News Archives - Geek for Hire

Data Breach

Posted on September 2, 2024 by Gail Eddy in Hackers, News, Security, Technology Tips

US Dept of Energy Data Center — Data Center – Rawpixel.com

The news seems flooded with stories of a major data breach of National Public Data. This is significant because NPD is a consumer data broker. According to the Electronic Privacy Information Center data brokers:

“…collect and aggregate many types of personal information: names, addresses, telephone numbers, e-mail addresses, gender, age, marital status, children, education, profession, income, political preferences, and cars and real estate owned. Data brokers also collect information on an individual’s purchases, where they shop, and how they pay for their purchases.

“In addition, data brokers collect health information, the sites we visit online, and the advertisements we click on. And thanks to the proliferation of smartphones and wearables, data brokers collect and sell real-time location data.”

If you’ve ever wondered about Identity Theft, this is it. It’s essential to know with all that info, the hackers can sell your data. They may sell your whole file to a woman or man who can open accounts in your name, buy a car in your name, earn income in your name (that you will owe taxes on), or even get medical care, ALL IN YOUR NAME.

Consumer Data Brokers are an unregulated business. They can buy and sell your personal and private information without you even knowing they have it! Because they’re unregulated, there’s not a lot you can do about the data they already have. (Write to your Congressperson and Senator!) But there are things you can do to limit the damage.

Q: What is a data breach?

A data breach happens when hackers virtually “force” their way into corporate or government data centers. As hackers get more innovative, there will be more and more data breaches. Click for Wikipedia’s “List of data breaches“. (It is a little out of date.)

Q: What happened?

National Public Data had a security incident in December 2023. Brian Krebs states, “In April, a cybercriminal named USDoD began selling data stolen from NPD. In July, someone leaked what was taken, including the names, addresses, phone numbers, and in some cases email addresses for more than 272 million people (including many who are now deceased).”

You can read more on Snopes, Bleeping Computer, and UC Berkeley. There are many articles with sensational headlines and click-bait. Avoid those! In addition, a citizen in Florida filed a class action lawsuit.

Q: Does this data breach include my information?

The first thing you should do is head over to PenTester. Enter your name, state, and birth year to see your status. (The Data Breach includes my data.)

Q: Should I freeze my account? What does that mean, and how will it affect me?

Experian has provided a good explanation about freezing and thawing your account:

“A credit freeze is a free service, guaranteed under federal law, that can protect you from credit fraud by limiting most access to your credit report until you lift it, or “thaw” your report. When your credit report is frozen, any lender who asks to evaluate your report for purposes of issuing a loan or other credit is denied access to the report. A security freeze won’t affect your credit scores, but it will prevent lenders evaluating credit applications from obtaining your credit scores.

“A security freeze prevents criminals from opening new credit accounts in your name, but it also blocks your legitimate credit applications. So, if you have a credit freeze in place, you’ll need to thaw your credit reports before applying for a new loan, credit card or other consumer credit.

“Once your application is processed, you can reinstate the freeze. Alternatively, you can use a temporary thaw to lift the freeze for a set window of time, such as one day or one week, after which the freeze will be reinstated.

“Credit freezes must be activated and lifted separately at each of the national credit bureaus. Procedures differ somewhat with each bureau, but all three enable requesting and lifting of security freezes online, by phone, and via postal mail. There is never a fee for applying or removing a credit freeze.”

Q: What do I do next?

Freeze your account on all three credit reporting sites:

Experian

Equifax

TransUnion

If you haven’t been on these sites, you’ll need to create a new account with a secure password. Remember your login information so you can “thaw” your account if you need to.

Q: What about my email?

Check whether your email has been compromised or “pwned”. Enter your email address into Have I Been Pwned to find out. If it has, the site will tell you where. Go to each site, and change your password to a new one. THEN, enter one of your other emails to find out if that has been compromised, too. For example, I have separate emails for work, personal, and social media. I discovered that my email was breached on Ticketfly, Gravatar, and Factual, among others. (Check out this article I wrote a few years ago.)

