I’m guessing that everyone who reads this blog knows all this already, but I’m also guessing that everyone who reads this blog knows someone who could use a reminder. I’m very careful what I click on, but I know too many people who forget, or just don’t realize, that what looks like a very, very legitimate email might not be.
Most people wouldn’t call these Mothers’ Day videos, but if watching and remembering one of these videos makes someone’s mother stop and think before she clicks a link in an email, it will be worth a lot more than flowers.
A few related posts and articles I found interesting this morning:
Users’ Bad Habits Invite Malware, Forum Says. I have very mixed feelings about this. I’m a huge fan of being careful. I drown boxes of old business cards rather than just throwing them out, shred everything with anyone’s info on it, even things like holiday cards, and have told my favorite aunt she’s not allowed to send me email until she learns the difference between CC: and BCC:. But I’m not a fan at all of the “blame the users” approach to problems, which I think is much too prevalent among technical people. Yes, people are afraid of change, as the article says, but with good reason. Who hasn’t installed or upgraded some software, only to find their PC not working as well, or not working at all? And who believes that even the most conscientious use of security software and techniques is going to stop all the malware? Not me.
People should practice good security - absolutely. But that alone isn’t going to be enough. The internet infrastructure, particularly email, has to change. And I’d love to see installed software behaving a lot better as well.
But speaking of practicing good security, Marc sent me a fun page describing why Passwords are like Underwear. I particularly liked the illustrations. Maybe I’ll send it to my aunt.
And, finally, getting back to mobile, Tariq at Eten Blog dot Com is publishing a very in-depth interview he did with representatives of a few of the major mobile developers. The interview will be published in 4 parts (it’s long) - the first one is online here. Check it out if you’re interested!
If you subscribe to the comments feed on this blog, or read them online, and have been seeing a lot of spam among them recently, we apologize! Somehow, our filter plug-in got disabled. We’ve fixed it now, and are in the process of upgrading our WordPress installation to get the very latest in security. Thanks to everyone who wrote us about the problem, and I hope it won’t happen again.
More and more, I realize you really can’t be too careful.
I got an email this morning, looking like it was from PayPal, telling me to login to my account and update my information. I have enough experience to know what to look for before hitting any link, and also to know what kinds of emails to be suspicious of in general, but I also know that a lot of people don’t. I used to think things like the personal images and extra security questions were overkill, but I’ve changed my mind. I’m taking security a lot more seriously now, because some of the tricks the bad guys are pulling are pretty impressive.
I’d bet that people who read this blog (and thanks for reading it; I really like being able to just “think out loud” on my PC and call it working) are pretty careful and knowledgeable too, but I’d also bet that everyone has at least one friend or relative who’d read an email like the one I got today and click that link that looks legitimate. So if you know someone like that, this would be a great time to remind them that emails aren’t necessarily from who they say they’re from. And that links don’t necessarily go to the site in their text.
And now back to figuring out how to get rich and thin.
I’m thinking a lot about information security lately. Not because we develop and sell eWallet, but because of two things that have happened recently:
Our office was broken into. Nothing but one laptop was taken (and it was just used for testing, so had no valuable info on it, plus was password-protected). We think that our alarm scared the person or people away, and they just took the nearest good-looking piece of equipment. While we’re all feeling a little rattled by the thought that someone was in our office, we’re also very aware it could have been much worse.
We stopped keeping the credit card numbers we get for sales several years ago, and are very careful to protect any confidential info - whether users’ email addresses or our own credit card numbers and passwords - on any of our PCs, so I know that anyone getting any of our equipment wouldn’t be able to get any useful information. And I know we’re good about keeping offsite backups of all the corporate and customer info. I hope we’re also good about keeping offsite backups of our own PCs, but I know at least I don’t do that every day. But we’d lose weeks of work if we all had to get new PCs and set them up. I’m not sure that 5-year-old PCs (mine’s at least that old) are even worth taking, but I hope I never find out.
The other thing that’s happened is that as part of two banks I use being acquired, I’m kicking off a long-postponed personal financial reorganization. Wow - there’s a lot of info to enter and keep with new bank accounts. Online security is a lot better than it used to be, which I’m very glad about. But it’s clear that no matter how excellent my memory is, there’s no way I could be without a good wallet program. And being able to enter free-form info - like my third boyfriend’s pet’s name, or the street my high school was on - is a lot more critical than it was when we first added the Notes fields to eWallet cards.
Anyway, I’m glad the banks are looking out for me, and I’m glad there’s good enough software that I can manage everything I need to. And I’m really glad we got an alarm when we moved into this office (we’d always planned to with the previous one, but never got around to it). It’s too bad we need all that, but since we do, it’s good that it’s there.
And, yes, I’m thinking a lot about mobile technology too, especially with all the new announcements lately. I just don’t have anything to say about it - yet - that hasn’t been said by many other people.
OK, I realize it’s not as much fun as Talk Like a Pirate Day, but this is National Identity Fraud Prevention Week, at least in the UK. And there are some pretty scary stats (from a survey by McAfee) in this article, including:
43% of respondents never change their password
24% use the same password to access all online accounts
59% ‘always’ or ‘mostly’ use the same password for everything
30% of respondents surveyed use passwords of only one-to-six characters in length
22% use only alpha characters
While I don’t believe everything I read on the internet, and I do understand that surveying a few thousand McAfee users isn’t the most representative group, the numbers are still pretty alarming.
Strong passwords, changed frequently, aren’t that hard to use. They’re hard to remember, but tools like eWallet mean that you don’t have to. eWallet - and other password managers - will safely store, and even generate, all your passwords.
Whether you use eWallet or not (and of course I hope you do), you should use good security - both online and off. Identity theft and other fraud is becoming more and more common, and it’s a real problem. Using good passwords, and shredding your paper info are two of the easiest and most effective way to protect yourself.
If you’re using passwords that are easy to crack, or haven’t changed them in a while, or use the same one too many places, change them now. Don’t put it off.
And to encourage and help everyone to use strong passwords, we’re giving half off eWallet (Professional Edition) until Monday, October 15. Use the following links to purchase eWallet at this special price for your: Pocket PC,Windows Mobile Smartphone, or Palm OS handheld. Remember, these come with the Windows PC version as well, so start protecting yourself now!
Even the FTC is getting into the video act. They’ve released videos about phishing, identity theft, and protecting personal information on YouTube. I’ll admit I only watched the short ones, but they were pretty good.
*(I wrote this Monday. I’m publishing it Tuesday because we 
I’m thinking a lot about information security lately. Not because we develop and sell eWallet, but because of two things that have happened recently: