online games, especially when communicating with other players. Be sure that your security software still functions when you are in gaming mode.

7. Pay attention to your children’s online activities. Keep your home computer in a community area so that you can monitor their activity. Use child software that is age-appropriate. Limit your children’s time spent online. Install and use parental controls software that allows you to monitor your children’s activity online, such as the Verizon Internet Security Suite Powered by McAfee®. This will keep your children from accessing undesirable websites and sharing personal information via online communications.

8. Employ computer security service. Keeping you and your family safe whenever you power on your computer, Verizon Internet Security Suite Powered by McAfee® offers comprehensive security software that is always active—updating and protecting wherever you go online. Offering the latest and best combination of software, providing consumers and their home computers with unparalleled, comprehensive protection from cyberspace threats and identity theft.

Why You Need to Secure Your Apple Computer

Historically Mac users have not had to contend with the same security issues as their PC counterparts primarily because there were so few of them around. They were considered too small a target for hackers and others interested in stealing data. Larger targets generate a bigger “bang for the buck” for cybercriminals who want to maximize their investment. That helps explain why criminals didn’t pay much attention to Macs when they made up a tiny fraction of market share and were used primarily by college students, designers, and musicians. But all that’s changing.

No Longer Flying Under the Radar
Now Mac computers are gaining in popularity, encouraged by a strong marketing campaign from Apple and the growing ability of users to transfer data easily between Windows and Macs. Mac market share has roughly doubled in the last three years—while the market share for Windows-based PCs is dropping. In fact, over the past three years, the number of Macs in use has increased by 120 million units. As a result, hackers and cybercriminals are coming to see Macs as a target with a much greater potential payoff than in the past. It’s not coincidental that from 2007 to 2009 the number of Mac-based exploits grew at the same rate as the change in market share for Macs. We’ve come to an end of “security through obscurity” for the Mac.

Marketing vs. Reality
Apple has encouraged the view that malware is a PC issue and not a concern for Macs through its “Mac vs. PC” ad campaign. The reality is that Macs are just as vulnerable. The Internet has leveled the playing field and online click behavior is the same when it comes to phishing scams and malicious web sites. An example confirming this changing reality is when users on the Internet sought the notoriously leaked Erin Andrews Peephole Video in July 2009; criminals were quick to seed the Internet with bogus links that led users to a fake version on a malicious web server. The server checked the user’s browser-agent and downloaded a Trojan customized to their platform, Win32 or Mac OS X. The fact that the coder went to the trouble to include OS X clients in their attack and did so on a tight schedule suggests that Mac users are now clearly on their radar.

If anything, the belief of Mac users’ immunity exacerbates the vulnerability. The near-total lack of Internet security software installed on Macs increases the likelihood that a successful attack on the community of Mac users will be significant. Furthermore, because well-written malware does not reveal itself to the user, an infected machine with no security software monitoring it can operate at will, with no awareness on the part of the user.

Protect your computer from Internet threats with Verizon Internet Security Suite, powered by McAfee for Macs. This technology safeguards you from malicious websites, allowing you to explore, download, and shop the Internet any time, any place without fear of online threats. It automatically protects your Mac from malware; cyber attacks, and safeguards your personal information from data-stealing programs and would-be hackers. Verizon Internet Security Suite, powered by McAfee protects you from an evolving threat landscape and gives you the freedom to explore the Internet.