Facebook Privacy Settings

August 9, 2009

With Facebook overtaking MySpace as the most popular social networking site on the Internet for people to hangout, it has become more important that you secure your Facebook account and place the proper Facebook privacy settings in place.

Just ask Jon Favreau, the immensely talented chief speechwriter of President Barack Obama. The picture shown below was one which Jon attended where he is seen dancing and placing his hand on the chest of current secretary of state and former first lady, Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Dont let this be you. Your Facebook pictures are stored forever

Don't let this be you. Your Facebook pictures are stored forever

With the sheer popularity of Facebook and the tendency of people including you to share their personal lives including their pictures might come back to haunt you later in your life. Well, maybe the safest option is to not have a Facebook account at all, but that is not practical advice.

The post on the security blog root777.com describes 10 Facebook privacy settings in incredible detail and how you can protect your privacy online on Facebook by following these simple steps.

Some advice offered includes

Segregating your friends: It is impossible to trust your friends. In Jon’s case, one of his friends “tagged” him in that picture. The post on root777 gives you options on how to create friends lists and enforce privacy.

Watch what you write on your friends walls: Maybe drunk facebooking is the new trend after drunk dialing. Watch out for what you post. That will remain stored for eternity.

Protect your contact information: Basically by default everyone can see your contact information including IM, emails and even current address. Watch out for the tips on how to protect this information.

Protect your Facebook public profile: Facebook gives people an incredible opportunity to post a public profile that lets other people search for you on search engines such as Google and poof .. you are there on the first page of the search results usually because Facebook ranks high. See the tips on how you can secure your public profile.

Facebook Privacy Settings which every user should know [root777]

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Yahoo and Google censorship

December 28, 2008

It is Google’s policy not to censor search results. On the other hand, in response to local laws, regulations, or policies, they must censor search results.

Specific governments keep a tight rein on the internet and what users can access. The latest action taken was Argentina forcing Google & Yahoo to censor search results. The censorship was related about a variety of celebrities, including public officials, models, actors, and sports stars. For example users’ searching for the world’s most well known soccer stars and the current national team head coach – Diego Maradona — produces zero results, along with a message from Yahoo that’s roughly translated as follows:


“On the occasion of a court order sought by private parties, we have been forced to temporarily remove some or all of the search results relating to it.”

Google first received an order to block references to the individuals on its Argentina search engine in mid-2007. “A group of about 70 fashion models, represented by the same lawyer, initially asked the Internet Company to block all search results with their names with the intent of blocking pornographic sites that used the models’ pictures. Google responded that it would only block specific problematic links, provided it could notify users.” (Source: CNet News)

If you are interested in reading more about specific governments’ policy and/or laws regarding Internet censorship in various countries around the world, here are some links:

http://www.efa.org.au/Issues/Censor/cens3.html
http://epic.org/free_speech/censorship/

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This post was submitted by anelly85.

Download Norton AntiVirus. Free AntiVirus Download

February 17, 2008

Symantec, the world’s #1 Security Software company said in a recent Internet Security Threat Report that home users or “the everyday Internet user” made up the most highly targeted sector, accouting for nearly 93% of all computer virus and malware targets.

Norton Security Scan will be included in the latest version of “Google Pack,” a free collection of essential software from Google and other companies which includes the latest antivirus, anti malware and anti spyware tools, which make it easy for users to protect and enhance their PCs.

With Norton Security Scan, users have an easy-to-use tool that scans their PC specifically for viruses and spyware. In addition to the scan feature, the Google Pack version of Norton Security Scan removes all existing viruses, trojans and worms found on a user’s PC and provides them with helpful tips on how they can further improve their PC security.

Download Norton Antivirus for free from Google below:

*Google Pack also includes
12 other optional free programs
in addition to Norton Antivirus.
(download only the programs you want!)
NortonNorton Anti Virus
Features:
• Automatically removes Viruses, Worms, and Trojans from your computer.• Norton downloads free Virus definition updates automatically to protect your computer from the latest Virus threats!• Windows XP & Vista compatible!

