FARCING – A NEW SOCIAL MEDIA IDENTITY THEFT SCAM

If you use Facebook, Twitter or one of many other social media platforms you could be victim of a new identity theft threat known as “farcing.”

Cyber criminals are using farcing as a means to access the personal information of social media users in a bid to steal their identity. Farcing is one of the many threats out there as well as “Phishing”, “SMiShing” – a scam which uses phone text messages to entice customers who unknowingly download malware or a virus onto their mobile device and “Vishing” – a telephone scam in which thieves coax users to hand over their personal information.

Farcing – new online scam stealing the identity of social media users

So what is farcing? In a nutshell, an attacker will create a fake social media account in a bid to get you to accept a friend request. Once you’re friends, all of the information you share will be available to the fake account holder. Once they have this information, finding out where you live, where you work, your birthday and all sorts of other related information is just a mouse click away. From there, it’s relatively simple to start guessing the passwords to your online accounts, based on the name of a pet you’ve tagged in a photo, a favourite place you’ve mentioned, or family names. The attacker can then use your email account to send spam, post fake adverts for sunglasses all over your social media accounts on your behalf, or perhaps far more serious, login to your online shopping and bank accounts, or even steal your identity!

A recent study on farcing was published by Arun Vishwanath an associate professor at the University of Buffalo, who said “these scams are on the rise and will continue to increase with the popularity of social media, exponentially increasing the number of farcing victims worldwide.”

Vishwanath carried out an experiment of his own by setting up 4 different fake Facebook profiles each one different to the other. Out of 150 Facebook users he sent friend requests to, one in five accepted, while 13% provided Vishwanath with further information about themselves.

Remember, the farcing cyber criminal is more calculating, more devious and smarter than your average scammer as they target users purporting to either be a friend, a friend of a friend, or stating that you have one or several friends in common. We are more likely to accept a friend request from someone we have mutual friends in common with, and that is exactly what cyber criminals are banking on, quite literally.

So, the next time you receive a Facebook friend request, ask yourself if you really know them? Even if you have friends in common, are they genuine? How do you know that? Remember that cyber criminals are cunning folk, they set up profiles to look genuine, using fake images of someone looking ‘normal’ so as not to raise suspicion. Once you accept their friend request – that ‘friend’ could start mining your personal information in a bid to steal your identity. And once they have your friendship, they can also see your friends list (if you have this setting open), and they can also see comments made by your friends on your wall and send them a friend request.

Cyber criminals are honing in on our social media weaknesses, targeting our Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media accounts and if you leave your Facebook privacy settings open to the public – then they can find out even more!  

Don’t be a victim of farcing – follow these tips to protect your identity on social media

With billions of us actively and frequently using social media, we make it incredibly easy for cyber criminals to zero in on us and steal our identity. Fortunately, there are ways we can limit our online social media presence, making it harder for cyber criminals to steal our identity.

• The more personal information you share, the more chance that you could be a victim of farcing – don’t make it easy for cyber criminals! Only share your personal information on social media with people you know – check out Facebook privacy watcher that will help you to know exactly who can see your posts

• There are many of us who have hundreds or even thousands of Facebook friends – accepting anyone who sends us a friend request. If you don’t know them personally, don’t accept their friend request

• Keep your personal information private. Limit the amount of personal information you share such as your birthdate and your email address

• Use a different password for each of your online accounts – that also includes your online bank account!

I think most of us have been trigger ‘friend request’ happy and accepted people we don’t really know – is it time to do a social media purge and rid your account of all the “unknowns?”

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HOW TO USE A VPN – ASK MARIJA (YES, ANOTHER ONE!)

It appears we love hiring support donkeys who go by the name of Marija – as we welcome another Marija who recently joined the Hide My Ass! Pro VPNcustomer support team. Marija is here to help you with any VPN questions you may have, so feel free to contact her or any other of our customer support donkeys.

Marija

“I joined HMA! in April 2015 as a French, English and Spanish-speaking support agent.

Before joining Hide My Ass! I worked in customer support for an outsource company, and also translated cartoons part-time, but due to the lack of freedom and work satisfaction, I left and started translating cartoons on a full time basis.

I graduated from the Faculty of Philology, French language and literature.

I have a degree in scientific and technical translating as well as simultaneous and consecutive translating.

During my studies I participated in two amateur theatre plays which participated in several festivals and travelled to France and Croatia as well as several towns in Serbia.

I love finding something creative and interesting in everything I do. I love travel and languages, people, sun and laughing, and I adore translating.”

Find out more about our support donkeys including Nenad and Mickey, and of course, if you have any questions regarding our VPN service, feel free to send us an email.

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KIDS’ APPS AND WEBSITES ARE FAILING TO PROTECT THEIR PRIVACY!

Kids’ apps and websites are failing to protect their privacy, according to a ‘privacy sweep’ conducted by the Global Privacy Enforcement Network (GPEN) in May last year.

