Yes it is Casual Friday again! This week I received a question via email and it was a great one so I thought I should share it here for everyone. I am going to share it below along with the answer we sent back.

I hope this helps the person that was requesting this info… It may also help others as well. Remember you can always contact us… with all your security questons and… Don’t Be Causal when it comes to your own PayPal Security, And Protecting Your Desktop And eMail!

The Question:

Thank you for your comprehensive and informative description of how to protect your website from hackers and spammers.

However, if you do not mind, I would like to ask you a question.

For example my website has a donations link and when you press it to donate an amount it shows my e-mail address. I recall reading your post and it mentioning that hackers like to get ahold of your e-mail.

What do I do now? Is it ok to leave it as it is? Or do I contact PayPal or something? I am pretty lost and would really appreciate if you could assist me with this issue.

Best Regards,

Leandro

Our Answer:

Hi Leandro,

If you go here: http://thecyberhoodwatch.com/sitemap/ and click our donation button to the right side you’ll see that our button was created in PayPal using the donation’s button widget. To add a little flair and be different I created our own button with an image we chose rather than the typical PayPal look.

If you click the button, you’ll notice that button it using a: form action= “https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr” which protects our email from being exposed. This link takes you directly to PayPal.com to submit your donation. Instead of using your email you use your PayPal account and their secure process which allows you to take the person to a page to fill out their information or use their PayPal account. I would recommend using PayPal’s donation button because it is more secure. Below is an image of what it looks like inside of PayPal and where you should go to set yours up:

If that does not work then I would recommend contacting PayPal support, so you don’t risk any undue expose of your email or personal info… and as always use a password generator and create a very good only used on PayPal password with a minimum of 20 characters like this:

You should change your password on a regular basis, like once a month, or no less than once every 3-4 months to protect your account!

I highly recommend clearing your desktop of potential hacks, or scripts that can be downloaded directly from emails or websites. There is a free program that I personally use which is called: “Spybot – Search & Destroy©®” use this every day and no less than once every week, to protect you from giving hackers access to your open ports or server access through your cpanel, ftp and/or the program you use to upload files to your websites!

I hope this helps, I can’t stress enough that the simple things you do will give you the most protection, do all the free things you can do first, and then make sure to buy extra protective security tools when needed. We have a whole list of other things we recommend through our network of sites.

My favorite and one that the CHW approves of, is a program called: Avast Free Download Antivirus Software. This software is free and comes with tons of bells and whistles. If you are going to buy a program this is the one I purchased and use for the extra protection, and I recommend it because it really works well, and it’s very inexpensive

As always be safe online,

Bill

p.s. please email me back if you try everything and contact PayPal and you are still having issues, and I will try to help you resolve this issue.

Everyone please be, Xtra Careful when protecting yourself, with PayPal Security And Protecting Your Desktop And eMail! Don’t Be Causal With IT…

Learn IT, DO IT, Teach IT, Share IT, BE IT

Your CyberHood Watch Partner

Bill Wardell

 
Radio Security Journalist

© 2006 – 2011 CyberHood Watch®

Within less than a week The CyberHood Watch was hit with 2 very disturbing cases of SEXting… and, we believe that this problem is growing and not going away any time soon! We were contacted and asked to give our advice, of how to best help both of these people.

• Case one, the ex-spouse: our office was contacted by an ex-spouse having issues of their spouse posting semi-nude photos taken while they were married. For whatever reason because of a bad breakup the spouse felt that it was okay to post this image online! Our advice was to contact the hosting provider and let them know that the image needed to be taken down, then we said a screenshot needed to be taken for proof (evidence) and then the police needed to be contacted and a report needed to be filed so there was a record of the harassment, sexting or this type of offence can only be prosecuted with the right evidence and under the right laws which could be stalking and/or harassment laws.

