After Facebook Data Breach, Here's 6 Tips on How to Secure Your Personal Information

This weekend, The New York Times and The Observer of London reported that Cambridge Analytica, a political data-mining and consulting firm, collected and accessed over 50 million Facebook users' private information without their knowledge.

The data, originally claimed to have been collected for academic purposes, reportedly was later used to target Facebook users for crafted ads and messages for President Donald Trump’s 2016 election campaign.

What makes this breach unique is that Cambridge Analytica didn’t steal this information — it was given to the company.

In 2014, a survey app was crafted titled ThisIsYourDigitalLife. Facebook users could connect it to their accounts, granting access to their profiles.

When breaches and hacks happen to major companies, from Target to Equifax, users and consumers are often left anxiety-ridden about the safety and security of their personal information.

Social media users should assess why they’re handing over personal information before doing so. You should ask yourself, ‘Do I know what people are going to do with my data?’

Here are six tips to help prevent your digital information from being used without your consent.

Share with care. What you put on the web can last a lifetime. Before posting about yourself with others, think about how it will be perceived now and in the future.

Own your online presence. Set your privacy settings to a comfort level good for you. Urge people to really think about it deeply.

Spring clean. The same way you spring clean your house, the same needs to be done for your computer. Look at all your apps, and ask what are they trying to find out about you. Get rid of the apps you aren’t using.

Secure devices. Use facial recognition or long pass phrases instead of passwords. Passwords with special characters are hard to crack, but also hard to remember. Longer phrases are better, like ‘mary had a little lamb.’ Find a pass phrase that is something long that you’ll remember and will be difficult to replicate.

Use two-step verification. Your most important sites, like banking and health apps, should have a code or fingerprint after the pass codes.

Ask why you’re giving certain information. If you’re taking an online quiz, that quiz doesn’t need to know your address and phone number. Be careful if you feel (uncomfortable) disclosing info to certain questions. Vendors can be putting together a profile on you based on the info you give.

Macy's Will Use VR to Let Shoppers 'See' Furniture in Their Homes

Macy's is turning to mobile checkout options and virtual reality in an effort to get more people in its stores. The former uses the store's app and aims to make getting out of the mall easier. The latter is for designing a room's look with furniture and furnishings.

To use the in-store mobile checkout you'll have to be on the Macy's WiFi network. From there you scan your items with your phone's camera. Before walking out, you'll have to go to a special station near the door to verify your purchases with an employee, but it all sounds relatively painless. Macy's says "most" merchandise will be available with the feature, but that it won't apply to "leased departments" or expensive jewelry.

With the VR tools, you'll layout the rough shape and design of your room with a provided tablet. And once that's set in place, you can place virtual sofas and loveseats around the room before donning a VR helmet and seeing how they "feel" in your space. It almost sounds like a stopgap for Macy's' next application though: augmented reality. Next month, an update will start rolling out for its mobile app, which will enable you to see how a new credenza will look in your room, not a roughshod approximation of it.

Testing for the mobile check-out is rolling out right now and will wrap by year's end, starting with the the New York Bloomingdale's in SoHo. As far as the VR goes, there's a pilot program running in Manhattan, New Jersey and Florida, with it going online in 60 more stores by this fall.

Uber Halts Driverless-Car Program After Pedestrian Death

Pilot models of the Uber self-driving car is displayed at the Uber Advanced Technologies Center on Sept. 13, 2016.

On Sunday night, an autonomous car operated by Uber — and with an emergency backup driver behind the wheel — struck and killed a woman on a street in Tempe, Ariz. It was believed to be the first pedestrian death associated with self-driving technology. The company quickly suspended testing in Tempe as well as in Pittsburgh, San Francisco and Toronto.

The Uber car, a Volvo XC90 sport utility vehicle outfitted with the company’s sensing system, was in autonomous mode with a human safety driver at the wheel but carrying no passengers when it struck Elaine Herzberg, a 49-year-old woman, on Sunday around 10 p.m.

A self-driving Uber car at the scene of a fatal accident in Tempe, Arizona

Sgt. Ronald Elcock, a Tempe police spokesman, said during a news conference that a preliminary investigation showed that the vehicle was moving around 40 miles per hour when it struck Ms. Herzberg, who was walking with her bicycle on the street. He said it did not appear as though the car had slowed down before impact and that the Uber safety driver had shown no signs of impairment. The weather was clear and dry.

Waymo, which has been testing autonomous vehicles on public roads since 2009 when it was Google’s self-driving car project, has said its cars have driven more than 5 million miles while Uber’s cars have covered 3 million miles.

In 2016, a man driving his Tesla using Autopilot, the car company’s self-driving feature, died on a state highway in Florida when his car crashed into a tractor-trailer that was crossing the road. Federal regulators later ruled there were no defects in the system to cause the accident.

Facebook Lite Is Rolling Out For Android In The US This Week

There’s an app for everything nowadays — which means it’s easy to quickly fill up your storage on your smartphone. This week, we have a lighter version of an app that you most likely scroll through a few times a day.

Facebook Lite — available for Android — has officially expanded to the U.S. Facebook originally built the app specifically for those in developing countries, who have slower connectivity. With an APK (Android Package Kit) of less than 1 megabyte in size to install, people can download it in seconds, regardless of how sluggish their connection is.

To compare, the regular Facebook app on Android has a download size of 63 megabytes. But of course, with daily use, both versions of the app accrue data in the cache when looking at stories, images, posts, and other content. Using the regular Facebook app, three weeks of usage took up about 567 megabytes of storage.

With Facebook Lite, you still have access to all of the basic features, like posting to a timeline, searching people, liking photos and posts, as well as editing your profile and groups. There’s also special features such as finding and RSVPing to local social events, saving photos to specific photo album, following others, looking up information on local businesses, and more. You can also view stories people stories and add your own.

Facebook usage is narrowed down to the basics — all I need to be able to do is view my notifications and scroll mindlessly through the feed. With Facebook Lite, you can easily accomplish both of those tasks.

The only downside is the interface, which is completely stripped down version of the main Facebook app and it looks a bit dated. But that’s to be expected with a lite version that takes up so little room and also works on 2G networks. At the top, you have what looks like a toolbar with your timeline, friend requests, Messenger Lite (which you’ll have to download if you want to send messages) notifications, search tool, and a space to access all of the different features along with your settings.

The navigations are the same as well, but the interface isn’t as smooth — it feels a bit more rigid. But it’s easy to get used to and doesn’t negatively impact scrolling or tapping on different posts. It’s also barely noticeable once you’re on the app for a while. Whenever you pull down on refresh your feed, you’ll see a status bar load at the top, which loads the feed slower than the regular Facebook app, but only by a few seconds. The photos are also as clear as they would be on the regular Facebook app, so you don’t have to deal with glitchy or grainy pictures or videos while scrolling through.

While it’s definitely not as glamorous in comparison to the Facebook app, Lite is for those who are looking for a less bloated and less saturated version of Facebook. But it also might not be the best option for those who use Facebook constantly. It provides more of the old-school Facebook feel, where its only purpose was to connect, interact, and keep up with old friends and family. If you’re looking to go back to the basics, then this app is definitely the better option.

Smartphone Privacy and Security

The increasing use of smartphones for daily activities, such as emailing, banking, web browsing, shopping, bill tracking, social networking, file storage, and entertainment gives your mobile device the ability to know everything about you.  Not only do you know your smartphone, but your smartphone knows you.  Your smartphone’s knowledge, if not protected, is a potential risk to your security and privacy.  The ultimate question to ask: Is my privacy and security at risk?

Mobile malware is a rising threat. What is mobile malware?

Mobile malware is a program specially created to infect your mobile phone or device.  Once installed on your device, it may disrupt the phone’s system, in order to gather information stored in the device.  It may also gain access to the device’s operating system, and take over the phone.

Mobile malware may present itself through fake mobile applications, web-browsing, and SMS/Text messages.

• App-based malware attacks can target a user’s financial information.  This might include bank account numbers, passwords, and PINs.  The access of such information may result in the loss of money and/or account take-over.
• Web-based Smartphone attacks can be a result of clicking on an unsafe link.  This may potentially give rise to “Phishing” scams or downloading infected files.
• SMS/Text message-based attacks can be used to spread malware through unsolicited SMS/texts that request the user to reply or click on a link.  Unbeknownst to the user, malware may be installed on the device, leading to unauthorized access to the device’s information.

Securing your Smartphone device:

• Passcode:  A passcode is a simple step you can take to protect your smartphone.  If it is stolen, with all of your personal information, this simple step may be the key to protecting your information from unauthorized users. 
• Antivirus software:  Use mobile security antivirus software.   There are Smartphone apps designed to monitor and protect your device against malware and spyware.
• Software updates:  Updating your smartphone’s operating software is another step towards securing your device. Software updates are designed to fix problems in the device’s operating program, which may include fixing security vulnerabilities or other bugs that may diminish your smartphone’s performance. Therefore, stay up-to-date on any software updates and make sure to install the latest version.

