Trust, Truth and Hoaxes in Social Media
Social networks are fun, but can also spread misinformation and worse. We discuss myths about your contract with Facebook, and whether British politicians are interested only in their own salaries.
Social Media
Facebook to strengthen its privacy policy
Facebook has announced a set of new privacy focused terms of service, which aims to let users of the social network ‘control their information’, according to The Independent. The changes, which will be live as of 1 January 2015, introduce ‘Privacy Basics’, a tool that shows users who can see any information they share on
Snapchat urges users to disconnect third party apps after breach
Following last month's leak of 13gb worth of private Snapchat videos, the vanishing message service has announced a new policy whereby it will automatically detect third-party apps, and advise users to disconnect them, reports Tech Crunch.
Facebook welcomes private browsers with dedicated Tor link
Facebook has opened its doors to privacy concerned users, but opening up a dedicated Tor link, guaranteeing that people who visit the social networking site through anonymous browsers aren't mistaken for botnets, Gizmodo reports.
Facebook scans ‘paste sites’ for leaked usernames and passwords
Facebook has a system in place to scan public 'paste' sites for email address and password combinations to stay one step ahead of possible leaks, according to The Register.
Facebook ‘Safety Check’ allows travelers to alert family
Facebook is introducing a new feature targeted at users it believes are in or near a disaster zone to let their loved ones know they are okay, according to The Independent.
Facebook privacy – is Messenger watching you?
Facebook's new Messenger app has spared privacy concerns after a list of Permisssions appears to show the app could be taking video of users in secret, according to the Washington Post.
Facebook settings – five steps for better privacy and security
Facebook has faced repeated controversy over privacy, with features such as Graph Search revealing information which users might have forgotten they ever “shared”. But there are steps users can take to manage the way Facebook uses their information.
Don’t let social media undermine the promise of graduation
Graduation is a great time to review your social media profile. Don't let a wild and crazy social network presence undermine the promise of graduation, your chances for a scholarship, job, internship or other career choices.
Do consumers pass the buck on online safety? New survey reveals mixed messages
Who is responsible for privacy and online safety on social networks? ESET asked Harris Interactive to poll American adults and found some interesting responses, positive advances in cyber-citizenship, but also some apparent disconnects.
Social media makes scams and hoaxes harder to spot
If your friend said it on Social media it must be true? Not if your friend's acount has been hacked. We review tips for staying safe on social media.
PokerAgent botnet stealing over 16,000 Facebook credentials
The ‘PokerAgent’ botnet, which we have tracked in 2012, was designed to harvest Facebook log-on credentials, also collecting information on credit card details linked to the Facebook account and Zynga Poker player stats, presumably with the intention to mug the victims.
Facebook timeline security & privacy: steps to keep your account & identity safe
Now that Facebook’s timeline feature is in the final stages of being rolled out to all users (including, finally, to my account), it is important that everyone understands how to use the feature and, most importantly, how to secure your identity and privacy in its new context. Timeline is quite a simple feature, introduced by
Sharing versus Security: Driving without Brakes
Does the enterprise still have a choice about sharing information?
Millions have not reviewed Facebook privacy settings: Here’s how
Here are two staggering Facebook privacy statistics: Nearly 13 million US Facebook users have never set, or don’t know about, Facebook’s privacy tools, and only 37 percent have used Facebook’s privacy tools to customize how much information is shared with third parties. That’s according to a Consumer Reports survey released earlier this month. Given that
Pinterest.com security – step by step how‑to
I recently signed up for Pinterest.com, a hip, trendy pin board style website that allows beefed up sharing of your interests with friends via a large visual bulletin board style forum where fans of a particular subject can post what they find compelling, and want to share. Then other friends can weigh in on the
Valentine's Day Scams: For the love of money
Scam artists and cybercriminals are looking to turn romance into profit now that Valentine's Day approaches, possibly taking over your computer in the process. According to ESET researchers in Latin America, we can expect the quest for love to be leveraged as an effective social engineering ploy to enable the bad guys to infect unsuspecting
Beware of SOPA Scams
Tomorrow, on January 18, 2012, dozens of popular websites covering a diverse range of subjects will be blacking out their home pages in protest of the U.S. Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). Some of these websites are well-known, such as the English language web site for the encyclopedic Wikipedia and quirky news site Boing Boing,
A dozen predictions for 2012
While I share the reluctance of my colleagues to predict the future, I think there are some trends that can be classified as “reasonably likely to occur” in 2012. I make no promises, but here’s what I think we will see, in no particular order of importance or certainty. We will see increased interest in
IRISSCERT, ESET Ireland and the Luck of the Irish
The IRISSCERT conference in Dublin has drawn attention to Irish cybercrime statistics since January 2011.