Internet+Security+(BF)



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The RSS feed shows posts about phishing scams that people have been tricked into using. These people posted these scams to prevent others from falling for these scams as well. People should pay attention to this RSS feed because it shows phishing scams that people can easily fall for and people have already fallen for. The RSS feed can help prevent future internet users from falling for these scams

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The RSS feed shows a weekly analysis of the phishing scams that occured during thee week. The feed, created by MillerSmiles, does an analysis of the scams that occured by using scams that were sent to them by the public and by using their HoneyTrap scam detection system. By analyzing these scams, they are able to figure out the most common way scams are done. Then, they are able to use this analysis to help prevent future scams. This RSS feed can help people avoid internet phishing scams.

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The video above is by CBS News and shows the story of a phishing victim, who discovered $3,000 dollars was missing from her account. The video is important because it shows the complexity of phishing techniques. It is important that people watch this video to help prevent them from falling for the phisher's tricks and to keep their money safe.



The book __Phishing Exposed__ shows the techniques used by phishers that allow them to successfully commit fraudulent acts against the internet users of the world. The book highlights the motivation, psychology, and legal aspects of the deceptive art of phishing. The book outlines forensic techniques used to unveil the identities of phishers.The book proved an in depth view from both sides, one of the phishers and one of those trying to catch the criminals. This book is important to readers because it can help better prepare them against phishing and hacking. Click on the book image to be linked to the Amazon page

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= =Better Business Bureau Raises Warning on Phishing=

On December 16th, 2010, the Better Business Bureau (BBB), a United States and Canada based corporation, alerted internet users in the US to be cautious of scam e-mails that are were recently being circulated by cyber criminals as the holiday shopping season for Christmas was about to begin. The BBB tried to make sure that the internet shoppers of America are safe and their money and private information are secure.

 The exponential rise of the Internet over the past two decades has shown that the internet has become an important part of most American’s daily life. The internet has made tasks that used to take hours, even days and weeks, into seconds of work. Two of these examples are email and shopping. Email has almost completely replaced sending letters. Shopping online has saved countless hours of driving and looking through stores. Now internet shoppers can easily search for whatever they need online.

However, scammers and hackers have used phishing, the criminally fraudulent process of attempting to acquire sensitive information such as usernames, passwords and credit card details. Hackers are able to get this information by pretending to be a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication. They can then steal online users’ private information for their own use. Phishing is potentially a multibillion dollar illegal industry that could destroy the financial security of American’s everywhere.

Phishing is not a new problem. Phishing was first thought of in 1987, and the term was created in 1996 because phishing tries to “catch” financial information of others. Internet users who post private information online can easily become victims of phishing. Scam emails and Internet shopping sites, such as eBay, Amazon, PayPal, and other websites where private financial and personal information are used, can become tools by scammers to get shoppers information if customers are not careful when giving out their private information.

The BBB is a corporation consisting of several private businesses. The purpose of the BBB is to create a fair and effective marketplace, so that buyers and sellers are able to trust one another. The internet, as a multibillion dollar business, is one area of commerce that the BBB deals with. Internet security is a priority for the BBB, as the internet has sometimes a million transactions through one site alone. For example, on Black Friday of 2009, eBay alone had one million transactions. What the BBB was and is still trying to accomplish by sending out the warning to internet users was to try to make sure that internet users were being careful with their information.

Phishing cases can come in all shapes and sizes. It can come in smaller, nonrelated emails for small amounts of money. This is extremely common. Phishing can also be on a much larger scale, such that of one in 2009 when US and Egyptian authorities charged 100 people with phishing charges in a single case. In total, the FBI found the phishing scams totaling up to 1.5 million dollars. Clearly, phishing is a problem in internet security.