Important Note:  Do not allow your device to remember passwords. If your device is lost or stolen, the information is now compromised.

Android or iPhone: Which one do you have?

• Regardless of whether you use and Android or an iPhone, your privacy and security may be at risk.  Understanding the operating system of your smartphone will require work on your part.  This knowledge will help you understand the capabilities of your device and help you understand potential threats to privacy and security.
• Both platforms have their own App Stores and both employ different security measures to monitor and vet the apps that are allowed to be on the Android Market or the Apple App Store:
• Android’s Google Market runs an open market. As the smartphone industry grows, it attracts more malware developers to organize attacks and put smartphone privacy and security at risk. The Android Market has been criticized by the industry several times for not vetting its mobile applications before they are added to the Android Market. What does this mean for you Android phone users? You will need to exercise caution when downloading apps to your device.
• If you are an iPhone user, Apple reviews applications before they are added to the App Store. According to Computerworld, “When Apple reviews an app, it tries to verify several things, including these: Does the app do what it says it does? Does it function reliably? And does it respect the limitations that Apple has put on developers?” However, despite tighter security measures, it does not exempt the iPhone user from privacy and security threats. 

Application Permissions/Access:

Ever wonder if the apps that you download put you at risk?  If not, you probably should. Many apps are designed to capture a wide range of information. Did you know that apps can:

• Read phone state and identity?
• Track your location?
• Read owner data?
• Read contact data?
• Record audio – your calls?
• Take pictures?
• Modify or delete SD card content?
• Edit SMS/text or MMS messages?
• Write sync settings?
• Send SMS messages?
• Write contact data?
• Fully access the internet?

The best security practices when downloading apps are exercising caution and reviewing the app’s ratings, regardless of whether the app is free or paid.

You should carefully examine and pay attention to the permissions the app is requesting to access:

• Android Market apps require the user to either grant or deny access – if you deny access you will not be able to download and install the app.
• iPhone apps will not disclose what the application has permission to access. When downloading an app whether free or paid, Apple requires the recognition of consent by having the user sign in using their Apple account.  The primary reason behind Apple’s non-disclosure of the information, according to Computerworld, is because “Apple tries to prevent developers from having full-scale access to all of the data and hardware” on a device running on Apple’s operating system. However, apps still have access to certain system components.

Because apps have access to a lot of your personal information and data on your Smartphone, familiarize yourself with what the app really needs in order to run.  If you feel it requires more than it really should, reconsider installing it.

Only download applications you trust.  Android users are allowed to download apps from third-parties, whereas, iPhone users are only allowed to download apps from the Apple Store; unless, of course the iPhone has been “jail-broken.”  Jail-broken iPhones can download applications from the “Cydia App Store” (apps that have not been approved by Apple).

Location (GPS) and WiFi:

• Many applications request permission to access location.  Consider turning off the location services (GPS) on your phone to protect your location privacy, unless it is necessary to perform a desired function.  Keep in mind that you have the ability to enable and disable the location services on your phone.
• Have you ever taken photographs with your smartphone and posted them online?  What’s the worst that can happen? As careful as you may be, if your GPS is enabled, your personal information may be exposed through a process called “geotagging.”
  • According to PCmag.com, “Geotagging adds the current geographic location of the camera or smartphone to an image or message, or adds the static geographic location of a street address.”
  • This information most often includes latitude and longitude coordinates which are derives from a global positioning system (GPS).
  • While it sounds complicated, it really isn’t.  It simply means the marking of a video, photo, or other media with an embedded location of where it was taken.
  • Smartphones featuring GPS have made this “tagging” possible.
  •  “Geotagging” has been considered an infringement on public privacy and problems can arise if the information is given out unknowingly and/ or pulled by the wrong people. So, the photograph you took in front of your computer, at your doorstep, etc. has been recorded and may have possibly given your location.
• To protect yourself, you can:
  • Turn the geotagging feature off.  
  • Download disabling software (it will search for geotagging information and delete it before sending).
  • Be aware and educate yourself.  Understand the information you are sharing.
  • Consider what you post on the Internet.  You never know who has access to it.
• Protect your privacy and security by exercising caution while doing financial transactions or checking banking information while connected to public wireless networks (WiFi). Credit card and personal information transmitted through public WiFi may be up for grabs by identity thieves.
• If you are a Smartphone user, it is highly recommended to use your Provider’s 3G or 4G Network to conduct any financial business.  After all, you are paying for the service.