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Top 10 Riskiest Cybercrime Cities in the U.S. According to Norton
Today
the cyber security experts at Norton announced the top 10 riskiest U.S.
cities for cybercrime. The next time you pay a bill or update your
status on Facebook you might want to look over your shoulder
[virtually]. It seems Seattle, Boston, San Francisco and Washington D.C.
are the riskiest all around cybercrime cities, thanks in part to the
large number of Wi-Fi hotspots.
Let’s have a look at the top 10:
1)
Seattle
2) Boston
3) Washington, D.C.
4) San Francisco
5)
Raleigh, N.C.
6) Atlanta
7) Minneapolis
8) Denver
9) Austin, TX
10) Portland, OR
The above
rankings were determined by combining data from Symantec Security
Response as well as third-party data about online shopping and Wi-Fi
hotspots. Now more than ever people are relying on the Internet for
their daily communications, online shopping and paying their bills.
These activities can expose a user to heightened risk levels, especially
if conducted on public networks such as wireless hotspots at your local
coffee shop or bookstore. Apparently living in a techno-savvy city such
as Seattle or San Francisco does not make you any less susceptible to
cybercrime, to the contrary in fact. In a press release put out by
Norton, Bert Sperling, founder of Sterling’s Best Places said “Despite
people’s familiarity with technology and the Internet, this study shows
that everyone is exposed to a certain level of risk when they are
online…”
How can you protect yourself?
In the interest of
protecting the noble citizens of the world wide web [and selling some
product] Norton offers up the following Top 3 Safety Tips:
• Use
legitimate security software such as Norton Internet Security and Norton
360
• Always keep your computer’s operating system and software up
to date and patched
• Get educated and stay aware: check out www.everyclickmatters.com
and for those of you with children in your family download the Norton
Family Online Safety Guide
• Use a VPN
Here are a few tips and
links I would like to add to that:
• Avoid hopping on to any
available Wi-Fi hotspot out there. Most public hotspots are open and
they don’t require a password. That makes them insecure as they are
available to pretty much anyone. If you do use a public hotspot be sure
to have security enabled on your computer. In many cases the firewall
software that is built-in to Windows [or your OS] is not enough to
protect you. Get a VPN!
• If you have children on your network be
sure to protect them from the content that is out there and also protect
your files and network from their activities online. Consider using
parental control software such as Net Nanny
• Never shop or enter any
personal information in a browser window that is not secure. Any
legitimately secure web page that collects and transmits your credit
card number or any other personal information should use SSL to encrypt
the data. A secure web page is generally characterized by a “lock” icon.
For more information on web page security visit the SSL knowledge Base.
•
Use common sense: if you are in a public place be sure that no one is
watching your screen. Look around and see if there is another person or
even a security camera that might record your actions.
Worth a
mention
Detroit was ranked the least risky online city. Yep, the city
that brought us Robocop is the most conservative when it comes to
cybercrime, Internet access, spending on computer equipment, and
wireless Internet access. El Paso, Texas and Memphis, Tennessee ranked
second and third [respectively] least risky cybercrime cities.
Sensing
a disturbance in the force?
If you sense cybercrime or are a victim
of Internet crime try filing a complaint with IC3 (Internet Crime
Complaint Center). IC3 was established by the U.S government as a
partnership between the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center
(NW3C) to receive Internet related criminal complaints.
Albert
Einstein once said “Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried
anything new.” Well the Internet is no longer a novelty; we’ve been
using it for years. It is time we learn how to conduct ourselves safely.
Albert Einstein also said “Before God we are all equally wise - and
equally foolish.” I guess the same is true before cybercriminals. Be
wise.
Source: Daniweb.com 22 March 2010
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