While the threat of phishing clearly exists, it does not necessarily mean that everybody who uses the internet is going to be phished. Internet users just have to be careful. Mr. Losch, who teaches computer programming at Hopewell, is an avid reader of stories about famous hackers. He is more informed than the average American on the dangers of phishing. However, he has stated that he himself does “a great deal of online shopping,” and feels safe while on the internet. Mr. Losch has used private information such as credit cards on the internet and would not be averse to providing more information over the internet, such as his social security number. However, he does stress that, when shopping online, it is important to “Make sure [the internet shopping website] is an established, trusted site.” He also makes sure that every piece of technology he uses has at least some security software. He is aware of the dangers of phishing, but with necessary precautions, Mr. Losch can rest easy with his private information secure.

While the internet can be a dangerous place, internet users, with proper precautions such as security software and checking emails carefully, can rest easy at night while using the internet. With the shopping season coming soon, the BBB made a smart decision to warn internet shoppers of the increased risk of phishing. Hopefully, the internet users of America will listen to the BBB’s message and practice safe internet shopping.

=Should the government be responsible for your safety and security while on the internet?=

English Philosopher John Locke once said that “ Government has no other end, but the preservation of property.” The government’s job is to protect the citizens of the nation. If the government really wants to protect its citizens, government has to protect all facets of life: socially, politically, and economically. All three are parts of the physical world. Over the past decade, the internet has grown exponentially and has become part of our daily lives.

The internet has thousands, perhaps millions of uses. One of these uses is transfer of private information for things like shopping, paying bills, and bank accounts. Like in the real world, people are susceptible to theft and crime on the internet. Banks get robbed, shoppers get scammed, and money gets stolen. These things have happened since the first ever trade of mankind. In today’s world, security at banks is superb. Companies are held accountable so they are not capable of scamming their customers (with obvious exceptions such as Bernie Madoff.) And, for the most part, the people’s money is secure. The government does its best to make regulations to make the “preservation of property” a reality. However, the internet is an entirely different animal. Phishing, hacking, and scamming is commonplace. Internet users are incredibly susceptible to being robbed of their money. Internet users do not have nearly the same amount of protection as they do in the real world. If the government is responsible for preservation of our property, shouldn’t they be responsible for preservation of our property online as well?

If a bank is robbed and your money is stolen, there is atleast some insurance on the bank account. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), an agency of the United States government, was founded as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal Banking Act of 1933, during the Great Depression. What President FDR was trying to do with the FDIC was to restore the faith in the banking industry. During the Great Depression, bank runs, where hundreds sometimes thousands of people would line up outside of banks to get their money back, were commonplace. However, the banks would quite often not have the money to pay back the customers. The FDIC was founded to guarantee the money of customers. When founded in 1933, the FDIC guaranteed up to $2,500. Since 2008, the FDIC guarantees up to $250,000. The government atleast gives some insurance on your money from your bank account if it is stolen. This insurance carries onto the internet. However, it is a lot easier today to be phished or scammed and has your money stolen from your bank account than to have it robbed from the bank itself. So should the government guarantee more money because of the added risk? If the government’s job is to preserve the property of its citizens, than they must do their best to make sure that the money is safe. But can the government guarantee every single penny if it is stolen? Absolutely not. It is unfathomable for government to have to pay for all the theft, robbery, and sometimes carelessness of others. Not to mention the incredible amount of fraud that could occur. But should the government require preventative measures so the chances of your money getting stolen decrease substantially? Absolutely.

The high amount of security in banks is allowed and supported by the government. These security details often include guns, silent alarm buttons to notify police of a robbery, and bodyguards. The internet, however, is still barely protected against hackers and phishers. Many computers do not have any kind of security software. Even more people are uneducated on the dangers of phishing and aren’t aware of the possibility of their information being stolen.

