According to MSNBC, senators recently introduced a bill that would allow U.S. victims of identity theft to seek restitution for both the money and the time they spent attempting to recover money stolen from fraudsters.
The bill is also designed to expand criminal penalties for some types of online fraud.
To help prevent identity theft and online fraud, take a look at these resources:
· Phishing Filter: Help protect yourself from online scams
· Recognize phishing scams and fraudulent e-mails
· What to do if you're a victim of fraud
· Create strong passwords
To learn more about the specifics of the bill, see the Library of Congress Thomas search page.
Security and privacy risks are blending for organizations, research unveiled by Microsoft executives Ben Fathi (Corporate Vice President of Development for the Windows Core Operating System Division) and Scott Charney (Corporate Vice President of Microsoft's Trustworthy Computing Group) shows.
Research from the latest Security Intelligence Report and research conducted by The Ponemon Institute also suggests how organizations must change to address this trend.
For example, the Ponemon research showed that organizations with poor collaboration between their security and privacy segments were at least two times more likely than organizations with good collaboration to have suffered a data breach in the prior two years. For more information and statistics like this:
· Visit the new Microsoft Trustworthy Computing security and privacy site.
· Read the latest research on how security and privacy are converging from a threat and risk perspective.
· Listen to audio interviews on this topic with analysts, security experts, academics, and key thought leaders.
A few days ago I got an invitation to join a new social networking site from a co-worker. (Social networking sites like MySpace, Facebook, and Windows Live Spaces are services people can use to connect with others to share information like photos, videos, and personal messages.)
At first I thought it was strange that she was inviting me to join since we work together and already communicate several times a day using both high-tech and low-tech methods.
Even though I thought the invitation might have been a fraudulent e-mail message, I sent it back to her and told her I would join, if she was sure the invitation wasn't a scam.
A few minutes later I received an e-mail message from my co-worker saying that she was horrified to learn that the social networking site had e-mailed an invitation to all of her contacts without her knowledge.
When you first sign up, many popular social networking sites offer to scan your e-mail address book to find out if other people you know are on that particular social network. Then you can choose whether you want to connect with others who are already on the network or send invitations to people who aren't. These sites should ask your permission to send out invitations. My co-worker claims that this particular site did not ask her permission.
You've probably heard the news reports about how much time teenagers spend on social networking Web sites. However, online social networking is now used by adults as well as kids. Adults use these sites to keep in contact with friends or even to help them get new jobs. Whether you’re the parent of a child who uses a social networking site or if you use these sites yourself, here are a few basic guidelines to follow.
Social networking safety tips
Educate yourself about the site before you post any personal information. Evaluate the social networking Web site and read the privacy policy and code of conduct carefully. To avoid giving the site the e-mail addresses of your friends, do not allow the site to scan your e-mail address book.
Assume what you write on a social networking site is permanent. Even if you have the ability to delete your account, anyone on the Internet can easily print out the information or save it to a computer.
Consider using a site that doesn't post your information publicly. Some sites allow anyone to view the content you post on the site; others only allow members to view pages. If you want to help protect your information even further, use a site that allows you to password-protect your information and only give your friends the password.
For more information tips specifically for parents see How to help your kids use social networking sites more safely.
To conserve energy, daylight-saving time (DST) will end one week later this year.
If you use Automatic Updates or visit Windows Update regularly, then your computer probably adjusted to the new daylight-saving time start date back in March and you don't need to do anything to prepare for the new date in November.
Visit the Daylight-saving time help and support center to make sure you're up to date on all the latest information.
Visit Windows Update.
Learn how to turn on Automatic Updates.