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As if the job market isn’t hard enough to break into, rising seniors and recent college graduates are employment scam targets. In January, the FBI issued a warning that employment scams targeting college students are still alive and well.

Employment Scams – A Public Service Announcement

According to the FBI, scammers advertise phony job opportunities on college employment websites soliciting college students for administrative positions. Then the student employee receives counterfeit checks and is told to deposit them into their personal account. Shortly thereafter, the scammer directs the student to withdraw the funds and send a portion, via wire transfer, to another individual. Often, the transfer of funds is to a “vendor”, allegedly for materials necessary for the job. By the time the bank has confirmed that the original checks were fraudulent, the victim’s own money is long gone

Dashed employment hopes and lost wages aren’t the only concern for victims of recent employment scams. Possible consequences of participating in this scam include:

• The student’s bank account may be closed due to fraudulent activity and a report could be filed by the bank with a credit bureau or law enforcement agency.
• The student is responsible for reimbursing the bank the amount of the counterfeit checks.
• The scamming incident could adversely affect the student’s credit record.
• The scammers often obtain personal information from the student while posing as their employer, leaving them vulnerable to identity theft.
• Scammers seeking to acquire funds through fraudulent methods could potentially utilize the money to fund illicit criminal or terrorist activity.

Staying Safe

Remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Guaranteed income with no experience needed. Work from home and control your own schedule. Apply today to start earning thousands!

Phone introductions are a fine way to start the conversation, but be wary of opportunities that don’t lead to a face-to-face interview. Although some companies and government agencies may require it, you should be very cautious when sharing your Social Security Number online or over the phone. Tell the employer you’ll only provide that information once you’ve received a formal offer and are filling out W-2 or 1099 paperwork.

Be sure to do your research as well. Look into the company to find out about their market, what they sell, and look for reviews and evaluations from their employees. (Hint: you should be doing this anyway, not just when you suspect a scam.)

You can also take advantage of the Better Business Bureau and the BBB Scam Tracker℠ to research the types of scams that have been reported in your area.

Have you been scammed?

Help others avoid becoming a victim of employment scams by reporting the incident to the Better Business Bureau, the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), and the Federal Trade Commission.

During tax season most of us are probably still dreading the moment we have to quit procrastinating, buckle down, and file our income taxes. Coincidentally, it’s also a time that cybercriminals are working overtime to scam home users into giving over their financial data, and even their tax returns. The frequency of attacks only increases as the IRS tax deadline (April 18^th this year) looms ever closer.

Don’t Let Tax Season Scammers Steal Your Refund!

According to the IRS, thousands of people have lost millions of dollars and their personal information to tax scams and fake IRS communication in the past few years. In fact, a recent phone scam has been aggressively targeting taxpayers, often members of immigrant populations, in which callers claim to be IRS employees. They use false names and credentials and even spoof their caller ID information to appear more legitimate. The scammers tell their victims they owe money to the IRS and demand it be paid right away through a pre-loaded debit card or a wire transfer. If any victims refuse or sound too skeptical, the scammers threaten them with arrest, deportation, or any number of other downright terrifying legal scenarios.

According to data collected in the 2016 tax season, the IRS saw an approximate 400% surge in phishing and malware incidents, and our own data suggests this number won’t be going down any time soon.

A number of alerts have been issued by the IRS about the fraudulent use of their name or logo by scammers who hope to steal taxpayers’ assets and identity. Regular mail, telephone, fax, emails—scammers are using every phishing tool at their disposal to trick unsuspecting victims, and the proof is in the numbers. According to data collected in the 2016 tax season, the IRS saw an approximate 400% surge in phishing and malware incidents, and our own data suggests this number won’t be going down any time soon.

BOLO (Be on the Lookout)

While the IRS provides a list they call their tax season “Dirty Dozen” scams, here are the top 5 we think you should really watch out for.

Phishing: Taxpayers need to be on guard against fake emails or websites looking to steal personal information. The IRS will never initiate contact with taxpayers via email about a bill or refund. Don’t click on one claiming to be from the IRS. Be wary of emails and websites that may be nothing more than scams to steal personal information.

Phone scams: Phone calls from criminals impersonating IRS agents remain an ongoing threat to taxpayers. The IRS has seen a surge of these phone scams in recent years as con artists threaten taxpayers with police arrest, deportation and license revocation, among other things.

