Tips for Managing Your Company’s Online Identity

Your LinkedIn profile is diligently maintained, your blog is free of comment spam, and you tell your kids to wipe their Facebook pages clean of party photos. You work hard to maintain control of your personal online identity. But do you give the same attention to how your business is portrayed online?

The online identity, or “o-dentity,” of your business can help or hinder its bottom line. Yet, too many executives fail to safeguard their company’s online reputation. If you allow disgruntled customers or bloggers with a grudge to speak out unhindered about your company, rest assured your competitors will pounce on this opportunity to spread the (negative) word.

Read my Huffington Post article for a list of five most common mistakes top executives make regarding the management of their company’s o-dentity.

Celebrating Data Privacy Day

Today is Data Privacy Day, a international holiday that raises awareness and promotes the education of data privacy. This day is celebrated every year on January 28th by educators, governments and professionals all over the world. Today, I’m using this holiday to reflect on the great strides Intelius has made in the area of data privacy.

One notable accomplishment is Intelius’ launch of TrueRep, a product that gives the general public awareness, control, and promotion of their digital footprint. Believe it or not, it actually allows people to keep inaccurate information from appearing online. It also lets them see what others can find out about them and lets them promote themselves in the best way possible.

Zuckerberg’s Facebook Page Hacked

Chances are you’re one of the 500 million people who actively use Facebook. Unfortunately, as the popularity of social networking grows, so do occurrences of worms, malware and other dangerous threats.

Cyber-criminals have established social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter as an attack venue. Studies suggest that spamming and malware occurrences are rapidly accelerating. Here are some staggering statistics from CRN.com:

“According to Sophos, about 40 percent of the 1,200 social networking users polled have been sent malware, such as worms, via the social networking sites they frequent. That’s an increase of about 90 percent second the summer of 2009. Additionally, two thirds of users queried, said they have been spammed via a social networking site, which is more than double the proportion of social networking users just two years earlier. And, Sophos found, 43 percent of respondents said they have been on the receiving end of phishing attacks, which is more than double the number from 2009.”

Even Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is a victim. Yesterday, a hacker broke into his fan page on Facebook and posted a status update that suggested Facebook seek investment from the site’s users instead of banks. See the full post here.

Beware: Scams to Watch Out For in 2011

The Today Show did an interesting piece on scams to watch out for in 2011. I found some of their predictions very intriguing.

One dangerous scam takes place on dating sites. Victims meet a so-called friend online who pleads to them about a problem they are having. Then they ask the victim to wire money to help them. Many send money out of compassion, and by the time they realize they have been tricked, it’s too late.

In this society where information is at our fingertips, why not take precautions, no matter how convincing the person’s story is? It takes only a couple minutes to find crucial information about people. There are tools like Date Check that are designed to help people in situations like this one. In just seconds, you can do a free background check and find out if a person is who they say they are. A Date Check report will tell you if they have criminal convictions, sex offender charges, lawsuits, and even marriage records.

Another scam to look out for has to do with two words I had never heard of, “Smishing” and “Vishing.” According to the Today Show, Smishing is when someone poses as an organization (like your bank) and asks you for information via text message. Vishing is the same thing but over the phone. Their advice is simple: don’t dial the number they ask you to call. If you must call, dial the number on the back of your bank card. That way you can be sure you’re dialing the official organization.

Microsoft develops new malware scanner

One of the most common vehicles that cybercriminals use to infect victims with malware is corrupted JavaScript applications. Users often give Java applications permission to run, which makes them vulnerable to any attached malware.

Microsoft Research is looking to combat this infiltration method through a new AI-trained tool called Zozzle. Zozzle is a product of AI techniques that scans web pages looking for malicious software and other viruses hackers use to compromise the safety of their victims.

"The researchers [at Microsoft] used a statistical classifier to scan millions of web pages for malware," notes i-Programmer. "The JavaScript has to be de-obfuscated first and then analyzed for features that are characteristic of malware. The features are created using an abstract syntax tree. Zozzle hooks into the JavaScript engine to get the final expanded version of the JavaScript code the page contains."

According to recent reports from the internet security provider PandaLabs, the number of new malware threats detected daily has grown 15 percent over the past year. Hopefully, applications such as Zozzle can keep users safe as they browse the web. Computer users can maximize their machines' safety by downloading up-to-date antivirus software.
 

Number of newly created software threats rises 15 percent daily

With computer usage on the rise, cybercriminals are increasingly developing new software designed to threaten and compromise their unassuming victims. According to a new report from PandaLabs, an internet security firm, the number of malware threats created daily has risen nearly 15 percent during 2010.

More than 63,000 pieces of malicious software are created every day by hackers. Fortunately, security service providers are able to neutralize more than one half of these new viruses the same day they come out. Still, one-third of currently active malware has been in existence for longer than 10 months, the report says.

"Since 2003, new threats have increased at a rate of 100 percent or more," Luis Corrons, PandaLabs' technical director, told IT Channel Planet. "Yet so far in 2010, purely new malware has increased by only 50 percent, significantly less than the historical norm."

PandaLab's new study emphasizes how important it is that consumers keep their antivirus software up-to-date. With more than 63,000 viruses created each day, they need to have the latest security software.