A "Gentle Reminder" for everyone to be extra vigilant with their Privacy!

Many of us actually turn a blind eye to the fact our private information is being, as this Australian reporter puts it, furiously scooped up by corporations, governments and others.

Why? Because we see it as a harmless tradeoff for whatever convenience or bit of entertainment we get in return. However, as this video details, more consumers are becoming aware of exactly what that tradeoff entails. And they're coming to it through social experiments like the one conducted in Australia. A reporter arranged for baristas to behave like an online app. After taking the java order, the baristas asked their customers to give them details like their home addresses or their last four text messages. The coffee buyers were super uncomfortable.

As we see in the video, the sharing of private information is no longer viewed as a harmless tradeoff when put in the faces of consumers. It's viewed with skepticism and dismay, just as some may argue, it always should be. The other day, a friend told me the fast-food restaurant chain app she downloaded asked for access to her camera and all the photos and videos stored on it!

The takeaway? Pay closer attention to the information your new apps are asking to access. If something throws up a red flag, investigate. Or simply don't install the app.

What Becomes Of Your Online Accounts After You Die?

...until death do us part

Have you ever wondered what becomes of your online accounts after you die? The Washington Post recently looked into the question, and reports that "The immortality of one's digital accounts is one of the more morbid philosophical wrinkles of modern life."

Here are a few of the take-aways from the article: Family who want to access these accounts often can't. Digital asset laws vary greatly by state and country.

The spookiest take-away: Artificial intelligence-like technology may someday Tweet in a user's voice after he or she dies.

US FFIEC: Proposed Guidance on Social Media

Regulators Address Emerging Social Media Risks to Banking Institutions

The US Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council has issued proposed risk management guidance for the use of social media.

"Social Media: Consumer Compliance Risk Management Guidance," was posted on the Federal Register Jan. 23. It provides an overview of the impact social media sites have on compliance with consumer protection and other applicable laws, especially when interactions between institutions and consumers take place on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

Employees could be using social media from different devices or from home at night. If their accounts are taken over, then a criminal could be posting on that site, giving advice to steer customers to do something they shouldn't, or posting a link that leads them to a malicious site.

There certainly are a lot risks banks need to think about when they start to use social media. The proposed guidance is really about risk assessment. The guidance is intended to help financial institutions understand potential consumer compliance, legal, reputation and operational risks associated with the use of social media, along with expectations for managing those risks.

Although the guidance does not impose additional obligations on financial institutions, the FFIEC expects financial institutions to take steps to manage potential risks associated with social media, as they would with any new process or product channel.

The FFIEC will accept comments on the proposed guidance through March 25. It will publish a final version once it reviews comments received.

Term Of The Month: "Geotagging"

Commonly used via social media applications such as Twitter, Facebook etc.

Geotagging, in general, means geographical identification has been added to various media you may have created, such as a geotagged photographs, videos, websites, SMS messages, QR Codes, or RSS feeds, just to name a few.  

Look at a recent Facebook post you made. Was your location included with it, such as shown in this example?

That is one type of geotagging.

Simply by posting a photo of a meal you have just been served or the great trick your kid performed on the playground, you are potentially broadcasting your whereabouts.

This can be very dangerous if you think someone is stalking you, so consider disabling your smartphone's and/or mobile device's GPS embedding feature.

Android app can 'hack' Facebook and Twitter account

FaceNiff enables an Android smartphone to detect unsecured Facebook or Twitter login

Facebook and Twitter users face a new security headache from an Android app that allows anyone to hack social media accounts at public WiFi spots.

The developer of the FaceNiff app mentioned on their website that the app is for educational purposes only, and urges users not to install it if it is illegal in their country.

FaceNiff enables an Android smartphone to detect any unsecured Facebook or Twitter login made on the same WiFi network by a desktop or laptop using a standard web browser.



The app is a major security risk as it allows hackers access to a user's private contact details and those of all their friends. Using the app, it would be possible for hackers to collect personal information needed for identity theft simply while having coffee at an internet cafe.

FaceNiff needs to be side loaded onto an Android device that allows root or superuser access to the device. While some users would not be capable of configuring "root user" access on their Android phones, many would, and a list of compatible phones is listed on the developer's website.

The developer claims the app works not only on open networks, but WiFi networks secured by WEP, WPA-PSK and WPA2-PSK network protocols.

The developer's website states the app can be used to access Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Amazon, and Nasza-Klasa -- a Polish version of Facebook with "new coming soon".

FaceNiff however is understood not to work if social media is accessed with https secure protocol.

Facebook and Twitter by default do not automatically use https browsing and users have to activate it.

Twitter Worm redirects to fake anti-virus

SCAREWARE - warning message claims the computer is running suspicious applications and the user is encouraged to run a scan

A fast-moving Twitter worm is in circulation, using Google’s goo.gl redirection service to push unsuspecting users to a notorious scareware (fake anti-virus) malware campaign.

At 8:45 a.m EST today, this Twitter search shows thousands of Twitter messages continuing to spread the worm.

According to malware hunters tracking the threat, the worm’s redirection chain pushes users to a Web page serving up the “Security Shield” Rogue AV. The page is using obfuscation techniques that include an implementation of RSA cryptography in JavaScript to obfuscate the page code.

Once a user’s browser session is redirected to the malicious site, a warning message claims the computer is running suspicious applications and the user is encouraged to run a scan. As usual, the result is that the machine is infected with malicious threats and the scam is to trick the user into downloading a fake disinfection tool.

Source: ZDNet News

Film's opening-weekend can be predicted by monitoring tweets.

Twitter: A new box-office oracle?

HP Labs researchers have developed a way to use Twitter to gauge real-time interest in movies and accurately predict how they will perform at the box office on opening weekend. HP Labs' Sitaram Asur and Bernardo Huberman developed computational formulas that analyze Twitter feeds and use the rate at which movies are mentioned in Twitter updates to predict the first-weekend returns.

The research also showed Twitter could be used to predict other events, such as how major products will be received and the outcomes of elections, according to Huberman. HP Labs studied nearly 3 million Twitter updates that mentioned 24 major movie releases over the course of three months. The researchers factored in the release date and the number of theaters the movie would be shown in, to predict the opening weekend box office performance with 97.3 percent accuracy.

They also developed a system that evaluates the sentiments of Twitter updates as positive, negative, or neutral, to predict the following weekend's returns with 94 percent accuracy.

Refer here to read more details.