Restaurants are the easiest target for hackers

Frustrating these type of people exist.
Verizon’s Data Breach Investigations Report reveals that restaurants are the easiest target for hackers - Slate

And usually people worry about web sites being insecure - I get the calls, is your site secure - short answer is yes, longer answers is I can't even see my customers credit card after its entered and everything is encrypted.

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New Google Monthly Report

Its' scary how much Google knows about me...
New Google tool lets you PROBE YOURSELF - The Register

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Annoying - FaceBook account attempted hack

Somebody from Brazil tried to access my account. New password created that is a LOT stronger.

Dear Ray Ritchey,

Your Facebook account was recently logged into from a computer, mobile device or other location you've never used before. For your protection, we've temporarily locked your account until you can review this activity and make sure no one is using your account without your permission.

Did you log into Facebook from a new device or an unusual location?

 - If this was not you, please log into Facebook from your computer and follow the instructions provided to help you control your account information.

 - If this was you, there's no need to worry. Simply log into Facebook again to get back into your account.

For more information, visit our Help Center here:
http://www.facebook.com/help/?topic=account_recovery

Thanks,
Facebook Security Team

Lost phone? There's an 89% chance somebody tried to access data

It's scary how much information is on a smart phone about you. From your contacts, Facebook login, E-Mail's, etc.

A family member lost their iPhone, and it was a journey. They forgot their phone in a movie theatre and a person on their morning cleaning took it home. We actually tracked it to the apartment complex they lived at using Apple's Find My Phone application. We even called the police, but they turned off the phone so the tracking stopped working. We complained enough that the owner of the cleaning crew paid for a new phone. My opinion was he just wanted to get rid of us before we caused more problems witht the theater and him. And of course, this was the first day of work of a new employee! Who got to act as translator at the apartment complex. There are also applications that you can add to your iPhone that will take a picture of an unauthorized user. You can remotely lock your iPhone, but then the user is more likely to turn it off.

For some reason, when ever we have a really good employee start, we have some type of major emergency. I wonder if its the universe trying to keep some type of balance :-)

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Privacy - Google vs WSJ- Who's telling the truth?

My opinon is I trust the journal more than Google...

Google tricked Apple's Safari in order to track users on the iPhone - WSJ

Scary...
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How Companies Learn Your Secrets

A good article from the NY Times on privacy. A bit scary. And how soon to we live in a Minority Reports world with facial recognition, where your tracked in stores?

How Companies Learn Your Secrets - NY Times

A great discussion of how Target is using information they collect to target pregnant customers. What was not discussed was how using online information do marketers specifically target you. Information is becoming a gold mine with the goal of making advertising more targeted. The more you know about a person, the more you can increase the effectiveness of your advertising.

And for those who are more paranoid, think about how much information Google and FaceBook know about you!

Privacy and Twitter

Lesson - Anything you say on the Internet, even as a joke, can be used against you.

British tourists arrested in America on terror charges over Twitter jokes | Mail Online

And there is an infrastructure in the US that allowed a twitter joke to be picked up by the TSA, figure out the person was flying into LAX, and then detain them there and return them to the UK. I knew this was theoretically possible, but I am amazed at what was done with it. In line at airports, I am even scared to say anything negative since I don't need the headaches. My strong opinion is much of what is being done by the TSA is for show only and a feel good measure.

How Facebook Tracks Its Users

Amazing the tracking that Facebook does! I did not realize they also did tracking by your computers unique characteristics. I wonder who has more data on their users, Facebook or Google?

Facebook Reveals its User-Tracking Secrets - Mashable

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Facebook privacy flaw exposes Mark Zuckerberg photos

Continuing my occasional posts on Privacy - my take is anything you post, no matter what the privacy settings, may become public. The constant changes to Facebook's privacy are annoying

Facebook privacy flaw exposes Mark Zuckerberg photos - The Telegraph

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Privacy Feelings

I have conversations with customers about privacy and its an area I feel strongly on.  At EliteDresses, we do our best to respect our customers privacy, and security is a big concern of mine. One great feature of the shopping cart we use, is none of our employees can see your credit card once entered! We just see the last four digits.

Things that terrify concern me:

• Identity theft - our house was broken a year ago this week, and they got our passports and more.
• Credit Card Fraud (I have not been a victim yet, but I have spoken with customers who are - we - EliteDresses will call when there is a suspicious transaction supposedly placed by you, and yes, unfortunately we have found some were fraudulent orders before we shipped).
• Online Privacy, lack of - stop laughing :-) Yes, I know about super cookies and what Google, FaceBook and associates can do - you are a product, not a customer.  And the record of your activities online are what is being sold to merchants.
• My family and personal privacy that I have control over (this is a hard balance)
• GPS Tracking of my location via my cell phone (all phones in the US since 2006 have had this do to an FCC requirement for E911 locations, Apple uses this for the find your iPhone application, which can be used by family members, like my wife, to see where I am, which is fine with me).

 And for those who would like to be a bit more knowledgeable about privacy:

Burglary Prevention - Some tips I wrote up on making your house less likely to get robbed (I do not want to go through another robbery).

Inside the shadow world of commercialised spook spyware - The Register

The Cyber Security Industrial Complex

Documents point to a huge industry that provides online surveillance tools to governments and police agencies.

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