Identity theft: Taxpayers need to watch out for identity theft especially around tax time. The IRS continues to aggressively pursue the criminals that file fraudulent returns using someone else’s Social Security number. Though the agency is making progress on this front, taxpayers still need to be extremely cautious and do everything they can to avoid being victimized.

Return preparer fraud: Be on the lookout for unscrupulous return preparers. The vast majority of tax professionals provide honest high-quality service. There are some dishonest preparers who set up shop each filing season to perpetrate refund fraud, identity theft and other scams that hurt taxpayers.

Fake charities: Be on guard against groups masquerading as charitable organizations to attract donations from unsuspecting contributors. Be wary of charities with names similar to familiar or nationally known organizations. Contributors should take a few extra minutes to ensure their hard-earned money goes to legitimate and currently eligible charities. IRS.gov has the tools taxpayers need to check out the status of charitable organizations.

Preventative Measures

To stay safe during tax season, you need to first understand what is and isn’t normal. When faced with officials or people with perceived authority, we tend to get nervous and want to do anything they say to avoid getting in trouble. (Think about how you probably tense up when you see a cop pull up behind you, even though you know you weren’t speeding.)

The IRS will never:

• Call to demand immediate payment using a specific payment method such as a prepaid debit card, gift card or wire transfer. Generally, the IRS will first mail you a bill if you owe any taxes.
• Threaten to immediately bring in local police or other law-enforcement groups to have you arrested for not paying.
• Demand that you pay taxes without giving you the opportunity to question or appeal the amount they say you owe.
• Ask for credit or debit card numbers over the phone.

Additionally, it’s important that you pay close attention to email addresses, and never share financial information through email. It is normal that online tax preparation services, such as TurboTax, will require several steps of authentication via a secure connection, and may ask for personal information. Because many modern phishing scams can look almost exactly like the real deal, be sure to go directly to your tax prep service’s website in your browser, rather than clicking the links in any emails. If you’re a Webroot user, we also highly recommend you enable the Webroot Filtering Extension to ensure you know which sites are safe to visit.

Know Your Rights

You have the right to be informed, and also the right to appeal any IRS decisions in an independent forum. Have other questions about your rights as a taxpayer? Visit www.irs.gov/taxpayer-bill-of-rights.

If you’re anything like me, you probably make a bunch of lofty resolutions every year that you probably won’t, or even can’t, achieve. (For instance, I’ve been promising to hit the gym a little harder for about 6 years now.)

But enough is enough. Here are 5 completely achievable resolutions to help keep you and your identity safe in the New Year. Best of all, they’re not too hard and don’t take long, so you get the satisfaction of checking things off your list right away!

1.     Layer Your Wi-Fi Security

Remember over the holidays, when you had to read your super long and complicated router password to everyone in your family so they could connect to the Wi-Fi? Wouldn’t it have been great if they’d taken a seat and listened all at once so you wouldn’t have to repeat it 50 times in between trips to the kitchen to baste your bird or check a timer? Wouldn’t it be even better if you could have your own guest network with a friendly password that the whole family can remember?

Well… you can.

These days, continuing technological advances have given most routers dual-band technology. The “dual” part means you have a 5 GHz band for devices that are centrally located and more or less stationary near your router, giving you the best possible speeds, while there’s a 2.4 GHz connection for devices that are more mobile and need a longer range.

If you activate Guest Networking for both your 5GHz and 2.4GHz bands within your router’s settings, you can create separate passwords for residents and guests. That way, you can manage who gets access to your secure network, and then your connection won’t get bogged down the next time you want to stream the football game while your 3-year-old niece is glued to the Disney Holiday Special.

Be sure to enable WPA2 security on both networks to protect your houseguests and to keep holiday opportunists from leeching off of your connection.

2.     Enable Biometric Screening or a PIN on your New Device

Did you get a new toy over the holidays? Make sure to enable two-factor authentication and either a security PIN or biometric access to your devices whenever possible. Although it might add another second or two to the time it takes to unlock your devices, it’ll be worth it when you realize your mom won’t casually stumble across those pictures from so-and-so’s bachelor/ette party.

3.     Avoid Opening Emails On the Go

This one might be the easiest of all, and a lot of recent studies have suggested that ignoring your email a bit more often can have incredible benefits for your stress levels and overall mental health. And, let’s face it, who couldn’t use a little help de-stressing after the holidays?

