How to Block Popup Ads on Android

Popup ads are extremely frustrating on desktop, but they’re sometimes a problem on mobile devices, too. If you’re sick of popups ruining your experience on Android, we’ll explain how you can put a stop to them.

Popup ads generally come in three forms:

1. In your Android web browser.
2. Notification area ads.
3. Fullscreen ads in apps.

Stop Popups in Chrome

Since Chrome is the default Android browser and you probably use it often, it makes sense to disable popups there first. Tweaking a quick setting will completely disable popups. To change it, open Chrome and touch the three-dot Menu button. Select Settings. Then, navigate to Site settings.

In this menu, you’ll see a list of properties that affect how websites interact with your device. Tap the Popups entry and make sure the slider is set to Block sites from showing popups. That’s all there is to it.

Control Notification Area Ads

While not technically popups, notification ads are still a problem and just as annoying. If you see spam notifications up in your notification area, a quick flip of a switch can shut them down for good. These instructions will differ slightly depending on which version of Android you use.

Pull down from the top of your screen to open your notification area. Long-press on the notification in question. You should see the name of the app responsible for it.

Depending on what version of Android your device runs, you can tap a button here to jump to that app’s notification settings. On any recent version of Android, you can also visit Settings > Apps and tap an app’s name to open those settings.

In Android 7.0 Oreo, select the App notifications option to change specific notification preferences. On Android 6.0 Marshmallow, you’ll have to tap the Notifications entry and then select Block all to stop notifications. Android 5.0 Lollipop users can simply uncheck the Show notifications box.

Blocking Fullscreen Popups

If you see popups when you’re playing a certain game or using an app, chances are that the current app is the culprit. In those cases, you have to decide whether the app is still worth using despite the ads.

To stop popups ads inside an app, you can purchase the Pro or ad-free versions of the app. You’ll usually find these either as a separate download on Google Play or as an in-app purchase. Unfortunately, not every developer offers these.

Apps like system cleaners and wallpaper collections are often filled with ads and could be your problem. Check recent reviews for apps you’re not sure about and see if other users have complained of popups. Uninstall any problematic apps and see if the popups persist.

If this doesn’t fix the problem, the next step is checking which apps have the permission to appear over other apps. Visit Settings > Apps & notifications > Advanced > Special app access > Display over other apps. Here, you’ll see all installed apps that you’ve given permission to show up even when you’re not using them.

Look through the list here and see if anything looks suspect. Some apps have legitimate reason to draw over others. For example, your SMS app may have a Quick Reply box, or you might use a password manager that fills other apps. But if you see anything here that shouldn’t have the permission, tap it and set the Allow display over other apps to Off.

The Top Frauds of 2017

The numbers are in, the counts have been made, and today the FTC announced what we heard from you during 2017. Here are some highlights:

• This year’s top fraud is again Imposter Scams, with nearly 350,000 reports. Nearly 1 in 5 people who reported an imposter scam lost money – a whopping $328 million lost to someone pretending to be a loved one in trouble, a government official, tech support, or someone else who’s not who they say they are, but who wants your money.
   
• We heard from nearly 2.7 million people last year. There were fewer debt collection reports in 2017 (23% of all reports), but it’s still the top category by a wide margin, followed by identity theft (14%), which overtook imposter scams (13%) for the number two slot in 2017.
   
• For everyone who reported identity theft, credit card fraud tops the list, and continues to grow. Reports of tax fraud are down 46%, but it was still reported by nearly 63,000 people.
   
• Of the more than 1.1 million people who reported fraud, 21% told us they lost a total of more than $905 million. That’s an increase of $63 million from 2016.
   
• People reported that scammers mostly contacted them by phone, and they mostly paid for frauds – once again – by wire transfer. But check out the $74 million in losses on credit cards, which are charges that could potentially be disputed and recovered, if done in time.
   
• Median losses tell an interesting story: for all fraud reports in 2017, the median loss was $429. Compare that to a $500 median loss to imposters, a $720 median fraud loss to scams that come in by phone, a $1,710 median loss related to travel, vacations and timeshares. Among military consumers, median losses were higher than the general population -- $619.
   
• More younger people reported losing money to fraud than older people – but when people aged 70 and older had a loss, it was a much higher median loss than other groups.
   
• And, based on reports per 100,000 population, the top states for fraud reports were Florida, Georgia and Nevada. For identity theft, it’s Michigan, Florida and California.

Have you spotted any scams? If so, tell the FTC – and then come back this time next year to hear what happened during 2018.

Why You Should Avoid Hotel Wi-Fi Like The Plague

Everybody loves free Wi-Fi. It's an important factor for the connected traveler when they're choosing a hotel, and there are even websites dedicated to finding hotels with fast Wi-Fi and testing speeds. But there's a problem: it's inherently unsafe.

Hotel Wi-Fi is designed for easy and frictionless access. Devices are connecting to insecure, non-encrypted Wi-Fi networks. The bottom line is this: use hotel Wi-Fi and you may be open to scams, hacks, viruses and malicious software attacks.

What's wrong with Wi-Fi?

The very nature of Wi-Fi, with traffic from all mobile devices broadcast loudly over the airwaves, makes any public Wi-Fi network insecure. With a cheap Wi-Fi adapter and some free software anyone can listen in on all conversations your phone or laptop is having with the outside world.

In general terms hotels have not implemented a network with business class segmentation. Many hotels also do not restrict the sites that guests can view, which leaves them wide open for external people to access.

Public and hotel Wi-Fi doesn't use WPA. Any device that is connected to hotel Wi-Fi is effectively sending all data in clear-text, allowing a remote attacker to identify and extract information.

Why is hotel Wi-Fi considered especially risky?

The sophisticated security systems usually in place on corporate networks are not present on these kind of connections and it's easier for cybercriminals to execute Man-in-the-Middle (MitM) and Man-in-the-Browser (MitB) attacks due to the lowered security standard.

A 2015 report found a critical vulnerability in the ANTlabs InnGate product used by hotels, which affected 277 hotels across 29 countries. The vulnerability enabled attackers to monitor and tamper with data traffic from Wi-Fi connections and gain access to hotels' management systems.

Who's intercepting hotel Wi-Fi?

The criminal gang compromises hotel Wi-Fi networks and then waits for a victim to logon to the network, before tricking them into downloading and installing a backdoor, which in turn infects the device with spying software.

This is the 'Evil Twin' hack. Hackers set up a fake network to mirror the real, freely available one, users unwittingly connect to the fake network, and then a hacker can steal account names and passwords, redirect victims to malware sites, and intercept files.

Last year, the Darkhotel group of hackers surfaced with a new attack, aimed at exploiting hotel Wi-Fi to target business travelers staying at high-end hotels. While they have long used Trojans combined with targeted phishing attacks, their latest efforts have evolved to use the Inexsmar malware. They use multi-stage Trojans, and the group has also targeted political figures using these techniques.

Tools like the Snoopy drone and Mana can automate these attacks and target a large number of people simultaneously. They have the ability to profile your device and figure out where you live and work.

Unless your data is encrypted and sharing is turned off hackers are free to rifle through all of the data on your device or whatever is passing through your connection. The lesson is simple; assume all alien Wi-Fi networks are insecure.

Protecting Baby Monitors From Hackers

With the number of single parent and two-income households increasing, the use of Wi-Fi-capable baby monitors has become indispensable to most. While many monitors are purchased for personal use, when children are left at home with other caretakers, many daycare centers have also shifted to video monitoring for parents’ comfort. Both options allow parents to log in to the monitor via smartphone application or a computer.

An Unsecured Monitor Can Endanger Your Home and Family

The growing number of wireless connections has also the increased the risk of attack by digital predators. The problem is that many users do not think of these devices as working just the same as a computer; they have the false ideal that something as innocent as a baby monitor cannot put their homes and families at risk.

Unfortunately, without proper security, infant monitors can be an open door into your life. If a hacker were to gain access to your baby monitor, particularly one with video capabilities, they could cause physical, financial and emotional harm to your family.

When connected with your monitor, a hacker will have full access to all of the same controls that you do when logged in remotely. This means that if you have a talk-back feature or the ability to pan and zoom the camera, the hacker will as well.

For the burglar, having audio and video access into your home, even if it just in the nursery, will give them a good idea of when to strike.

Identity thieves also like to take advantage of these features, especially if you have cameras set up in multiple areas of your house. They can zoom in on personal documents or look over your shoulder at the computer screen or they can utilize the audio to listen in on personal conversations to get information they want.

While the thought of these criminals having access to your family is enough to instill in you a sense of wariness, arguably the most unsettling type of criminal who is interested in your baby monitor is the voyeur. They will either sit in silence and watch, without you ever knowing, or they may like to taunt and haunt, speaking out to you or your child.

Regardless of the motives behind a monitor breach, the truth is you do not want anyone ‒ even your next-door neighbor ‒ to have access to the goings-on within your home and precautions need to be taken in order to secure your monitor and network.

Secure Your Monitor

The first step is to conduct research into the monitors on the market. Know what features make certain devices more secure and know which companies are reputable. Be aware of the ins and outs of your monitor so that you can be quick to respond should it be hacked.

FHSS Technology

There are two types of spread spectrum radio: direct-sequence spread spectrum (DSSS) and   frequency-hopping spread spectrum (FHSS). While both have their benefits when it comes to security, the most secure baby monitors employ FHSS, if not simply based on lower overhead cost.

What does this mean?

If you grew up in the days when kids didn’t have cell phones and walkie-talkies were the best means of moderate-range communication, you will remember how easy it was for someone outside of your group to end up on the same channel (or frequency) you were using.

The same thing can happen to baby monitors, particularly the ones that are not connected via wireless. FHSS helps to prevent this from happening. It limits outside access by randomly hopping frequencies at an incredible rate (the Federal Communications Commission requires that devices spread over 75 frequencies within a period of 400 milliseconds), making it harder to establish a connection.

Analog vs. Digital

The terms digital and analog do not only apply to baby monitors; they are two types of signals that are transmitted to electronic devices. The main difference is that analog is “translated into electric pulses of varying amplitude” and digital is in “binary format”.

What does this mean for your baby monitor?

If the thought of a baby monitor brings to mind muffled sound over a steady stream of static, you are thinking of an analog monitor. While many analog models are becoming more and more obsolete as parents opt for the video and wireless models, they can still be a popular choice for the budget-conscious parent.

Irritating background noise is not all that analog monitors are known for. Their connection range is notoriously short and they are highly prone to inference from other analog devices, such as taxi and truck radios.

Digital monitors’ stronger signal and binary coding makes for a more secure monitor. That is not to say digital monitors are impervious to hacking or interference – digital devices such as cell phones and routers can disrupt the signal – but rather that they are a better choice over analog in terms of security.

Update Software Regularly

How often do you see notifications for updates on your computer or smartphone? How often do you actually conduct them? While few updates come with new features and the number of updates you are prompted for may seem daunting and irritating, keeping your software up to date is crucial when it comes to security.

Hackers are smart and quick; as soon as new software is available for an electronic device, they are at work trying to pull it apart and get into it. All of those updates that you see pop up can help to slow them down, keeping your device safe with the latest protection and software.

When using a baby monitor that is connected via wireless, make sure you are aware of how it needs to be updated. If you access it through a web page, it will likely automatically be updated, whereas if you access it via mobile app, you may need to install them manually.

Secure Your Network

Over the years, manufacturers have made numerous changes to the components of baby monitors in order to make them more secure for families. However, even with all of these changes, there are still potential risks when using these monitors while connected to the internet, particularly if there have been no measures taken to secure your network.

Customized Network ID and Password

The first step to improving the security of your wireless local area network (WLAN) is to change the preset service set identifier (SSID). This is essentially the name of your wireless network. Every router and hotspot has one that is already set by the manufacturer and by leaving it as the default, you can leave yourself vulnerable to cyberattacks.

Routers manufactured by the same company may repeat SSIDs on their units. This means that your router has the potential to match the name of several others. Hackers have ways of finding these names and if your router’s SSID is on their list, they can gain access to it. Creating a custom name minimizes this risk.

You can also lock down your SSID by disabling SSID broadcasting, which will hide your Wi-Fi network. This will mean that anyone who wants to access your network will have to know the SSID first (meaning they will not be able to find it in the list of available networks when trying to connect to the internet).

In addition to changing your SSID, you will also want to change your password. Many wireless router companies will use stock passwords and just like SSIDs, these passwords may repeat ‒ giving hackers a good idea of what to use to access your network.

Customize your password and make it secure. This means using a “passphrase” that is at least 12 characters with a mixture of upper and lower case letters, symbols, numbers and/or spaces. And use a unique password for each account.

Wireless Encryption

The next step you will want to take is to encrypt the data that is processed through your wireless router, but before you are able to do that, you need to know what type of encryption to use.

There are actually three different types of data encryption on routers that function on the 802.11 standard: wired equivalency protection (WEP), Wi-Fi protected access (WPA) and Wi-Fi protected access 2 (WPA2).

The first was established in the 1990s as the first 802.11 standard encryption algorithm but was quickly discovered to have some major security flaws, including those that contributed to cyberattacks on major retailers.

After many years and improvements to security, WPA2 emerged. Developed by the U.S. government in 2004 to protect classified data, it is now the security standard for all wireless routers. It is not without its flaws, as no method of internet security is foolproof, but it is the most secure encryption standard currently available.

However, WPA2 is not always automatically equipped on your router and may need to be turned on manually. You can find instructions on how to do this either in your router’s user manual or through its web page.

Cyberattacks can result from any Wi-Fi-capable device, including your baby monitor. Taking precautions when selecting your baby monitor and securing your wireless network can help to protect you and your family from unsettling and invasive attacks.

The New ID Theft: Millions of Credit Applicants Who Don’t Exist

From a townhouse near a megachurch in Atlanta, Kelvin Lyles recruited about 300 accomplices to embark on a crime spree. His group scammed ATMs, internet retailers and credit-card companies, grabbing around $350,000, until late 2015, when federal agents closed in.

Mr. Lyles was the only one convicted. None of his accomplices existed.

In a twist on ID theft, criminals are deploying figments of their imaginations, in what is often called synthetic-identity fraud. It’s one of the fastest growing forms of identity crimes, the Justice Department says, and among the hardest to combat.

Because the person taking out cards or loans isn’t real, there are no consumer victims to alert lenders. When companies and law enforcement discover something amiss, they often wind up chasing ghosts. Mr. Lyles secured credit cards often using fictional names and numbers the Social Security Administration hadn’t yet assigned.

Synthetic-identity fraud exploits a vulnerability in America’s consumer-credit system. Lenders often consider a loan applicant legitimate if the applicant has a credit report at Equifax Inc., TransUnion or Experian PLC. But a new “credit file”—essentially a precursor to a credit report—often gets created when someone simply applies, even if the loan doesn’t come through.

Some lenders approve loans after reviewing credit files, which helps turn those files into full credit reports. That’s how a fictitious person, or 300 fictional people, can end up with a credit card.

While a small part of total identity-fraud losses—that number hit about $16.8 billion in 2017, according to consulting firm Javelin Strategy & Research—synthetic-identity losses are soaring.

TransUnion says a record $355 million in outstanding credit-card balances was owed by people who it suspects didn’t exist in 2017, up more than eightfold from 2012. It estimates lenders have issued credit cards or loans to millions of synthetic identities in the U.S.

In January, Accenture PLC listed synthetic-identity fraud as one of the biggest threats facing banks in 2018, saying it would be “costing banks billions of dollars and countless hours as they chase down people who don’t even exist.”