 

• Case two, 16 yr old girl: a mother called our office and was desperate to find help for her daughter who was being stalked and harassed with nude images and videos she had taken 2 years earlier with a boy. At the time they had been boyfriend and girlfriend and were dating. The young girl was 14 at the time the photos were taken, but had forgotten about it until the ex-boyfriend began extortion tactics with the sexual images and videos. Our advice to the mother was to contact an attorney (Robin Sax) who lived in her region and that we have had on our CHWR show before to get prompt legal advice, because the boy had given her an ultimatum and a 24 hour time limit to make up her mind! As well we recommended that she contact our friends, at the NWCAT.org to find out what some of her other options might be, getting help for her child!

   

• This type of extortion is called SEXtortion and is becoming one of the fastest growing crimes and real tragedies of participating in SEXting with anyone. Please young people and even married couples who are taking pictures or making videos, there are no guarantees that someday the relationship won’t end and then you are left with objects that can be used as EXTORTION, blackmail or used in court against you when having custody issues!! Oh by the way, both victims were being harassed by cybercriminals using Facebook as the platform for stalking…

We at the CyberHood Watch teach others to think before you CLICK, and in this day and age PLEASE, please imagine how your life can be ruined with nude images and/or videos that can be distributed to everyone via the internet, just ask any one of the hundreds of celebrities that have had this happen to them in the past 2 decades, they claim any press even bad press is GOOD… but for just a regular person everything that is bad press is just that bad press!! And a real mess you can’t get out from under, without some major consequences!

SEXting – Naughty Texting, is sending racy ‘sexts’ flirting and/or nude images that could be considered porn!!

Once sent these images are now available to everyone. Anyone has the ability to share that imaige with others! Please don’t let your children ruin their lives forever!

Once a child losses his or her Innocence…it’s gone! Educate yourself and your children, especially before it’s too LATE and the photo’s or blog content has been posted!

Via Wikipedia: The first known published mention of the term “sexting” was in a 2005 article in the Sunday Telegraph Magazine.

In a 2008 survey of 1,280 teenagers and young adults of both sex’s on Cosmogirl.com sponsored by The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, 20% of teens (1-20) and 33% of young adults (20-26) had sent nude or semi-nude photographs of themselves electronically. Additionally, 39% of teens and 59% of young adults had sent sexually explicit text messages. Read more

Though youth is fleeting, images sent on a cell phone or posted online may not be, especially if they’re naughty.

It is illegal for anyone to posses distribute or redistribute, this includes transmitting through e-mail or by cellular phone, any nude or lewd picture of a child under 18 years of age. Even if a teen takes a picture of themselves and sends it to their boyfriend they can be charged with a felony and/or required to register as a sex offender.

Aside from the legal ramifications those who have engaged in this activity very often suffer psychological trauma, especially if the picture gets into unwanted hands or becomes public. These psychological effects range from feelings of regret to depression and even to self harm and suicide.

Delete, Delete, DELETE IT… and please don’t hit the record button and do I need to say again, do not post anything online that you don’t want shared or re-published!

Learn IT, DO IT, Teach IT, Share IT, BE IT

Your CyberHood Watch Partner

Bill Wardell

Radio Security Journalist

© 2007 – 2011 CyberHood Watch

p.s. additional resources for Human Trafficking, sexual exploitation and abuse of minors, please go to: The CHW Human Trafficking Resources page…

I was reading an article about how the Spokeo is spooky – An online source of your personal information… in my monthly Costco Connection – July 2010 magazine.

The Costco Connection magazine builds community among Costco members by combining information about what’s new at Costco with a mix of lifestyle and small business articles.

This month talks about our online personal info future that is shaping right now… as Dave and I are always saying you need to have awareness especially online and in today’s social network environment we are all participating in, and I have seen this first hand, as all my old school mates are requesting my friendship on Facebook

The Spokeo Story…

Spokeo is a search engine specialized in organizing people-related information from phone books, social networks, marketing lists, business sites, and other public sources. Most of this data is publicly available on the Web. For example, you can find people’s name, phone, and address on Whitepages.com, and you can get home values from Zillow.com. That said, only Spokeo’s algorithm can piece together the scattered data into coherent people profiles, giving you the most comprehensive intelligence about anyone you want to find.