Unsecured Wi-Fi in coffee shops and the like is a prime spot for cybercriminals to take advantage. If you absolutely have to open your emails while you’re out and about, we recommend staying connected to your mobile data plan. And if you’re worried about data rates, try to wait until you’re connected to a secure Wi-Fi network that you trust, and one that you know has encryption in place. Besides, if you really take stock of it all, those emails can probably wait.

4.     Activate Automatic Updates

You’d be amazed how many breaches could be avoided by keeping software/firmware up to date. Hackers often exploit known vulnerabilities that companies like Adobe and Microsoft have already patched or are close to patching, figuring that the numbers game will still come out in their favor. After all, there are a lot of people out there who ignore updates or may not realize how important they can be. If you don’t have time to stay on top of every update, enabling automatic updates on your devices is an easy way to close the window of opportunity for cyber thieves and other hackers.

5.     Install a Unified Threat Management Appliance (UTM)

Think of a UTM as a souped-up firewall. The average family has at least 4 connected devices in their home, and many have more than double that amount. For larger families, not to mention people who run a business from their home, a Unified Threat Management appliance will add another layer of network protection for your highly connected gateway.

In all seriousness, you could probably complete most—if not all—of these tasks in the span of a Sunday afternoon, and they could save you from spending countless hours on the phone with banks and creditors as you try to retrieve a stolen identity or dispute fraudulent charges. How many of your other resolutions have that going for them?

So what are you waiting for? Take the initiative in 2017 and follow these tips to protect your family, your home, your identity, and your privacy from modern cyberattacks.

 

 

Why wait for news on the next big thing in technology, when you can get a sneak peek at the hottest, up-and-coming consumer tech and innovations at CES 2017? For the last 50 years, the yearly CES event has served as a showcase and springboard for the latest advancements in tech as they enter the marketplace.

But, before your gobble up the newest, smartest gadgets, it’s important to consider their implications for our overall security. Here are some things we’re thinking about in preparation for this year’s event.

Artificial Intelligence and the Internet of Things

Devices of all types keep getting smarter and the number of connections between them grows in size and variety. The “Internet of Things,” isn’t just a sci-fi movie fantasy anymore—it’s here, and it raises some serious concerns.

Hypothetically speaking, if my phone were connected to my fridge and other appliances, my thermostat, my home security system, and even my car, what would happen if a hacker stumbled across a vulnerability in my toaster’s firmware? Could they lift my banking credentials? Or stop my car’s engine while I’m on my commute? Sure, it might sound unlikely or extreme, but you can see how increasing connectedness doesn’t just bring benefits and convenience; it also offers up an assortment of new opportunities for hacks and other cybercrime.

This year’s CES event will address IoT cybersecurity concerns, such as regulations around self-driving cars, what smart thermostats and other advances in the domestic future will bring.

CES Sessions to Consider:

• The IoT Becomes Personal: Bosch shows how “things” become partners, and covers advanced tech in the areas of connected mobility, industry, smart home, and smart city.
• Smart Technology for Smarter Cars: Valeo presents its groundbreaking technologies for intuitive, clean, and connected driving.
• Next Big Thing: Smarter Homes for Everyone: From urban apartments to country mansions to smart cities, this talk discusses the technology at the heart of it all, and how close to this future we really are.

Architecting Smart Cities

Many organizations around the world are working on solutions to help make smart cities even smarter; more energy efficient, more comfortable, and more automated. Unfortunately, a lot of these innovations can suffuse city networks and the devices connected to them with cybersecurity vulnerabilities.

For more information about smart cities and their implications, the CES panel Smart Cities, Smart States, Smart Mobility will discuss the symbiotic relationship cities and mobility have enjoyed for centuries while considering the societal promises that connected technologies offer.

Additionally, to raise awareness and connect organizations working to address these vulnerabilities, CES 2017 will be launching The Smart Cities Hackathon, where developers, makers, and smart cities specialists can collaborate on solutions for sustainability, safety, and efficiency.

Hackathon participants will get to play with:

• Amazon Alexa Skills Kit
• IBM Watson Cognitive and Bluemix APIs
• Intel’s Grove IoT Dev Kit
• Honeywell’s Connected Home API
• UL’s Safety Index
• Open Data from the City of Las Vegas
• Other leading IoT technologies TBA

Technology Rising Stars

In addition to various security concerns, we can’t forget that CES is a smorgasbord of new technology. Seasoned techies and n00bs alike, be sure to check out the 2017 Tech Trends to Watch session for a guided tour through key trends and emerging technologies, as well as how the Internet of everything, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, autonomous vehicles, wearables, and more are shaking up everything we take for granted.

Other sessions to consider:

• Last Gadget Standing: Yahoo! Tech’s David Pogue and his team of experts, along with the audience, predict which product on the CES show floor that’s destined for greatness.
• Mobile Apps Showdown: App producers will have just 4 minutes to demo their app before judges, both on and offline, will identify the winner. Bonus: this year, CES is introducing the 10under20: Young Innovators to Watch!
• Extreme Tech Challenge: The Extreme Tech Challenge is the world’s largest startup competition, and identifies emerging leaders with the potential to dominate their markets.

There will be a lot to take in at CES 2017, and we look forward to hearing about the newest advances technologies, as well as how we can all collaborate to continue building a smarter, more secure future for everyone.

Who remembers the Atari 2600? Yeah, I don’t either. Just kidding. Maybe. It’s hard to think about the words tech and toys together before the 1990s. However, they were a thing. Kids of the late 70s reveled in the Atari 2600. It became a staple of pop culture—defining a generation of gaming young enthusiasts. But tech toys didn’t stop there.

Later was the introduction of Game Boy in 1989. The ability to leave your bedroom and actually play video games on the go? That was life-altering for, I dare to say, every teenage boy and girl. Although, for many, the 2000s were the formative years of tech toys. They saw the 90s as a blip on the radar of tech toys’ rise to the domination of Toyland. This group had a front row seat to watch Xbox Live parade onto the scene in all of its glory. The first successful home online gaming console even left this writer a little jealous. Where were you during my gaming days?

The proliferation of tech toys over the years has only been eclipsed by the dangers surfacing from the bowels of cartridge graveyards around the world. I’m talking cybercriminals. They see the one thing that brings joy to so many sugar plum-dreaming cherubs during the holidays – tech toys – as a means to wreak havoc.

I’m not talking script kiddies in their parents’ basements. These aren’t the kids we grew up with then nor the kids growing up now. Dismiss the prevailing idea of what a hacker is. Don’t be mistaken; these cyber thieves are real and dangerous. They pose a threat to your personal security and the sanctity of all that is Christmas morning.

Corny title aside, ‘tis officially the season for online shopping, and that means a drastic increase in phishing scams. In order to obtain sensitive information from specific organizations and people, these threats have become increasingly sophisticated and are carefully crafted. According to the latest Webroot Quarterly Threat Update, 84 percent of phishing sites exist for less than 24 hours, with an average life cycle of under 15 hours.

“In years past, these sites could endure for several weeks or months, giving organizations plenty of time to block the method of attack and prevent more victims from falling prey,” said Hal Lonas, chief technology officer at Webroot. “Now, phishing sites can appear and disappear in the span of a coffee break, leaving every organization, no matter its size, at an immediate and serious risk from phishing attacks.”

3 things you NEED to know about phishing

During 2016, Webroot has observed an average of over 400,000 phishing sites each month. To keep up with the incredibly short life cycles and sheer volume of phishing sites and URLs, you have to abandon old techniques that use static or crowdsourced blacklists of bad domains and URLs. There are over 13,000 new malicious sites per day, approximately 11,000 of which last 24 hours or less, rendering static lists obsolete within moments of being published.

Nearly all of today’s phishing URLs are hidden within benign domains. Since phishing attacks no longer use dedicated domains, URLs must be checked each time they are requested. At the speed of today’s attacks, a page that was totally benign just seconds ago may have since been compromised.

Google, PayPal, Yahoo, and Apple are heavily targeted for attacks. Cybercriminals know to impersonate sites that people trust and use regularly. Webroot took a closer look at the companies for which impersonation would likely cause the largest negative impact. Of these “high-risk” organizations, Google was impersonated in 21 percent of all phishing sites between January and September 2016, making it the most heavily targeted.

Emails to avoid

With the holiday season in full swing and the New Year fast approaching, hackers are up to their old tricks. According to Mike Trammell, senior director, office of the CISO, Webroot, we should all be wary of emails containing UPS, USPS, and FedEx shipping alerts; 401k/benefit enrollment notices; and miscellaneous tax documents from now through the end of January.

So far, we have seen the following email subjects related to phishing:

• FTC subpoena
• RE: insurance
• Shipping status changed for your parcel # XXXXXXXXX

Be on the lookout for these types of messages in your inbox, since they’re likely to be phishing attempts that could lead to credential harvesting, ransomware infections, and more.

