Dealing with CyberMonsters and CyberBullies

 

Perhaps some of the following names are familiar to you: Alexis Pilkington, Phoebe Prince, Megan Taylor Meier, or Ryan Patrick Halligan. If you don’t know who these people are, these are some people who decided to end their lives because of Cyber-bulling. With the advent of the internet, social media sites, and texting, the school bullies have new tools to intimidate, pick on, tease and harass other students for an anonymous distance. These attacks make their victims feel embarrassed, hurt, angry, fearful,  afraid, helpless, hopeless, isolated, ashamed, and even guilty that the bullying is somehow your fault. Cyber bully victims may even feel as in the cases cited above-suicidal.

October is National Cyber security Awareness Month and this article is dedicate towards arming you to deal with these Cyber-monsters.

These Cyber Monsters (or Bullies) are disturbed individuals take perverse pleasure in sending cruel or bullying message to individuals, or habitually embarrassing people in cyberspace with video images, or photo shopped pictures. They do it all with the aid of technology.

There are essentially two kinds of cyber-bullying. The first is by direct attacks. That is harmful or insulting messages sent directly to you or your children. The second form of cyber-bullying is by proxy. That is using or getting others to help cyber-bully the victim, either with or without the accomplice’s knowledge. Because cyber-bullying by proxy often gets adults involved in the harassment, it is much more dangerous. These messages range from annoying to frightening to outright threatening. Often in the by proxy method, a harmful message or rumor is sent around to a group of people, who will then by into the message and begin using the content of the message to harass you either in cyberspace or in person.

Unless you feel that you are in personal physical or psychological danger, the most effective response to a cyber-bully is to ignore him or her. In any bullying situation, it is always best to report it to someone in authority and have the incidents documented.. Whether operating in the cyber realm or in real life, most bullies are insecure twerps that are seeking attention or power. If you simply deny them what they are looking for, they will seek a new target.

Know This: it is against federal law threaten, intimidate, or harass anyone in person, by mail, or online. Using a social media websites (MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Plus etc.) – or any other online resource – to threaten or harass anyone will leave evidence that can be used to bring the perpetrator to justice. Doing this illegal activity exposes the Cyber-monster to criminal charges as well as civil lawsuits.

Things you can do

• Don’t blame yourself. It is not your fault. You are not responsible on how people treat you, only in how your treat others. No matter what someone falsely says or does, you should not be ashamed of who you are, and who you are striving to be.
• Ignore them- If you reply or respond to a message from a bully, he or she will know what they did worked on you. If you respond in kind, it will just show that you are not better than the bully. So the best thing to do is to print the message, file it, and then delete it from your PC. There is a saying, “Never argue with an idiot, they will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.” 
• Contact the Service Provider - If you feel that the cyber bully has gone overboard, then you should already tell the moderator or service provider of the site or service about it. Many of these actions are a violation of their policies of using their service. If cyber monsters are already faking your name or making a profile under your name without your knowledge, you can ask your service provider or moderator to remove the profile or email.
• Change your Online ID -One way to get away from a cyber-monsters is by changing your screen name and email address. Be sure to give the new email address and screen name only to your trusted friends. Also, block any messages from strangers or those that are not included in your contact list.
• Report IT -If you receive threatening emails or if your reputation and credibility is already being undermined, then you should tell your parents and ask your parents to help you report the bullying to the school or even the police.

PepperEyes.com is dedicated to providing you with the best and most affordable personal protection products on the market to meet the security needs of you, your family members or your business, by assisting anyone who is unwilling to become a victim of crime.  If you want to take personal responsibility for yourself, your home or your business, purchase our high quality discount personal protection products and arm yourself with the knowledge of the best way to stay secure in an ever-increasing violent world. In today’s society being equipped mentally and physically is no longer an option. 

7 CyberSecurity Laptop Tips

I once had a coreless phone that had multiple channels that allowed you to switch channels. One day I accidently unplugged it when cleaning, when I went to pick up the handset to make a call, I was amazed that the receiver was picking up the phone conversation of someone in the apartment complex, who apparently was cheating on her husband. So if you have a coreless phone, beware. However, this month is not about phone security but cyber security. Computer Signals, digital signals and other radio signals are around us all the time. Many hotels and public venues offer “FREE INTERNET” these days. Wi-Fi hotspots can be programmed to make a record of everything you type using a rogue connection. According to a report in New York Times, a simple program called Firesheep allows others to access your computer through a shared hotspot. With such programs available, it is critical for you to take some measures for protecting your private and financial information against misuse. So before you turn on your laptop while you are sitting down and eating lunch there are a few precautions you should take to keep your information secure.