The privacy sweep involved 29 data protection regulators including those from the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany. Their research found that out of the 1,494 websites and apps targeted at kids, 67 per cent collected personal information such as their date of birth, IP address, cookies and photos. 50 per cent of apps and websites shared their information with third parties.

The GPEN study found:

• 67 per cent collected children’s personal information
• 31 per cent had effective controls in place to limit the collection of personal information from children
• 50 per cent shared personal information with third parties
• 22 per cent provided an opportunity for children to give their phone number
• 23 per cent allowed users to upload photos or video
• 58 per cent offered children the opportunity to be redirected to a different website
• 24 per cent encouraged parental involvement
• 71 per cent did not offer an accessible means for deleting account information

The GPEN privacy sweep does not reveal which websites and apps it analysed.

David Papp president of MicroTek Corporation speaking to Global News said “These statistics on children’s personal information may provide parents and guardians with a moment of reflection to ask, “Why do organizations want to know this much about my child? What are the potential benefits or harms to my child? How can I have more control over my child’s personal information?”

Kids’ apps and websites are failing to protect their privacy, so it’s important that we do all that we can to keep our children safe online. One new online scam targeting Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn users is ‘farcing’. Most kids (and I dare say many adults too), don’t think about who they connect to on social media sites – the more friends the better! By accepting new friends and connections we don’t know, we give cyber criminals a whole host of information about ourselves, which they could use to steal our identity.

Before downloading an app or before signing up to an online service do you ever read the company policy to see what personal information it requests and in some cases what it will share with third parties? For most of us, I’m sure this isn’t the case – many companies’ Terms of Use are usually long-winded and jam-packed with confusing jargon, so we just give up and assume that the company behind the app or website is not only legitimate but that it won’t share our personal information with anyone else.

Educating ourselves to educate our children is crucial in order to keep kids safe online and to help them to protect their privacy.

Kids’ apps and websites are failing to protect their privacy – but there are ways to help them stay safe online:

• Check your kids’ privacy settings on Facebook and other social media sites
• Use Facebook Privacy Watcher to see what your kids are sharing and with whom
• Advise your kids to only accept friendships from people they know
• Teach them the importance of securing their online accounts with a strong and secure password, and not to share their passwords with anyone other than their parents. Check out my previous article on how to create a strong password
• Install firewalls, anti-virus software, and if you have young children, swap Google search bar for Google SafeSearch which filters out explicit content
• Use a VPN (Virtual Private Network), for your home, and if your children own a mobile device, you can install it on there too. A VPN hides your real internet location and passes all the data you send and receive via an encrypted tunnel, keeping your personal information safe and secure – away from attackers and prying eyes

Check out my previous article which gives parents and guardians more tips on how to keep your children safe online.

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How to secure your smartphone – 5 top tips

What are the best ways to secure your smartphone from thieves who want to steal your valuable
personal and confidential information? Whether you own an iPhone, an iPad, a Windows smartphone or tablet you will want to keep all your personal data you store on it safe and secure from thieves and attackers.

Fortunately, there are many tools and apps available which will help to secure your smartphone.

How to secure your smartphone

1. Secure your smartphone with a strong password

Make sure you set a four-digit pass-code on your smartphone in the event you misplace it or it’s stolen.
iOS users; iPhone, iPad and iPod will find instructions on how to set a four-digit passcode on Apple’s website.
Android user’s please refer to your smartphone support page for instructions on how to set a four-digit passcode.
It’s advisable to set a four-digit passcode on your smartphone rather than use a lock-screen pattern, as occasionally sticky fingers which leave a visible ‘snail trail’ can make it easier for thieves to guess your pattern.

2. Set your smartphone to automatically lock
Remember to set your smartphone passcode to automatically lock at a time that works for you, while not compromising the security of your smartphone. If you set it to lock every 30 mins and you’re only on it for 2 mins, you’re leaving your smartphone vulnerable to attack.

3. Operating system updates
Automatically set your smartphone to accept the latest security and operating system updates. This will help to keep your smartphone secure and reduce the risk of exposure to cyber threats.

4. Install anti-theft software
It’s a good idea to install anti-theft software which will allow you to remotely delete the data from your phone if it falls into the wrong hands or you misplace it. iOS users can download the app “Find My Phone”, and Android users can download “Where’s my Droid.”

5. Secure your smartphone when using public Wi-FI
Do you know how easy it is for someone to hack into public Wi-Fi? Public Wi-Fi doesn’t give any encryption security, so within seconds, a thief or hacker can access your personal data on your smartphone.


Secure your smartphone by using a virtual private network (VPN) – Hide My Ass! Pro VPN. Find out more about how a VPN works and how a VPN can keep your valuable data safe and secure and out of the hands of thieves!