Our holiday wish for you

With holiday gifting on the horizon, the scammers are out in force, so remember to be extra vigilant. Remind your families, friends, colleagues, and clients to use secure and reputable websites and to only click links from sources they trust. Particularly at this time of year, if a stranger contacts you or anyone you know, whether by phone or by email, remember that they might not be who they claim to be. Before giving them any information or money, try contacting them back through their publicly available contact information.

From everyone at Webroot, we hope you have a secure and joyous season, and a happy new year!

The sheer number of cyberattacks lately led us to this question: which states are at the greatest risk of a cyberattack? Naturally, we took it a step further. We looked into data on population and population density in an effort to find correlations.

Which are the most infected states?

Opening up our list in the top three spots are California, Texas, and Florida. These three states were both the top three most populated and the top three most infected. This immediately led us to some questions: is the only correlation between states and the number of infections population? Based on these top three, that might be a safe guess.

Pulling up the rear of the top 10 are North Carolina and Wisconsin. North Carolina held strong at #9 for the Census’ most populated state and as Webroot’s 9^th most infected state. The only major difference we noted is the fact that Wisconsin made it onto the list of the most infected states, while Georgia, 8^th for most populous, doesn’t even rank.

Wait a second, Georgia doesn’t even rank? For the record, Wisconsin is the 21^st most populous state, which puts them way outside the range of the top 10. What’s even more surprising about this discrepancy is that Georgia’s population is at 10,214,860 and Wisconsin’s is about half that at 5,771,337.

So, I think that safely puts our “more people equals more infections” theory to bed.

How do the most infected cities stack up?

The most infected cities in the U.S. compared to a list of the most populous cities proved even more surprising. Since we noticed that there wasn’t a strong correlation at the state level, we wondered about the city level instead, and took a side-by-side analysis of the most infected cities and most population dense areas of the U.S.

The first thing we noticed in the above is how little correlation there seems to be between population density and the number of infected devices in the city, which we expected would have some impact. In fact, a quick glance at the list shows that none of the most infected cities are in any of the most population-dense states.

Additionally, even though Texas is 2^nd on our list of most-infected states, it has its infections more localized in its larger cities. As a point of comparison, consider that NYC is one of the most population-dense cities in the U.S., but it conversely doesn’t even make it into the top ten for the number of infected devices.

Another example of an apparent contradiction to our hypothesis is that Arizona, which doesn’t even make it into the top ten for most infected devices or for population, but look how many infected devices reside in Phoenix:

Although Phoenix is right behind Chicago and Houston in the number of infected devices, it’s a significantly smaller city. The same goes for Denver. Even though Colorado is at #23 for population and infected devices, Denver itself nonetheless makes its way into our top ten. Maybe Webroot users have some hometown pride?

Cybercriminals have no geographical bias. Whether you live in a big city or small town, east or west coast, you’re susceptible to being a victim of cybercrime. Protect yourself with award-winning security.

Happy Halloween! To commemorate this annual night of fright, our team wanted to accentuate the unpredictability of cyber threats. What they came up with was not only funny and entertaining, but also serves as a reminder to stay vigilant when online.

This Halloween and beyond, remember these sage words of advice. Files that used to be benign can turn malicious over time. An email from your closest friend could be phishing in the end. This Halloween, use common sense. Defend yourself with confidence. Before you go to trick or treat, get protection that can’t be beat.

 

As the world continues to become more connected, it’s more important than ever to be “cyberaware.” But what does cyberawareness look like? Being cyberaware means being able to interact safely within cyberspace without falling victim to cybercrimes like identity theft, transaction fraud, hacking, and others you’ve probably heard about in the news.

You might think cybercrime isn’t something that would happen to you. After all, it happens to celebrities and big corporations—headline worthy names that will get people’s attention—but not to ordinary home users or small businesses. But that’s the kind of thinking modern cybercriminals use to their advantage. That’s why we strongly encourage you to educate yourself about internet risks, and learn how you can stay ahead.

October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month, making it the perfect time to discover tools and resources to keep yourself, your family, and your devices safe. Sponsored by The National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) and Department of Homeland Security, National Cyber Security Awareness Month exists to encourage vigilance and protection by all computer and device users.

There’s nothing more worthy of protection than your identity and data, and the Webroot team is standing by to help you do just that. In addition to our Webroot Cyberaware Campaign, we’ve compiled a list of other resources for you to access. Be smart. Be safe. Be cyberaware.

