Tag: security

How to stay safe shopping online this holiday season? Stay away from fake websites

Photo by Nataliya Vaitkevich on Pexels.com

Since I started shopping online, I have noticed that scams have been increasing more than before. There have been so many hackers attacking websites, stealing data, sending social engineering emails which trick you. There are so many threats to keep track of in this age; the average citizen has no clue as to what to focus their energy on to keep the money in their wallets.

The sliest trick: The Fake Website Email or Message

In the early days of the internet, most hackers tended to focus on the inexperience of the users. As users got more comfortable with using the internet, they became even more cunning, attempting to weaponize what they saw as their home in cyberspace.

The culture we have now in cyberspace is under attack from all sides. We have outages happening more often than even in the 1990s. These outages are occurring almost every month, affecting economies.

The hackers and scammers are damaging the economy to gain an advantage. You should be steely prepared for scams throughout the holiday season.

The most important scam you be aware of is this one: the fake website.

The fake website is very common scam that hackers use but it is probably one of the most insidious out there and I have even come close to falling for it, almost giving a hacker some of the money in my bank account here.

The main aspect you need to consider is to look at the address in the email or message sent to you here.

You must check the address carefully. If the address is saying that it is from the official site and has the “.com” in it, then it should be a legitimate email or message.

However, if the address looks really strange and not like an official address, you should not be clicking any links in the message. Generally speaking, the strangeness is that address has not form or structure in here.

You should also watch for the emails that aim to copy the style of the website. Some of the details are not authentic to the actual website.

Check your original website emails and then compare them to these emails. If they look sketchy, then they are.

With these steps, you will be able to stay safe this holiday season.

16 billion Passwords have leaked online: We have to move towards a passcode

The age of Passwords is in its twilight years, and this recent hack showcases the need for a move towards passcodes.

Today according to Cybernews.com, they had researcher find out that massive data sets have 16 billion passwords exposed. What is more concerning is that alot of this data is new and not just a trove of passwords from other previous breaches.

We need to start moving away from passwords in my opinion. While passwords were reasonable in the past, they are too vulnerable now. It is time for change now.

How to move away from Passwords: Choose the Passcode

Microsoft and Google are attempting to move away from passwords. These titans in software have made an attempt to give their customers an ability to change over to passcodes.

Why are Passcodes better than Passwords?

In my experience, Passcodes are more convenient than having to store tons of passwords in your browser. It is a simple and easy passcode that you type in and you do not have worry about remembering them either.

Passwords are exposed in our age

Passwords can be lying in a server for 1990s websites for years. Such aged passwords can be a problem for cybersecurity in the future. Many older websites such as Yahoo and Google have userbases that are older than that of TikTok or Snapchat. The latter sites were born in a time when automatic logins using Google and Facebook accounts was more widespread than before the mid 2000s. The time is now to move towards passcodes

Hackers are getting smarter at stealing passwords

Hackers are as persistent as ever and are not going to give up now. The time is now to start thinking about moving towards passcodes. We have seen the many data breaches for many years now. Why is taking so long for us to take cybersecurity seriously? People’s identities are at stake in digital age, and we need to start taking hygiene with the at most seriousness that we take such manipulations in our system in the analog realm. It is by preventing for the future we can prevent these data breaches from affecting cyberspace too much.

Caution serves you the best on the Internet

Even after years of using the internet, people are still not able to secure their accounts. What people need to do is this: the best offense is the best defense. The best offense in this situation is taking charge of your own cyber hygiene. Make sure you have passwords that are hard to crack, and you do not post any personal information online. However, the best way to secure your accounts is to transition towards passcodes to secure your information online so you can rest assured your actions on the internet will be under your sovereignty as a citizen.

The Oracle Hack and its refusal to take responsbility.

It is yet another day in the Oracle Hacking crisis. The company is not interested in taking any responsibility for its actions. The inability to stop the hack or even responsibility is a big issue that the government should be investigating here. While one can say that Oracle is not an omnipotent company, they still need to be aware that security matters. The company is wasting its time by not responding to the complaints.

Oracle has to understand that it’s reputation is at stake here and action must be taken to restore confidence.

I am not a cyber security expert but everyday there seems to be more hacks and break ins by hackers.

Oracle needs to take this seriously and give the right response to their customers.

With the Lazarus Group from Kim Jong Un’s North Korea stealing crypto and this hack, something has to change.

What can change?

I think that educating people on cyber security should be in schools. Too often, it seen as an easy class in high school and in college. When I went to George Mason University, IT class was seen as a burden by students. It is time that perception changes. Even after all these years of computer education, many students are not serious about applying it. Computer programming is back in the realm of the nerds, and it is not seen as interesting by students.

Such classes should have classes on how to be aware of phishing attacks or malware. Too many times we are seeing the older folks on the internet being manipulated by social engineering emails.

Replace Passwords with Passcodes

Replacing passwords with passcodes is another way that cybersecurity can be improved on the internet. I have recently been using my browser to save passwords as there are too many to remember. Such passwords, even when strong, are not enough to deter hackers. We need to have stronger protections from hackers. Passcodes could be the solution. There are too many stories of people having passwords which are basically just 123, which is not conducive for secure sites.

Taking action takes time and some people are just unable to pay attention to the cyber realm with any seriousness.

Another thing that needs to happen is that we need to upgrade our servers and computers. America is going through a building boom in data centers. Maintaining such centers and upgrading them when appropriate will be vital in making sure our cyber infrastructure is sparkling new and ready for any challenges.

Oracle can take the step towards revitalization of America’s cyberspace. They can start by being honest and upgrading their systems so they are secure.