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Showing posts with the label Security

How to stay safe shopping online this Christmas

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As you're hunting around in search of bargains online, a number of scams, tricks, and general dangers lie in wait for the unwary shopper. Fear not, though, as we're here to explain how to stay safe.  Tip 1: Use common sense We all love to save money, but criminals know this all too well and use our frugality as a classic scam to part us from our cash. No doubt your inbox is overflowing with emails from companies offering deals and discounts for a variety of products. Many of these will be genuine, but the general rule of thumb online - as in life - is that if something seems too good to be true, the chances are that’s probably the case. You might see sensational deals for cheap products advertised on Facebook or by email. People you know might have shared these offers with you. Just be sure to check out the website and satisfy yourself that it is a genuine company which won't just take your money and run. Recently we saw ads for electric bikes at unbelievable pric

The most damaging hacks and data breaches of 2017, so far

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Criminals set their sights high in 2017, leading to the theft of personal information for millions and serious financial losses. Here are the attacks that wreaked the most havoc. Unfortunately, 2017 has been a major year for data breaches. In the US alone, personal information has been stolen for well over 100 million residents. Here's a look at what are arguably the most damaging hacks and data breaches of 2017 so far. And while they happened in 2017, their effect will likely be felt well into 2018 and beyond. WannaCry On May 12, 2017, the WannaCry cryptoworm began propagating, demanding a ransom from victims in order to regain access to their files. The original version of WannaCry propagated for three days before a kill switch was found by security researcher Marcus Hutchins. In that time, thousands of organizations including FedEx, the UK's NHS, telecoms Telefónica and Megafon, and others were affected. WannaCry and its variants utilize a pair of exploits called