Thieves 'like' cash on Facebook

Today a woman had her cash stolen after her granddaughter posted pictures of the money on Facebook.

Today, in Sydney Australia, a 17 year old girl was helping her grandmother count a large amount of cash.  The girl took a photo of the cash, the grandmothers life savings, and posted it on Facebook.

Later that night, two armed men broke in to the house demanding the money. The thieves searched the house and left with the money.

This is a great example of the dangers of social media.  We need to think before we post anything on the internet. You don’t know who is watching.

Dangers of the Internet and the online world

I still remember life before the Internet.  It would be very hard to go back to a life without it; the benefits of the Internet are countless.  The Internet has provided us ways to communicate with family and friends anywhere in the world, by the use of email and social networks.  We can pay bills, do our banking and go shopping at our convenience.

But this convenience comes at a cost. The cost is that our sensitive and confidential information is at risk, and in turn so is the privacy of you and members of your family.  Cyber criminals are out there looking for opportunities to get access to you personal information. In 2011, more than 174 million customer or personal records were stolen from computers around the world.  This is why, we as Internet users, must know what the risks are. We start by identifying what sensitive information are we trying to protect, what the threats are, what are our vulnerabilities.  Only then we can identify what we can do to mitigate the risks of a compromise.

Information

Most of our personal information is just that, personal.  Personal information can be names, addresses, financial and bank details, health records, photos, etc. This information can be used to steal your identity and in turn, your money, or to invade your privacy.

Threats

The threats on the Internet are many and have different motives. Most are for financial gain, some are for gratification of disrupting people and others are for the dangerous act of stalking vulnerable people.

The sources of the threats are numerous.  Threat sources can originate from a malicious email containing links to websites containing malware, infecting your computer with sinister software, which can interrogate your computer and look for sensitive information and send it off via the Internet back to the cyber criminal’s location.

Vulnerabilities

One of the main vulnerabilities is not having security software on your computer. Anti-virus applications, Internet security suites are just the start.  Updating of your operating system with the latest security updates is also just as important as the anti-virus software.

Another common vulnerability is you; you can control what you click on. You need to be aware of what email or website is legit and what is suspicious or risky.

I plan to use this blog site to discuss issues with Internet security for the home user. Many sites out there are geared up to a technical or corporate audience.  I will try and keep the information on this blog as simple as I can make it.  I will post links to security news and posts,  and tips and tricks on protecting yourself online.

Take care online,

Regards,

Steve

About me and this blog site

The online world today is becoming more and more part of our everyday life.  The online world, the internet, helps make our life easier by bringing many opportunities, but it also brings its fair share of risks.  I plan to use this site to make you aware of the of the dangers and risk by using the internet. I don’t wish to scare you but rather prove you information of the risks and dangers of using the internet and what you can do to protect you, your family and your personal information from the cyber criminals, who are scouring the internet every minute of the day.

I have worked in the IT industry for nearly 20 years and in the security field for over 10 years. Most of my experience is in the corporate world, working for large organisations such retail, car manufacturing, government agencies, financial organizations and credit card manufactures.

My corporate experience is extensive but this site will focus on the home user, small business or students and generally people who are not too computer literate. There are many ‘techo’ related web sites offering information about online security, but they are mainly focused on corporate IT staff or people who have a lot of IT knowledge and experience who understand all the techo language  and know their way around a computer.

After seeing many friends impacted by internet or cyber crime I though I would publish a blog site to provide this information in an everyday and easy language.  I plan to publish information on the risks and dangers that are lurking out there on the internet. I will also offer advise to help protect yourself and your family by taking some basic precautions and measures.  The advice I offer is based on my experience and in my opinion.  You should also seek further information from other sites or experts if you feel you need to, which can only benefit yourself.

Hope you get value from this site and if you do find it useful then please share this site with your friends as we need everyone to have a safer online experience.

Take care online,

Steve