Spokeo’s innovative technology has received numerous accolades and reviews from Newsweek, WSJ, PCWorld, and more. Millions of people have already used Spokeo to connect with their family members, old friends, and business contacts. Spokeo is located in Pasadena, CA.

SPOKEO VS. GOOGLE VS. FACEBOOK

How is Spokeo better than Googling someone? Google is the leader in organizing vast amounts of information from web pages, whereas Spokeo is a specialized tool for finding people-related data on social networks, phone books, marketing surveys, and more. By searching beyond the Web, Spokeo yields much more comprehensive and targeted results than general-purpose search engines for people-related queries.

How is Spokeo different from Facebook? Facebook is a social network on which users shares their personal data, whereas Spokeo is a search engine that aggregates data from various third-party sources. The difference between Facebook and Spokeo is analogous to the difference between You vs. Google Map taking a picture of your house. Data originated from you can be more detailed and accurate, but you also have the liberty to lie about it. Data pieced from public domains may not be complete, but it gives an objective, third-party perspective, which is valuable for people research purposes.

That all really sounds Good… So, whats so BAD about all this information sharing??

Because, every industry leader, government official, online security professionals, consultants, coaches and educators we have had on our CyberHood Watch Live Radio Show over the past 3 years has had the same advice, when asked what can “they” our listeners and followers do to protect themselves from cyber-crime, cyber criminals, ID Theft, personal security and privacy concerns… the #1 answer was to PROTECT your personal information at all costs!! never share anything online, on the phone or in person that you don’t want exposed to the public! see related story: OSA Investigates ID Theft & Personal Area Network

That is such great advice and you can see if this search engine tracks, compiles and then stores all of what we consider private, in a database…

THEN

WOW… Open Eyes & Your Mind To The Changes Happening Around YOU!

And… do something about it!!!

Your CyberHood Watch Partner

Bill Wardell

Please take a few minutes, and give US your opinion below in the comments… thanks in advance

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In order for children to reach their potential that you see for them, they have to learn. They have to learn many things, such as right and wrong, healthy and unhealthy, helpful and destructive, and so on.

Many parents delegate the entire education of the child to the teachers in school. This is a mistake. Although teachers do bear some responsibility for what the children learn, parents play an even greater part of what children learn.

Parents need to start by understanding that they are the most powerful role models that their children will have. And that they can hold that position if they don’t allow too much of outside influences to seep in. It may require that parents are protective of what input their children receive, but that’s part of the responsibility of child rearing.

This includes the internet as well. There are hundreds of websites and products galore offering parental controls and filtering services, so that your children can be “protected” from viewing sites and images that parents feel are unacceptable.

But the best protection for any child is for parents to have a very healthy communicative relationship with their child. A child who is happy and secure knowing that their parents love and respect them will look up to the parents as the real loving role models to be emulated.

If a child is unhappy or dissatisfied in any way, that is where they start looking for trouble, for those unexplored avenues of satisfaction that parents are not able to provide.

Obviously the dynamics of child-rearing are complex, and there are no guarantees. Education is basically about doing the best you can do, and then hoping that the child will absorb what you’ve taught him or her. As I’ve said in another article, it helps greatly if you establish an environment of a neighborhood and a school that is consistent with your own educational values.

If all of that is in place, then you have a good chance that even the bad influences of the internet will be minimized (not eliminated- but minimized!).

What I’m trying to say is that as a parent you can only do the best you can, with the understanding that eventually you’ll have to leave the child on his or her own.

