Have Laptop Will Travel

3 Ways to Avoid Internet Fraud

Originally posted on May 17, 2024 @ 6:45 am

While we can rely on the police in a physical setting to keep us safe, the digital world can be a little more of a grey area. The threat of fraud is more prevalent than ever on the Internet, with cybercriminals lurking in all sorts of places. The problem with the Internet is that the criminals are more intelligent than your average thug. They set up complex schemes that can lure you in and do more than just steal your wallet. Someone can potentially steal your entire identity. However, you can increase your chances of staying safe and avoiding fraud by employing the following methods.

Be Careful for Phishing

Phishing is one of the most common ways that Internet criminals attack. Essentially, phishing is when a cybercriminal masquerades as a reputable business or entity and sends a deceptive e-mail or direct message to trick the receiver into providing sensitive information about themselves. 

Sometimes they may ask for your password or even ask for your credit card details. Sometimes these emails seem so convincingly real that even the most Internet-savvy people fall victim to these tricks. The best way to avoid phishing scams is to carefully scrutinize any incoming emails that have a suspicious sender address, spelling errors, or blatantly ask you for personal information. 

If you have to click a link outside of the e-mail, then this is a pretty big red flag. Never click an outside link or download an attachment. Instead, call the business directly and ask whether this is in fact an email from them if it’s important.

Choose A Strong Password

An even easier way that criminals can get your personal information is by letting themselves right in by guessing your password. Make sure that you choose a strong password that doesn’t have any easy information in it to guess. In other words, don’t choose your pet’s name or your daughter’s birthday. 

Use multiple combinations of letters, numbers and special characters. If you can’t think of a password yourself, then there are plenty of password generators online that can help you make one. Try to change your password from time to time, and by all means, don’t use the same password for every single website. If a hacker guesses your password to one website, then they’ll have access to anything with only a few small clicks.

Only Purchase From Reputable Websites

Not all that shines is gold, especially not on the Internet. Only purchase items from reputable sellers and websites. Just because an image looks like a site might seem legitimate, you can never be too sure. Try to stick to secure and trusted websites like eBay and Amazon. When in doubt, you can always do a Google search for an online merchant’s reputation, and you usually see whether people have had bad experiences or positive ones.

Signs Your Co-Worker is a Hacker

Originally posted on July 6, 2010 @ 11:53 am

  • Everyone who ticks him or her off gets a $26,000 phone bill.
  • Has won the Publisher’s Clearing House Sweepstakes three years running.
  • When asked for their phone number, they give it in hex.
  • Seems strangely calm whenever the office LAN goes down.
  • Somehow gets HBO on their PC at work.
  • Mumbled, “Oh, puh-leeeez!” 295 times during the movie “The Net.”
  • Massive 401k contribution made in half-cent increments.
  • Their video dating profile lists “public-key encryption” among turn-ons.
  • Instead of the “Welcome” voice on AOL, you overhear, “Good Morning, Mr./Mrs. President.”
  • You hear them murmur, “Let’s see you use that VISA card now, Professor “I-Don’t-Give-A’s-In-Computer-Science!”

Switcher lets you use Mac OS X Exposé on Windows

Originally posted on March 2, 2010 @ 7:39 am

I have to admit, I like playing around with my computer’s settings whenever I get myself a fresh install of Windows. Since Windows XP’s default blue Luna theme isn’t really much to look at, I usually install the Zune theme first before anything else. However, Windows 7 was so amazing that I actually decided to keep it vanilla for the longest time.

Until now I haven’t tweaked Windows because I actually love how the Superbar and all the other changes work. I can say that this is the first version of Windows I was practically very satisfied with. [Read more…]

Pirate Bay to develop new P2P software

Originally posted on November 6, 2007 @ 10:45 pm

With the crackdown on the well loved Oink a few weeks ago, the issue of torrents, intellectual property rights and the downloading community worldwide has become a hot issue again. Pirate Bay, one of the leading torrent trackers in the world and perennial thorn on the side of the old stogies in the music and film industries announced that it is developing a new software that will make it so much easier for users to exchange files.

According to the website, the success of Bittorrent may just lead to trackers establishing legitimate relationships with media companies and eventually result in trackers discouraging the trading of pirated files. According to Pirate Bay founder Peter Sunde, they hope to release the first version of the software very soon. He has even started asking developers for help in developing the app by visiting http://securep2p.com.

Pirate Bay has unofficially become the poster child for the bittorrent movement — consistently thumbing their noses at authorities and always managing to go back online even if they are shut down by authorities. The development of this new software will become another contention for media companies that are so obviously losing the battle against so called pirates.