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How to hide your web browser tabs

How can you hide your browser tabs with one click? There will be times you’d rather keep your
browsing habits to yourself. Use Hide My Ass! PanicButton to close all your open tabs in one go – and it won’t cost you a cent!

You’re at work, you’re on Facebook (of course), checking out the latest goings on when you should be working, when you can hear someone approaching. You have one zillion browser tabs open, very few of them (well, actually none), are work-related. It would take too much time to close them all. Fear and dread sets in –  your boss will know that you like ‘My Little Pony’. What do you do?

• Have a coughing fit so your boss thinks twice about coming over
• Stand-up so you’re blocking your screen, and dazzle them with your rendition of Riverdance in the vain attempt to distract them from looking at your screen?
• Blush as red as a tomato?

Maybe you’re searching online for a gift or arranging a big surprise for a friend or relative – like a holiday to Mauritius. (A shout-out to my friends! Anyone, anyone?) You don’t want to spoil the surprise, but too late – they’ve seen your screen. Surprise ruined!
Whether you’re at university, school, work or at home, you need to know how to hide your browser tabs in one fell swoop and you can with – Hide My Ass! PanicButton.
Hide My Ass! PanicButton was recently reviewed by ‘I Love Free Software’ – check it out!

How to hide your browser tabs
Hide My Ass! PanicButton allows you to quickly hide your browser tabs with one click, and you can restore them just as easily.

Hide My Ass! PanicButton works with Chrome. Download the Hide My Ass! PanicButton now!
Once you have downloaded the HMA! PanicButton, a small icon will appear on the right side of your address bar as shown below.

As soon as you click on the icon, ALL your tabs will be hidden immediately. Your tabs are saved as bookmarks in a separate folder. The PanicButton turns green and shows you how many tabs are currently hidden:

You can also set a safe page that appears after hiding your tabs. (Smart, hey!)
If you don’t want to restore your tabs just delete the “temporary Panic” folder in Chrome’s “Other bookmarks” folder.

And that’s it! You now know how to hide your browser tabs in one go! Don’t panic Mr Mannering – use the Hide My Ass! PanicButton.


Want to protect your privacy, evade hackers and surf anonymously? Then look no further – Hide My Ass! Pro VPN can do all this plus much more!

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How to secure your smartphone – 5 more tips!

Our smartphones are portable entertainment and business centers, crammed full of valuable personal and confidential data. But how can you keep the data stored on your smartphone secure? Learn how you can secure your smartphone to stop thieves and attackers from stealing your personal data.
In this article we explain how to secure your smartphone with 5 more tips and tricks! Don’t forget to check my previous article for more ways to secure your smartphone.


How to secure your smartphone

1. Do you trust the app you want to download?
We download millions of apps every day, but do you ever read what exactly the app accesses before you install it? If you don’t, make a point of checking this from this day forward.
Most smartphones only allow you install apps from a trusted app store by default e.g. iTunes or Google Play, but it’s worth checking your security settings to make sure that’s still the case.
Many applications sneakily access your personal information, or they can be fake apps masquerading as legitimate ones or in some cases, you grant them access to perform certain functions on your phone. If you don’t trust it – don’t download it. And that free game you installed? Remember, some apps are only free because they’re selling your data on to marketing companies.

2. Selling or recycling your smartphone?

Before sending your smartphone to “phone heaven”, or before you sell it or donate it, it’s important to wipe all traces of your data from it and remove any SD storage cards that might be in there. Be aware though, that a simple factory reset might not remove all of your data.
But before you do that though, remember to backup your data – because once it’s gone, it’s gone for good!

To find out how to wipe data from your smartphone check out this article from Compare my Phone which gives some tips and tricks for Android and iOS users.

3. Made an online payment? Remember to log out!
Once you have made an online purchase, or used your smartphone for online banking, remember to logout – don’t store your passwords or usernames on your smartphone.
If you use public Wi-Fi to shop online or to access your bank account, remember that hotspots do not give any encryption security. If you need to use public Wi-Fi, use a VPN – which will secure your smartphone from attackers and thieves.

4. Turn off Bluetooth or NFC (Near Field Communication)
Leaving Bluetooth or NFC on is an open invitation for thieves to access your smartphone device and steal your personal data. A good rule of thumb to follow is always turn off Bluetooth, or any other services, once you finished using it, or switch mode to “not discoverable.”

5. Back up the data on your smartphone
If you’ve misplaced your phone or it has been stolen, you can remotely wipe all your personal data from your smartphone. iOS users can find out more information from Apple support, and Android users can check out Google support.

Remember it’s up to you to secure your smartphone and keep your data safe!
The FCC has plenty more advice and on how to secure your smartphone, as well as tips to secure your Windows phone, and Blackberry.
So, now you know how to secure your smartphone!

More information about Hide My Ass! can be found on our website or you can always drop us an email!

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