Get The Help You Need… NOW: Get Your Own Copy Of

Your CyberHood Watch Partner

Bill Wardell

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What a fantastic show we had this week on CHWradio.com and our guest was Peggy Moss and she Will Say Something & The CyberHood Watch Community Is Listening…

Peggy Moss, author of Say Something and Our Friendship Rules, worked as an assistant attorney general in the civil rights unit of the Maine Department of Attorney General and as associate director of the Center for the Prevention of Hate Violence. Moss now works with schools, both as a consultant to the Center and independently, to prevent bullying and teasing. Her extensive background enables her to describe the devastating physical and emotional impact of bullying, harassment, and hate violence through the voices of students who have been targeted and also through the lens of educators, parents, and law enforcement personnel working to prevent violence from occurring in the first place…

Protect your children from bullying by learning the red flags…

We Are Tireless Advocates For The Safety Of Children, Families & Businesses In The Digital Age Through Communication and Awareness!

Bill Wardell

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I was doing some research for our OSA blog network… and I came across an old resource link and found that it is still a great resource and a very informative when it comes to Online Security Issues!

So take my advice and download this booklet below plus check out all the info on their website: http://consumer.gov/ and the blog.

Net Cetera: Chatting with Kids about Being Online

Net Cetera is a free booklet from the Federal Trade Commission chock-full of practical tips to help parents help their kids navigate the online world — whether they’re dealing with social networking and cyberbullying or sexting and file-sharing.

Below is the top resources according to the CHW & OSA partners and very relative and useful informational resources for Children, Home, & Work we have found on the web.

Sometimes The Best Resources Online Are The Least Used .gov .edu .org

C is for children…Empower them
H is for home…Families Enjoying The internet Safely
W is for work…The Moms and Dads Operating Their Business

Children:

Crimes Against Children Research Center: http://www.unh.edu/ccrc/

Innocent Images National Initiative: http://www.fbi.gov/innocent.htm

Great Barrington Internet Child Safety: http://gbinternetchildsafety.com/

Common Sense Media: http://www.commonsensemedia.org/

Be Safe Online: http://www.besafeonline.org/English/safer

NCMEC: http://www.netsmartz.org/index.aspx

————————————————————————————————————-

Home:

InfoChat: http://infochat.wordpress.com

Child Internet: http://www.childinternet.com/

OnGuard Online: http://www.onguardonline.gov/default.aspx

CyberBullying411: http://cyberbully411.org/

SafetyClicksBlog: http://blog.safetyclicks.com/

imaginary eric: http://www.imaginaryeric.com/

Sue Scheff Blog: http://suescheffblog.com/about/

Digital Youth Research: http://digitalyouth.ischool.berkeley.edu/

EU Kids Online: http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/EUKidsOnline/

————————————————————————————————————-

Work:

Computer World: http://www.computerworld.com/

AbsoluteSoftware: http://blog.absolute.com/

IDguardian.com: http://www.idguardian.com/

FTC Red Flag Rules: http://ftc.gov/redflagsrule/faqs.shtm

Berkman Center For Internet & Society: http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/

WiredSafely: http://wiredsafety.org/

PewResearch Center: http://www.pewinternet.org/

PewResearch Center: http://pewresearch.org/

Europe’s Information Society: http://ec.europa.eu/info

The London Scholl Of Economics and Political Science: www.lse.ac.uk/

————————————————————————————————————-

And now we’ll be including http://consumer.gov/ to our resource list… So, please take the time to check out all of these websites, and share the information with your families and friends

Your CHW Partner

Bill Wardell

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I vividly remember reading all about the collaboration and expense of bringing together some of the world’s best minds; a renown team of engineers and developers who perfected and worked on bringing us the iPhone.

SLAP! – POW! – BAM…!

It was just a matter of time. The World’s first iPhone worm found in the wild.

Everyone meet “ikex” and your new iPhone wallpaper, “ikee is never going to give you up”.

Wild Worm Wiggles Into iPhone

Source of image of affected iPhone: Batman from the Whirlpool forum

Read more about the world’s first iPhone worm found in the wild, and what Graham Cluley from Sophos had to say.

When it comes to the Internet, it is only a matter of time.

david c ballard