Resources

1. Department of Homeland Security
2. StaySafeOnline.org
3. THINK. CONNECT.

Anti-virus software is a program or set of programs that are designed to prevent, search for, detect, and remove viruses, and other forms of malware such as worms, trojans, adware, and more.

As our world continues to become ever more connected, anti-virus remains critical for users seeking to keep their devices protected. However, it’s vital that the security one chooses is always up-to-date with automatic updates, as a device without proper security software may be infected within minutes of connecting to the internet.

Unfortunately, because today’s threats are so sophisticated and are constantly being updated, traditional cybersecurity companies are incapable of updating their detection tools fast enough to handle many of these threats, particularly the ones that are not yet ‘known’ by the anti-virus software.

Pretty much all of today’s anti-virus solutions offer a host of features and are able to perform the following task:

• Scan specific files or directories for any malware or known malicious patterns
• Allow you to schedule scans to automatically run for you
• Allow you to initiate a scan of a specific file or of your computer, or of a CD or flash drive at any time
• Remove any malicious code detected – sometimes you will be notified of an infection and asked if you want to clean the file, other programs will automatically do this behind the scenes
• Show you the ‘health’ of your computer

However, while these tactics were enough to keep a device safe two or three years ago, malware has evolved at too rapid a pace for these features to remain the only thing a user needs to stay protected.

Thanks to the influx of more sophisticated phishing attacks and polymorphic malware capable of replicating and altering itself enough to not be caught by ‘traditional’ security solutions, many threats slip by, undetected. Today, an effective security solution is one that can stay ahead of these threats by automatically updating, monitoring unknown files to ensure they’re not making changes to your devices, protecting against phishing attacks and other online threats, and having the ability to roll-back any changes a file makes on a user’s device. In other words, users need to use smarter cybersecurity.

How are they a security threat?

People, not computers, create computer threats. Computer predators victimize others for their own gain. Give them access to the internet — and to your PC — and the threat they pose to your security increases exponentially. Computer hackers are unauthorized users who break into computer systems in order to steal, change or destroy information, often by installing dangerous malware without your knowledge or consent. Their clever tactics and detailed technical knowledge help them access information you really don’t want them to have.

How do they find me?

Anyone who uses a computer connected to the internet is susceptible to the threats that these cybercriminals pose. These online villains typically use phishing scams, spam email or fake websites to deliver dangerous malware to your computer and compromise your computer security. Computer hackers can also try to access your computer and private information directly if you are not protected with a firewall. They may also monitor your chat room conversations or peruse your personal webpage. Usually disguised with a fake identity, online predators can lure you into revealing sensitive personal and financial information, or much worse.

What can they do to me?

While your computer is connected to the internet, the malware a hacker has installed on your PC quietly transmits your personal and financial information without your knowledge or consent. Or, an online crook may pounce on the private information you unwittingly revealed. In either case, they may:

• Hijack your usernames and passwords
• Steal your money and open credit card and bank accounts in your name
• Ruin your credit
• Request new account Personal Identification Numbers (PINs) or additional credit cards
• Make purchases
• Add themselves or an alias that they control as an authorized user so it’s easier to use your credit
• Obtain cash advances
• Use and abuse your Social Security number
• Sell your information to other parties who will use it for illicit or illegal purposes

In addition to the above dangers, an online stalker can pose a serious physical threat. Use extreme caution when agreeing to meet an online “friend” or acquaintance in person.

How will I know?

Check the accuracy of your personal accounts, credit cards and documents. Are there unexplained transactions? Questionable or unauthorized changes? If so, dangerous malware installed by these cyber criminals may already be lurking.

What can I do to protect myself?

When you arm yourself with information and resources, you’re wiser about computer security threats and less vulnerable to threat tactics. Both online predators and hackers pose equally serious and but very different threats.

To protect your computer against the former:

• Continually check the accuracy of personal accounts and deal with any discrepancies right away
• Use extreme caution when entering chat rooms or posting personal webpages
• Limit the personal information you post on personal webpages
• Carefully monitor requests by online “friends” or acquaintances for predatory behavior
• Keep personal and financial information out of online conversations
• Use extreme caution when agreeing to meet an online “friend” or acquaintance in person

An unprotected computer presents an open door for these cyber crooks. Make sure that you’re keeping all your devices protected with security that actually works, preventing attacks and keeping the threats they pose at bay.