• Trust Your Instincts – This is always my number one security tip. If you have a funny feeling that something it not quite right about the internet connection or some of the people around…leave.
  
• Stay with the computer: - this should be a no brainer, but there are more than 2 million laptops stolen each year. Treat your laptop like $5000 cash.
  
• Have a computer Login – even if you are the only user of your laptop, create a login with a secure password, so that it would be difficult to access your data. I windows you have the added feature to making your data private.
  
• Watch for Prying Eyes –using your laptop at a public place some thieves will simply look over your shoulder to see what you are typing. Another trick used by some hackers is to use a video camera to record your hands at the keyboard. Use your body as a shield if you must type in personal information at a public PC. You can also consider purchasing a laptop privacy filter. It causes anyone not looking directly at your screen to see a black image.
  
• Always use a firewall: There are a number of FREE (http://www.download.com) firewalls available. These firewalls will notify you in case anybody tries to access your files or your machine. Most recent versions of many popular OS such as Windows have them. Before your get one, please read the review, and always make sure it is turned on.
  
• Always turn off the Wi-Fi when you are not using it: Never login to an unknown network and leave your system on. This will help avoid other people trying to access your system when you are not using your machine.
  
• Disable Wi-Fi Adhoc: Disabling this feature will prevent your system from connecting to someone else’s machine.
  

Keeping these tips in mind when using public Wi-Fi hotspots will go a long way in helping you avoid a lot of unnecessary trouble.

PepperEyes.com is dedicated to providing you with the best and most affordable personal protection products on the market to meet the security needs of you, your family members or your business, by assisting anyone who is unwilling to become a victim of crime. If you want to take personal responsibility for yourself, your home or your business, purchase our high quality discount personal protection products and arm yourself with the knowledge of the best way to stay secure in an ever-increasing violent world. In today’s society being equipped mentally and physically is no longer an option.

Recognizing a Scam

I’ve been speaking about phishing scam during National Cybersecurity Awareness Month. When I opened my hotmail account this morning what did I see… a PHISHING SCAM.

Let’ examine the E-mail to see why it is a scam

Clue 1: The sense of urgency

Title: 2HOURS VERIFY THIS EMIL ADDRESS AND YOUR PASSWORD!!!!‏

Why would Microsoft send me an e-mail telling me that I have 2 hours to verify my e-mail and address? One of the typical ploys used by phisher is to put a sense of urgency on the e-mail making you believe that if you do not respond by a set amount of time that there would be consequence. This is one of the reasons I recognize this as a scam. Secondly, Microsoft would not ask me for my password, no company would.

Clue 2: Hidden linked and false e-mails

When you look at the address you will see it is from accountuse​r63@hotmail​.co.uk. This is also a red flag as I am in the United States, so why would someone from the UK e-mail me? However, when I mouse over the address I can see that it is really from reazunnabimuhammad@yahoo.com.ph. Putting up false links and hiding information is also a tool used by scammers. By the way this e-mailer is from the Philippines, a hot bed for cyber crimes.

Clue 3: Bad spelling and grammar

Let’s examine the body of the e-mail. (I’ve taken out the extra lines)

Dear Account User,

DuriIf you dot provide your current password her to avoid terminating your account .Do that now or your account will be suspended within 2 hours for security reasons So be warned.

To complete your account re-confirmation, you must reply to this email immediately and enter your account details as requested below.

***********************************************
E-mail User-name:……….
Password:………………
Date of Birth:…………………
Country:…………………
************************************************

*If your account information is not updated within 2 hours then your ability to access your account will be restricted and Your Hot-mail access will be blocked. Please submit your information immediately as this updating is compulsory for every one or you will lose your account. ***

****IMPORTANT:
This updating is compulsory as a result of our recent server changes. If you fail to update your email account you will soon be unable to receive/send mails.  Also your email will not be equipped with the latest anti-virus system in our new servers. This will make your email and PC vulnerable to virus attacks from the internet.

****HOW TO UPDATE:
To update simply reply the above to upgrading admin as appropriate. Failure to do so immediately will lead to SUSPENSION OF YOUR ACCOUNT

Sincerely,
The Windows Live Hotmail Team

Add Contacts | Explore Windows Live | Edit Profile

Get creative with all the ways you can connect online, starting with a more powerful Hotmail®. Windows Live™ has taken Hotmail to a whole new level—with a consolidated address book, new layout, and the helpful new features our users demanded.

Here are a couple other very cool ways Windows Live can help you say a lot more with your messaging:

While I certainly do not have the best writing skills in the world, every e-mail that I have received from Microsoft has been spot-on in terms of grammar and spelling. Many of the phishing scams come from countries whose native language is no English, and therefore do not use correct English in their message.