• Norton now includes unlimited Virus definition updates for free!

“Offering Norton Security Scan through the Google Pack is the perfect way to reach the everyday Internet home user,” said Rowan Trollope, vice president, engineering, consumer business unit, Symantec. “Our goal is to provide Internet users everywhere with a powerful and easy-to-use tool to help them evaluate, understand threats that may reside on their PCs and subsequently remove these threats quickly and efficiently.”

At the click of a button, users who download Norton Security Scan can either run a full scan of their system or run a QuickScan, which is a fast scan of the areas of their computer that are most likely to be targeted by viruses. Norton Security Scan automatically receives regular detection updates, so it can effectively detect the latest virus and spyware threats. In addition, the tool features an easy-to-use interface which simplifies the process of scheduling weekly or on-demand scans. Norton Security Scan provides the complete and thorough scan and removal capabilities available with Norton’s award winning Norton AntiVirus and Norton Internet Security.

Demonstrated Need for PC Security

Google is responding to a demonstrated need. According to Symantec’s most recent Internet Security Threat Report, home users or “the everyday Internet user” made up the most highly targeted sector, accounting for 93 percent of all targeted attacks.

[Read more]

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Phishing attacks on US Universities

February 6, 2008

We’ve had a few reports of Universities/Colleges being hit with some very targeted emails trying to get the userid and password of students. The email is usually along these lines.

————————————————

Subject VERIFY YOUR xxxxxx EMAIL ACCOUNT NOW

Dear xxxxx Email Account Owner,

This message is from xxxxx messaging center to all xxxxx email account owners. We are currently upgrading our data base and e-mail account center. We are deleting all unused xxxxx email account to create more space for new accounts.

To prevent your account from closing you will have to update it below so that we will know that it’s a present used account.

[Read more]

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How to protect your Internet Privacy on Social Networking Sites

January 7, 2008

Social Networking Sites privacyThe Internet is a powerful tool that has revolutionized virtually every aspect of our lives, including how we socialize. Today, there are an estimated 200 online social networking sites, the most popular being MySpace and Facebook. But while it can be fun and convenient to keep up with old friends and make new ones online, sharing too much personal information on these sites can be risky. This is especially true for young people, who may not realize that the information they post online could end up in the hands of harassers, cyberbullies, scam artists, child predators and other unscrupulous people.

[Read more]

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Uppsala Hacker convicted of hacking Universities and Cisco Systems

November 26, 2007

A 19 year old Swedish teenager also known as the “Uppsala Hacker” was today convicted on seven counts for hacking into 3 Swedish Universities … Linköping University, Umea University and Uppsala University as well as the Swedish National Supercomputer Center in Linkoping. In a separate instance, the FBI is requesting Swedish authorities to press charges against him for hacking into Cisco Systems and stealing source code.

About three years ago, Swedish Universities were under a wave of intrusions. Around the same time in May 2004, Cisco servers were breached and source code was posted online. The FBI suspects it is the same hacker. A Swedish investigation resulted in the arrest of the then 16 year old “Uppsala Hacker”. The intrusions stopped after his arrest.

The hacker has since admitted to being the author of the tools that were using for the hacking attempts. However, he claims that other people had access to the tools and that he is not responsible for the crimes.

The Teen is now planning to appeal in the Swedish Supreme Court. “They have destroyed my life before I’m even a grown-up,” he told Computer Sweden.

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Remove Zedo and URL.cpvfeed.com

November 4, 2007

There is an increase in the number of spyware attacks especially those which are “Powered by Zedo” ad popups. Usually they coexist with Internet Explorer where you get lots of popups which tracks your browsing history and shows advertiser sites or just flash ads which are highly annoying.

Even popup blockers such as the Google Toolbar is unable to stop these popups. I even tried blocking the advertisement websites in Internet Explorer. Nothing.

Now, there is a great article on how to remove zedo and url.cpvfeed.com popups on the security site root777.com.

Check it out and remove your computer of the “powered by zedo” and url.cpvfeed.com popups

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