Here is what the government should do: Require all computers to have top of the line security software preinstalled onto the computers. What this would do is prevent a large amount of hacking done to computers. One of the top internet security systems, Norton, costs only $70.00 for three computers. That is only $23.33 per computer. Computer owners can’t afford not to have it! The computer manufacturers do not need to take this cost upon themselves; they can simply charge an extra few dollars. And somebody buying a one thousand dollar computer is not going to not purchase the computer for an extra $20 that is used on protecting their own computer. Along with the security system, the computer should automatically play a video that would teach users about internet security. The cost for all of this is minimal, but can exponentially reduce the amount of fraud occurring online, saving millions of computer owners lots of money. This is something the government would love to have. Not to mention provide business for internet security companies and computer manufacturers.

The government cannot be responsible for paying for all of the frauds and scams that occur over the internet. However, the government could do some serious good by requiring internet security. Computer users in the entire country could rest easy, knowing their money and security while online is much safer.

=Fraud Attempts Reported from Online Holiday Shopping =

On Sunday, February 6th, Cowboys Stadium will be host to the biggest sporting event in America each and every year: the Super Bowl. This year, the game takes place between two of the most historic teams in football: The Pittsburgh Steelers, going for their record 7th Super Bowl, and the Green Bay Packers, winners of the first two Super Bowls ever played. Like every other sporting event, it is extremely common to see people scammed for tickets, whether it be a fake online site or being fooled into buying fake tickets. While most games could possibly result in just a few hundred dollars being scammed, the Super Bowl is on an entirely different level. Super Bowl tickets are going for up to $24,000 for lower level, 50- Yard line seats. The Better Business Bureau (BBB) sent out a warning against the high potential of scams involving Super Bowl tickets for the next few weeks. The BBB is trying to warn the common, law abiding American from falling under the trap of scams involving these tickets. The reason that the recent scams involving Super Bowl tickets are so important to online security is because of extremely high amount of tickets purchased online. Whether it is Craigslist, eBay, or even Ticketmaster, the possibility of customers being scammed into buying fake tickets or being tricked into using private information is extremely high. Scamming has always been and will continue to be a multibillion dollar “business.” The Super Bowl is an easy target for scamming because, realistically, it is the single biggest game in any league, in any sport, and in any country in the world. The United States lives for this game. Football is by far the biggest sport in this country, and can possibly be considered more popular here than soccer is in some European countries, or hockey is in Canada. Super Bowl Sunday is like a nationwide party. This one game brings in millions upon millions of dollars to the NFL. In 1967, there of course was no internet of which to speak of to purchase tickets online for Super Bowl online. However, there is no doubt that scamming still occurred outside the stadium by ticket scalpers selling fake tickets. However, in the modern world of 2011, of Super Bowl XLV, purchasing tickets online is the fastest and probably most popular way of buying tickets. However, because the tickets usually come from a third party and not the NFL or an NFL affiliated website, the ticket sales are not directly from the main source. Because of this, scammers are able to put up fake tickets for sale and either a) sell the fake tickets for a certain amount of money, or b) phish the customers into giving private information such as credit card numbers and use the private information for personal use. Having internet security software and being careful with personal information is very important when not only buying Super Bowl tickets, but shopping online in general. To avoid being scammed while buying Super Bowl tickets, the BBB has recommended the following : Deal with a sports-based ticket company that has a track record with game packages and ticket sales. · Avoid buying tickets from new online auction sellers or sellers located outside the U.S. · Be wary of any sellers who say they will have eBay or Craigslist send “verification.” · Use a credit card or third party escrow company such as PayPal for purchases. They offer additional protection and track the purchase. · Make sure the website is secure and reputable. Look for the “https” or “lock” symbol in the navigation bar on the Internet browser. · Read all the fine print to verify ticket delivery dates. It is important to follow the recommendations of the BBB so customers can purchase their tickets safely and enjoy Super Bowl Sunday at Cowboys Stadium rather than sitting at home upset over buying thousands of dollars worth of useless fake tickets. Internet security is an important asset to Super Bowl ticket purchasers and should not be taken lightly, as the threat of scamming and phishing can hit your bank account hard, especially when thousands of dollars are on the line for the greatest sporting event on the planet.