PM's Self Reliance Tools: Protecting Yourself From Cyber Thieves and Government Snooping

Poor Man Survival

Self Reliance tools for independent minded people…

www.poormansurvivor.net

ISSN 2161-5543

A Digest of Urban Survival Resources

PM Predicts Wars Will Focus More on Civilians and Cyber Invasions- How to Protect Yourself from Cyberspies and your government

A destructive “Trojan Horse” malware program has penetrated the software that runs much of the nation’s critical infrastructure and it's poised to cause an economic catastrophe, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

They're saying that the malware was put in by hackers thought to be sponsored by the Russian government. It’s a very serious threat to our vulnerable infrastructure.

It’s worth noting that the recent hacker attack on Anthem, the health insurance company, is widely believed to have been conducted by the Chinese government.

As hackers continue to tap into complex security systems, however, some cybersecurity experts are advising companies to focus on tricking or neutralizing hackers once they have infiltrated networks, rather than spending money only on trying to keep them out.

+37%
Information security job outlook 2012-2022 -30% higher than the national average

International cyber warfare is very much upon us. However, few citizens seem concerned despite multiple data breaches of retail databases. Ironically, no one violates your privacy more than our own government...they maintain an average of 40 data files now on every American adult.

The president announced some nonsensical solutions this week…he is rightfully concerned about protecting the country from cyber attacks and large-scale hacking, but his ‘fix’ may be worse than the problem. He could start by honoring the Privacy Act of 1974, something the government gutted with the so-called Patriot Act. [Friday's post will address that piece of privacy raping 'law'].

His new executive order permits any information shared by companies to be passed along to federal agencies including the NSA and FBI.

Do Americans need or want even more government involved in our lives or should we leave corporate cyber security up to the corporations?

Massive corporate cyber security fails. From Sony to Anthem, this is the age of the data breach. How much is this costing us?

According to a recent industry report, guesstimates are that the global cost of cyber crime to businesses range from around $445 billion to $2 trillion annually.

The FTC appears most concerned with security and privacy risks to consumers. The Report identifies several key risks, which it recognizes exist with traditional computers as well:

>unauthorized access and misuse of personal information and sensitive personal information, including precise geolocation, financial account numbers or health information (and the concern that this information could be used for credit, insurance, and employment decisions); >attacks on other systems;

> safety risks, including where someone is able to break in and control a device such as an automobile or a pacemaker.

The FTC also raises the concern that collection of certain information (e.g. personal information, habits, locations, and physical conditions) may allow an entity to infer sensitive information that the consumer has not provided directly.

The FTC highlighted three primary compliance issues:

More here:

http://abovethelaw.com/2015/02/the-internet-of-things-what-all-companies-need-to-know-about-the-ftc-report/

Temporary credit card numbers safeguard cyber-shoppers

US banks will eventually provide consumers with tamper proof cards as in Europe…

Temporary credit cards numbers are specially generated limited-use numbers designed to protect your real credit card number when shopping online.

Also known as virtual account numbers or single-use cards, they have spending limits and short life spans, so even if a hacker or shady online merchant tries to reuse the numbers, they're invalid after, say, one day or $50, depending on how the number is set up.

http://www.freep.com/story/money/business/michigan/2015/02/08/temporary-credit-card-numbers/23086507/

In Wake of Anthem Breach, What to Do

With millions of records potentially breached at Anthem, what kind of damage can the crooks do and what can you do about it? Here’s the story.

The NSA can read your emails without a warrant. They extensively monitor all of your email activity. See our easy solutions to keep your emails private.

Don’t let thieves snatch your tax refund

It’s tax season, so identity thieves are gearing up to use your information in a different kind of way: to file a false tax return and get a tax refund in your name. Here’s how to protect yourself.

Finally, as I have warned readers for years: DO NOT FILE YOUR TAXES ELECTRONICALLY! Each year the number of fraudulent filings increases and the IRS is helpless and you will wait for more months or longer to ever get a refund!

Also, I’ve been telling readers this for years also: those smart phones are open doors to your privacy which is why thieves and law enforcement like them so much. With GPS tracking chips, snoops can even tell where you took your photo and these phones are mighty easy to hack.

Sources: Poor Man Survival, FBI, DHS, Detroit Free Press, Consumer Reports

Resources you might want to use in your privacy protection battle...

http://www.bonanza.com/listings/Who-s-Spying-on-You-Includes-Bonus-eBook-/222943882