Q: Anything else?

You might want to consider a data removal service. The jury is still out on their effectiveness, and we haven’t had a chance to review any of them yet. The primary services available are Incogni, OneRep, or DeleteMe. Here are a few independent reviews:

Conclusion:

Be very cautious about how and where you share your data, and secure your data via account freezing.

I’ve created a Free Report to protect you from “phishing” scams. Click here to receive it!

INFORMATION ABOUT GEEK FOR HIRE, INC.

Chris Eddy of Geek For Hire, Inc. has provided computer service to families and small businesses with Mac’s and PCs for the past eighteen years. Angie’s List and the BBB rate Geek For Hire very highly. You can find more on our website, or give us a call. Geek For Hire, Inc. provides onsite service (Tier 3 support) to the Denver / Boulder / Front Range area and remote service throughout North America.

We’ve been using Amazon Prime for the past few years. We like the free and fast shipping. With Prime, we have access to online streaming, too. You can get a free 30-day trial by clicking on this link: Try Amazon Prime 30-Day Free Trial. If you’re a young adult or a student, you’re eligible for a 6 month free trial! As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

If you’d like to receive our newsletters in your email, please click here.

2019 Tech Year In Review

Posted on December 30, 2019May 2, 2024 by Gail Eddy in News, Tips

2019 has been a busy year for technology. Does anyone else feel like Moore’s Law has been replaced with something faster? Here are just a few of the 2019 Tech Trends for the past year.

Apple:

Apple had two significant 2019 tech releases: the iPhone 11 and the Apple Watch 5. My friends who have purchased the iPhone 11 are thrilled with the new camera and longer battery life. Other features include upgraded glass, faster CPU, and the newest WiFi 6.

I traded in my Fitbit Charge 3 for the Apple Watch 5 earlier this year and I am loving it! The interface for phone calls and texting is so much better. With the Fitbit, I’d get a notification of a call. With the Apple Watch, I can pretend I’m Dick Tracy and answer the calls on my wrist! I like the fitness tracking on the Apple Watch much better than the Fitbit. It’s more intuitive to use and seems more accurate.

Electric Cars:

To me, it feels like 2019 was the year for the electric vehicle. Where ever I was driving I would see EVs all over the place; from Teslas to Chevy Bolts to the Nisson Leaf and others. Chris likes EVs for lots of reasons. One being that their range has greatly expanded. When they first came on the market, you’d be lucky if you got 150 miles. Now they go 300 miles and more. I have a friend who has driven her Tesla from Colorado to Washington DC and back. There were plenty of places to stop on the way to recharge. Another reason Chris likes EVs is that they have very little engine maintenance.

Microsoft:

Don’t forget that support for the Windows 7 Operating System will come to an end on 14 January 2020. If you’re still using Windows 7 you’ve got some decisions to make! Please read our article for more information, and what your options are. Of course, we’re always available if you need guidance. https://geekforhireinc.com/windows-7-support-end/

Netflix:

If you use an older Roku for streaming Netflix you may already know that they will stop supporting older devices in December. Check out their website for devices that they do support.

SpaceX

Chris has been watching the development of SpaceX for years. This year, they’ve had a lot of activity with their Satellite Constellation project, Starlink. Currently, there are 122 satellites in orbit. By the end of the first phase, sometime in 2021, Starlink will have over 1500 satellites in orbit.

Just after the launch in November of 60 satellites, they were seen as a “train” in the sky. (There were many UFO reports in Europe!)

According to wwwSstarlink.com “SpaceX is leveraging its experience in building rockets and spacecraft to deploy the world’s most advanced broadband internet system.”

Conclusion:

What else happened in 2019 Tech? Add your comments below!

Information about Geek For Hire, Inc.

I’ve created a Free Report on what to look for to protect yourself from “phishing” scams. Click here to receive it!