TMI

You will also notice that in the e-mail that the sending is asking for too much information. Why would they need your birthday and country? These also serve as red flag for phishing. Phishers typically ask for information such as usernames, passwords, credit card numbers, social security numbers, date of birth, etc.

Things you can do

• Be aware of scam e-mail
  
• forward the email to reportphishing@antiphishing.org
  
• forward the email to the Federal Trade Commission at spam@uce.gov
  
• forward the email to the “abuse” email address at the company that is being spoofed (e.g. “spoof@ebay.com”)
  
• when forwarding spoofed messages, always include the entire original email with its original header information intact
  
• notify The Internet Crime Complaint Center of the FBI by filing a complaint on their website: www.ic3.gov/
  

PepperEyes.com is dedicated to providing you with the best and most affordable personal protection products on the market to meet the security needs of you, your family members or your business, by assisting anyone who is unwilling to become a victim of crime.  If you want to take personal responsibility for yourself, your home or your business, purchase our high quality discount personal protection products and arm yourself with the knowledge of the best way to stay secure in an ever-increasing violent world. In today’s society being equipped mentally and physically is no longer an option. 

Beware the Cyberwock

“Beware the Cyberwock, my son!
The messages that bite, the viruses that catch!
Beware the social sites, and shun
The frumious mystery chat!”

We would be remised during Cybersecurity Awareness month is we did not discuss Social sites like Facebook, MySpace, Google Plus and others. While these sites offer a great way to share your life with friends, family and acquaintances, these sites also have potential dangers to unaware users. While 90% of the users on these sites use the sites for what they were intended for, they do have users who have other purposes. There is the potential for malicious software and online scams which can be highly destructive. At the very least they can be annoying, but all to often that can result in a loss of your valuable data or even identity theft. These issues can be expensive and very time-consuming to deal with.

Social sites as with everything else on the internet, require you to be vigilant and wise about what you do, and how you interact.

The frumious mystery chat

You may have heard the horror stories about children, teens and even some adults who turned up missing, molested or murdered as a result of an online contact. Typically, these predator gets onto a social site, engages a victim in a cyberspace conversation, maybe even swap webcam images and eventually “lures” – that us the nature of the crime -the victim to a face-to-face meeting. What can happen next is a gambit of innocent fun, to rape or molestation, to sexual assault, to abduction and murder.

Anyone can be victimized during a chat. While many of the targets are young children and teens, they can also be college students and adults. As an exercise to should parents how easy it was a copy pretended to be another child in a chat room and began an innocent chat, with a little girl. He asked about her school, asked if she played sports, and other questions about her life. He never asked for her address, but using the information was about to locate the child from the information, and then showed up at her house to show her parents, and provide a lesson of just how just posting information about herself made I easy to people to locate her.

The rule here is to be exceedingly cautious of making “real-life” contact with people you meet on-line. If you decide you want to ‘hook-up’ or meet agree on a safe PUBLIC place, and do not go to the meeting alone. Take a friend or two along, and of course having some pepper spray would not hurt either.

Beware the Cyberwock

As I mentioned earlier, scams, abduction, sexual assault, rape, murder, and other forms of physical harm are, of course, the most extreme consequences of careless use of social websites. More frequently, the damage is a loss of privacy, which can result in annoying commercial exploitation, lots of spam e-mail, or costly and destructive criminal identity theft.

There was a recent story of an adult woman who thought she was chatting with her sister on Facebook, and her sister started talking about this great investment and how she made all this money from her investments. The criminal was able to get the victim to go to a link and ‘invest’ $2000. It was a scam.

You can avoid most of the dangers posed on these sites – yet still use and enjoy them – by remaining as anonymous as possible. Don’t volunteer any detailed information. You can post your birth day, and month, but not the year. If you are going to post a profile picture, use one that is a younger version of you. Keep personal and financial information to yourself. Be careful of what you post. There have been stories of people who have had their home robbed because they posted on one of the social sites that they were going on a vacation. They should have just put a sign on their front door.

PepperEyes.com is dedicated to providing you with the best and most affordable personal protection products on the market to meet the security needs of you, your family members or your business, by assisting anyone who is unwilling to become a victim of crime.  If you want to take personal responsibility for yourself, your home or your business, purchase our high quality discount personal protection products and arm yourself with the knowledge of the best way to stay secure in an ever-increasing violent world. In today’s society being equipped mentally and physically is no longer an option.     

