STAYING SAFE ONLINE WITH GUEST AUTHOR MICKI BROWNING

Award-winning debut mystery author Micki Browning is an FBI National Academy graduate who worked in law enforcement for more than two decades and retired as a division commander. Learn more about Micki at her website. Today Micki stops by with information to help keep us all safe online.

Cyber Safety and Social Media

Few of us get through a single day without electronically transmitting personal information. Think about it.  ATM transactions, emails, Internet searches and purchases, downloads, delivery text alerts—all these transactions send account information across cyberspace. We voluntarily assume risk in exchange for convenience, but with the advent of social media, the amount of personal information we share has increased exponentially. Fortunately, a few extra steps can go a long way to safeguard your privacy and mitigate your risk of becoming a victim of cyber-crime.

Cyber-crime is defined as any illegal activity conducted by means of a computer or the Internet. It’s a huge topic and too broad for a blog post. Instead, I’m going to concentrate on one aspect: social media platforms.

The major risk with social media lies not in the amount of personal information you share, but rather the type. Let’s take a look at your posts. Does Facebook remind your friends of your birthday? Sure, it’s nice to see all the birthday wishes roll in, but birthdates are a critical component of identity theft. Coupled with your hometown, or place of birth, and you’ve provided a trifecta of critical information that can be used against you.

Vacations are exciting! We love to share our travels, but do you announce them prior to embarking? Daily updates confirm you’re still away from home. Burglars use social media, too.

Less obvious reveals abound as well. A person wanting to scam you may use the ploy of a shared interest as a way to build trust, or to track your activities. Even your favorite books, artists, and restaurants provide information that can be harvested by the unscrupulous to exploit you. That forgotten classmate from the high school you attended? He dropped out—from a school three states away and has no idea who you really are, but wants to be your “friend” and rekindle your relationship—for his benefit, not yours.

Why does this happen?

The Internet imparts a sense of anonymity that is absent from face-to-face encounters. People rely on body language signals to help them determine who to trust—and more importantly—who to avoid. It’s easy to discount danger when a person isn’t within striking range, and the Internet fosters a false sense of security. But ask someone who’s been the victim of identity theft or who’s had malicious software infect her computer how disruptive an anonymous crook can be.

What can you do?

Each platform takes steps to enhance your privacy and cyber protection, but it’s up to you to ensure you are using them. Review their policies. Go to the site’s help page for instructions. Be proactive. Systematically click on each link and confirm that the settings you want are the ones you have.

Review the passwords to all your accounts. Passwords should be distinct for each account and include a capitalization, a character and a number. Experts recommend changing passwords every six months. Make it a resolution you keep—twice—every year.

Validate and verify your contacts. Friends, followers and contacts often have access to your email. Scams are rampant. Nigerian princes aren’t so altruistic that they want to share their fortunes with you. Malware is often hidden in email attachments or is activated through a link embedded in the body of the message. If you have any questions about the sender, don’t click on either.

Several social media sites now offer retail opportunities, which means that not only are you sharing your personal data, but your financial info as well. Only provide financial information when you initiate the contact.

It all sounds so dire. My point is not to be paranoid about personal privacy, but informed. “Friends” is a slippery term. It implies someone who is close and cares about you and your activities—someone who looks out for you. On social media, sharing your information with someone only requires a click of a button. Cyber-crimes are often crimes of opportunity. Don’t allow yourself to be an easy target.

Adrift

Marine scientist Meredith Cavallo thought adjusting to a laid-back life in the Florida Keys would be a breeze after life in the Arctic, but when a ghost-hunting documentary leader vanishes during a midnight dive, she’s caught in a storm of supernatural intrigue.  Determined to debunk paranormal explanations and salvage her reputation, Mer launches her own investigation. When someone tries to kill her, she knows the truth is about to surface. Maybe dead men do tell tales.

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MONEY MATTERS WITH SHEILA--GUEST AUTHOR TERRY AMBROSE

There are all sorts of cyberspace scams that prey on people, separating them from their money. Mystery author Terry Ambrose stops by today with some tips for online safety. Terry started out skip tracing and collecting money from deadbeats and quickly learned that liars come from all walks of life. He never actually stole a car, but sometimes hired big guys with tow trucks and a penchant for working in the dark when “negotiations” failed. Learn more about Terry and his books at his website. -- AP 

Three tips to stay safe online

I recently received an email from a friend, who is a very nice man, does lots of community service and other good things, and who also sent out a slew of spam. He didn’t do it intentionally, but was the victim of someone hacking his AOL account. A couple of days before that, I received another spam email from another friend who’d had his email account hacked. This unfortunate and all too frequent issue points out just how difficult it can be for people to avoid becoming the victim of a scam. Here are three quick tips to help keep your financial information safe.

Work at home scams

Some of our relatives recently retired to California from their place in Florida. Once they got here, they decided that it would be nice to be able to work from home to stay active and make a little extra cash. The interesting thing is that many of those “work at home” offers are no more than scams. Robert Brauer of The Internet Truth Project (www.theinternettruthproject.com), an organization that helps new internet entrepreneurs avoid scams and focus on honest ways of growing their businesses warns that, “Most are complete scams -- in fact, government studies show that 54 of 55 are scams.”

Keep your financial information confidential

Let’s return for a moment to that AOL email I mentioned at the top of this post. The email told me that my friend had gone to the Philippines and had been mugged. He was in need of cash. This scam is one of the oldest around, but continues to be used by scammers because these guys are good at practicing the old adage, “don’t fix what ain’t broken.” If you receive this type of email and want to check with your friend, be sure not to simply reply to the email, but create a new one or, better yet, call him and him to change the password on his email account.

Spoofed websites

Perhaps one of the most dangerous threats is the “spoofed” website. A spoofed website is a fake site that has been set up to look exactly like the real thing. These sites typically have domain names that are similar to the ones they’re imitating. For instance, AARP issued an alert to it’s members before the holidays about a site using the address “www.tiffany.co.mn” instead of the legitimate “www.tiffany.com”. The thing that makes these sites so dangerous is their appearance, which is virtually identical to the original. It’s unwise to ever click a link in an email, but if you do, make sure the address matches what you expect and isn’t some dangerous derivative.

If you’d like more tips on how to stay one step ahead of the con, check out my Crime and  Courts column on Examiner.com or the tips I provide on my website.

License to Lie:

Never trust a soul—even your own.

Two experts in the art of communications. Both are driven by their goals—and they’re on opposite sides of the law. But, when her father is kidnapped, they join forces—and learn that with $5,000,000 and their lives on the line, it’s hard to trust each other—or themselves.

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