Chris Eddy of Geek For Hire, Inc. has been providing computer service to families and small businesses with Mac’s and PCs for the past eighteen years. Angie’s List and the BBB rate Geek For Hire very highly. You can find more on our website, or give us a call 303-618-0154. Geek For Hire, Inc. provides onsite service (Tier 3 support) to the Denver / Boulder / Front Range area as well as remote service throughout North America.

We’ve been using Amazon Prime for the past few years. We like the free and fast shipping. With Prime, we have access to online streaming too. Prime is usually $119/year, but you can get a free 30-day trial by clicking on this link: Try Amazon Prime 30-Day Free Trial. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

Facebook Followers Hoax

Posted on January 30, 2018March 20, 2018 by Gail Eddy in News, Technology Tips, Tips

In the past few weeks, I have seen numerous friends posting about all of the “weird” Facebook followers they have. They’ve been a little freaked out about the strange people who see all of their posts. I keep getting asked questions like:

“Why are these people interested in me?”
“Are they trying to steal my identity?”
“How do I stop this?”

First things first:

Change how you are sharing. If you make all of your posts for “Friends Only”, and not “Public”, no one else can see what you’re posting. Even people who are following you can not see your posts if you don’t set your posts to “public”.

Secondly:

It’s a hoax. The instructions tell you to type “Following Me” into the search box. What comes up is a whole list of names of people you’ve never heard of. Facebook presents you with this list because they have names similar to “Following me”. Just like if you were to search for “John Smith”, you’d get people with names similar to “John Smith”.

How to Find Your Facebook Followers:

If you really want to see who is following you without being friends with you, follow these steps on the Facebook app:

Click on your name/ go to your own page.
Just below your photo and name is a little line that says “Followed by xxx people”.
Click on that link and scroll through the list. Most of these will probably be people who have sent you a friend request, but you’ve never responded. Are there people you don’t know with no friends in common with you? Feel free to block any of them that you don’t want seeing your public posts.

From the Facebook webpage, follow these steps:

Click on your name.
CLick on “Friends”.
When the list of your friends pops up, click on the down arrow next to “Other” at the top of the list. Then click on “Followers” to see the whole list.
Scroll through the list. Most of these will probably be people who have sent you a friend request, but you’ve never responded. Are there people you don’t know with no friends in common with you? Feel free to block any of them that you don’t want seeing your public posts.

Were you able to find your Facebook Followers? Let us know if you still need help!

Chris Eddy of Geek For Hire, Inc. has been providing computer service to families and small businesses with Mac’s and PC’s for the past fifteen years. His company is highly rated by both the BBB (Better Business Bureau) and by Angie’s List. You can find more on our website, or give us a call 303-618-0154. Geek For Hire, Inc. provides onsite service (Tier 3) to the Denver / Boulder / Front Range area as well as remote service throughout North America.

We’ve been using Amazon Prime for the past few years. We like the free 2-3 day shipping and the online streaming. I haven’t tried the Kindle lending library yet. I’ll try that next! Prime is normally $99/year, but you can try it for 30 day for free by clicking on this link: Try Amazon Prime 30-Day Free Trial (Yes, we’ll get a small commission if you check it out.)

Is the Kaspersky Anti-virus safe?

Posted on October 3, 2017May 6, 2024 by Gail Eddy in anti-virus, News, Tips

We’ve been getting a lot of questions recently about Kaspersky. Is it safe? Why has the US government banned it? Should I keep on using it?

In doing a little bit of research to answer these questions, I haven’t been able to find a definitive answer. Yes, the US government has taken the software off of their list of recommended software. And, yes, Best Buy has removed the product from their physical (and virtual) shelves. But is there any logic behind the removal other than general suspicion about Russia in general?