What you need to know about Phishing

In the sport of fishing, the fisherman drops bait that is disguised as a food source for the fish into the water. A fish sees it, and thinking that it is something they want or need, go to eat it, only to be snared by a hidden hook. Phishing employs the same methods and techniques. “Phishing” is a highly popular form of social engineering. Unlike other forms of cyber attacks, phishing does not take elaborate software, viruses, or hacking to get information from its victim. The bait of choice for these criminals is a tool readily available to nearly everyone with an internet connection your e-mail address. It is relatively easy to acquire a few hundred email accounts and trick people into giving away personal information. The user is given bait in the form of an e-mail from a seemingly legitimate source, such as a bank, Credit Card Company, sweepstakes, college bursar’s office, even the IRS. The goal is to trick the user into taking the bait and providing personal information by either requesting information or “verification” of identity and financial information. Usually financial related e-mails carry some dire warning to this or similar effect: “If we do not receive verification of your information within 24 hours, your account will be suspended and your funds unavailable to you”

Getting you to take the Bait

Most of the time, the e-mail contains a hyperlink to fraudulent, but very legitimate-looking web site, complete with official logos and even official content. The page features an authenticate-looking fill-in -, which asks you to supply personal information such as your name, address, phone number, Social Security Number, ATM PIN, credit card account numbers, bank account numbers, and driver’s licenses number. They are looking for information that will allow them to either access your accounts to clean you out or information they can use to steal your identity. Many people in the internet age are so conditioned to respond quickly to “official” request and to fill in “official: forms, that without thinking we give up this information.

Who are these Phishers?

Phishers pretend to be trusted sources, and often prey on older people. Many pretend they are your bank or website like Facebook or PayPal, and ask for you to input passwords or other info to solve a potential problem. Others Phishers may pretend to be people you know (sometimes through hijacked email addresses) or try to prey on your family using information about you publicly viewable on social networks, like LinkedIn, Facebook, or Google+. People have been scammed on Facebook by people pretending to be their friends or relatives.

There’s no software cure for phishing. If there was device to prevent people from being fooled, it would be a best seller. Computer users, simply have to stay educated and aware of these scams. They need to critically and carefully read emails before clicking links or giving out information. Here’s a few brief tips to keep yourself safe from phishers.

• Don’t open emails from suspicious addresses or people you don’t know. Email isn’t really a safe place to meet new people!
  
• You may have friends that have email addresses that are compromised, and you may get phishing emails from them. If they send you anything weird, or aren’t acting like themselves, you may want to ask them (in person) if they’ve been hacked.
  
• Don’t click links in emails if you’re suspicious. Ever.
  
• If you end up on a website, you can generally tell who it is by checking the certificate or looking at the URL. (Paypal, above, is genuine. The IRS, at the lead of this section, is fraudulent.)
  
• NO BANK, GOVERNMENT AGENCY, UNIVERSITY, OR OTHER BUSINESS will ever send you an unsolicited e-mail request for identifying information. Certainly, no legitimate organization will ask for PIN or passwords.
  

Detecting the Phish: The URL

Most Of the fake web pages direct you to an unofficial URL. You can Google the IRS and see that their web page address (URL) is http://www.irs.gov

• Look at this URL. It seems unlikely that the IRS would be parking a website on a URL like this.
  

• An authentic website may provide a security certificate, like PayPal.com does. The IRS does not, but US government websites almost always have a .GOV top-level domain instead of .COM or .ORG. It’s very unlikely that phishers will be able to buy a .GOV domain.
  
• If you think your bank or other secure service may need information from you, or you need to update your account, do not click the links in your emails. Instead, type in the official URL and visit the site in question normally. This guarantees you won’t be redirected to a dangerous, fraudulent website, and you can check to see if you have the same notice when you log in.
  
• You should always verify via telephone using the phone numbers on the official site, if this is a legitimate request. NO NOT USE the phone numbers of the suspected scam site.
  
• Never, ever give out personal information like credit card or debit card numbers, email addresses, phone numbers, names, addresses or social security numbers unless you’re absolutely sure you trust that person enough to share that information.
  
• If you want to have some fun: Put a boot on their phish hook.
  

SEE ALSO

• Do No Open That Attachment
  
• Fede ral Trade Commission on Phishing
• Antiphishing.org

PepperEyes.com is dedicated to providing you with the best and most affordable personal protection products on the market to meet the security needs of you, your family members or your business, by assisting anyone who is unwilling to become a victim of crime.  If you want to take personal responsibility for yourself, your home or your business, purchase our high quality discount personal protection products and arm yourself with the knowledge of the best way to stay secure in an ever-increasing violent world. In today’s society being equipped mentally and physically is no longer an option.     –by Victor Swindell