According to this article in Bloomberg: “While the U.S. government hasn’t disclosed any evidence of the ties, internal company emails obtained by Bloomberg Businessweek show that Kaspersky Lab has maintained a much closer working relationship with Russia’s main intelligence agency, the FSB, than it has publicly admitted. It has developed security technology at the spy agency’s behest and worked on joint projects the CEO knew would be embarrassing if made public.”

The NY Times reported that: “The F.B.I. has also been investigating whether Kaspersky software, including its well-regarded antivirus programs, contain back doors that could allow Russian intelligence access into computers on which it is running. The company denies the allegations. The officials, all of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity because the inquiries are classified, would not provide details of the information they have collected on Kaspersky.”

Kaspersky has responded by saying: “Regardless of how the facts are misconstrued to fit in with a hypothetical, false theory, Kaspersky Lab, and its executives, do not have inappropriate ties with any government. The company does regularly work with governments and law enforcement agencies around the world with the sole purpose of fighting cybercrime.”

This seems to be a reasonable response from an international company.

PC Magazine thinks this is all a bunch of hogwash and reached out to one of it’s experts, Graham Cluley, for his opinion.

“I’ve seen no evidence of Kaspersky having any inappropriate interaction with the Russian government,” said Cluley, “and no one seems to have presented any evidence of its software putting its US customers at risk. What I have seen are non-Russian security companies taking advantage of the current smear campaign against Kaspersky to promote their own solutions, which I find rather distasteful.”

If you’re interested, here are some additional articles on the subject:

BBC – 9/14/2017 – http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-41262049
Moscow Times – 7/12/2017 – https://themoscowtimes.com/articles/kaspersky-lab-denies-claims-of-cooperation-with-Russian-spy-agency-58368
Slate – 7/11/2017 – http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2017/07/11/how_worried_should_we_really_be_about_security_firm_kaspersky_lab_s_ties.html
The Hill – 7/2/2017 – http://thehill.com/policy/cybersecurity/340420-kaspersky-willing-to-turn-over-source-code-to-us-government

By the way, I did ask Chris for his opinion about Kaspersky. He said that it is a “perfectly good anti-virus, but we don’t recommend it. It isn’t designed in an efficient manner and tends to put a drag on the overall operational performance of the machine.”

The anti-virus we do recommend is ESET’s NOD32.

Was this explanation helpful to you? Please forward to a friend!

Save

My Favorite Websites

Posted on December 1, 2015April 29, 2024 by Gail Eddy in Entertainment, Internet Searching, News, Tips

Several months ago, I blogged about Chris’ favorite websites. People keep asking me what mine are so here goes!

Searching:

For searching, I prefer Google over all the other search sites like Bing or Yahoo. I think it’s results are accurate – it finds what I am looking for, especially if I use the provided search tools, like Images, Video, Date, etc.

News Sites:

I’m a Jersey girl and grew up with the Sunday New York Times – every week! For a long time I didn’t like it because at my friend’s house, they had a newspaper with comics! But as I got older, I learned how to read and enjoy it. Now it’s my go-to website for what’s going on in the world.

I like the Huffington Post for its left-leaning news, and its separate pages for meditation, healthy living, and eastern religions.

I started following Mashable on Twitter ages ago. Now, the website is my go-to site for news that not everyone is writing about.

Other:

Call me weird, but I have a huge collection of books. I like LibraryThing because it helps me keep them organized. You can borrow and lend books with other LibraryThing members too.

Entertainment:

If I ever have a question about a movie, or an actress, or who was that guy in that TV show, I head over to IMdb.com, short for Internet Movie database.

Eagles:

In the spring, there are a couple of webcams pointed at eagle nests. I found it very relaxing to watch the mama and papa eagles tend the eggs and then the eaglets. There’s one from Minnesota, one from Georgia, and one from Pennsylvania. The webcams generally operate from February thru July.

What are your favorite websites? Let me know why!

Information about Geek For Hire, Inc.

I’ve created a Free Report on what to look for to protect yourself from “phishing” scams. Click here to receive it!