A New Way to Report Identity Theft

Identity theft is hard enough. That’s why we keep working to make recovering from it easier. It’s also why we’re happy to let you know about an innovative project by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) that lets people report tax-related identity theft to the IRS online, using the FTC’s IdentityTheft.gov website to file IRS Form 14039.

Tax-related identity theft happens when someone uses your stolen Social Security number (SSN) to file a tax return and claim your refund. You might find out about it when you try to e-file — only to find that someone else already has submitted a return — or when the IRS sends you a letter saying it has identified a suspicious tax return that used your SSN. That’s when you’ll need to file an IRS Identity Theft Affidavit (IRS Form 14039), so that the IRS can begin resolving your case.

Now, you can report to the IRS through IdentityTheft.gov. It’s the only place you can submit your IRS Form 14039 electronically. Here’s how it works: IdentityTheft.gov will first ask you questions to collect the information the IRS needs, then use your information to populate the Form 14039 and let you review it. Once you’re satisfied, you can submit the Form 14039 to the IRS through IdentityTheft.gov. Download a copy for your own records, too. About 30 days later, the IRS will send you a letter confirming it received the information.

While you’re at IdentityTheft.gov, you’ll also get help making an identity theft recovery plan, with guidance including how to place a fraud alert on your credit files, check your credit reports, and take other steps to stop the identity theft from harming other of your accounts. IdentityTheft.govalso will help you resolve other identity theft problems.

Remember, though — filing the Affidavit doesn’t eliminate the need to pay your taxes. If you couldn’t e-file your tax return, you’ll still need to mail it to the IRS and pay any taxes you owe.

We hope you don’t run into problems with identity theft. But if you or someone you know does, visit IdentityTheft.gov to report it and get fast and effective recovery help.

Suspect Caught in China After Being Detected by Facial Recognition Device

A Chinese man who was wanted by police for “economic crimes” was arrested at a music concert in China after facial recognition technology spotted him inside the venue.

The man was attending a concert by Hong Kong singer Jacky Cheung in the Nanchang, Jiangxi province when security cameras recognized him. According to the South China Morning Post, the man, only identified by family name Ao, was shocked when police approached him. Ao had driven 56 miles with his wife to attend the concert, telling authorities he felt safe in the crowd, estimated to be over 50,000, and that he would have never gone if he thought there was a chance he would be identified. “Ao was suspected to be involved in an economic crime and was listed on a national online system,” police officer Li Jin said. “He was very shocked and had a blank face when we caught him.”

This isn’t the first time China’s facial recognition technology has caught criminals at public events. Last year, 25 wanted individuals were arrested at a beer festival when cameras at entrances flagged the subjects’ faces. Police in Zhengzhou are also testing glasses with built-in facial recognition at select train stations, and they say it’s already helped to capture seven suspects wanted in major cases, as well as 26 individuals traveling under false identities. The tech is also being utilized in more innocuous ways, like paying for orders at a KFC in Hangzhou.

China has ramped up tracking technologies in recent years, becoming a burgeoning tech-surveillance state. One estimate suggests the country will have more than 600 million CCTV cameras by 2020, and the country is instituting a “social credit” system beginning in May that will dock low-ranking citizens in ways like banning them from buying plane or train tickets for up to a year.

Santander Launches a Blockchain-Based Foreign Exchange Service

Santander has launched a foreign exchange service that uses blockchain technology to make same-day international money transfers.

The service, called Santander One Pay FX, uses tech developed by blockchain firm Ripple. Santander said it is the first cross-border payments service using blockchain to be made by a bank.

Blockchain, or distributed ledger technology, is a decentralized network that records a growing list of transactions. It was originally used as the technology to underpin bitcoin but banks have become increasingly interested in other use cases, like clearing and settling payments.

Santander's blockchain-powered foreign exchange platform is currently live in four different countries — Spain, the U.K., Brazil and Poland. A wider roll-out is expected in coming months, the bank said.

Innoventures, a $200 million fintech, or financial technology, venture capital fund set up by Santander, was one of a number of investors to participate in Ripple's first round of funding in 2015.

Ripple has struck partnerships with multiple banks and other financial institutions, including Santander. Banks are less keen to use the firm's digital currency XRP, but earlier this year two money transfer firms, MoneyGram and Western Union, announced projects involving the cryptocurrency.

On Wednesday, Ripple invested $25 million into a fund started by Blockchain Capital, a venture capital firm dedicated to blockchain.

RIP Passwords: New Web Standard Designed to Replace Login Method

A new web standard is expected to kill passwords, meaning users will no longer have to remember difficult logins for each and every website or service they use.

The Web Authentication (WebAuthn) standard is designed to replace the password with biometrics and devices that users already own, such as a security key, a smartphone, a fingerprint scanner or webcam.

Instead of having to remember an increasingly long string of characters, users can authenticate their login with their body or something they have in their possession, communicating directly with the website via Bluetooth, USB or NFC.

One example of how WebAuthn will work is that when a user visits a site they want to log into, they input a user name and then get an alert on their smartphone. Tapping on the alert on their phone then logs them into the website without the need for a password.

WebAuthn promises to protect users against phishing attacks and the use of stolen credentials as there will be nothing to steal, the authentication token is generated and used once by their specific device each time the user logs in.

WebAuthn should also help people use unique login details for each and every service they use, instead of using the same login and password for every site, which many people still do leaving them vulnerable to further attacks if one site is hacked.

Several sites and services already use similar methods to log in, including Google and Facebook, which can both be logged into using a USB security key. But a single cross-platform, cross-service standard ratified by the W3C will mean that many more sites and services will be able to kill the password as the defacto login method.

WebAuthn is the culmination of many years of work and the change will not happen overnight. But as it increasingly seems inevitable that our email or other online services will get hacked into, removing the password is an important step in improving online security and making using sites and services easier.

How to Fix a Slow iPad

Is your iPad running slowly? Does it seem to get bogged down after a few hours? While this is more common with older iPads that don't have the processing power of the iPad Air line and iPad Pro tablets, even the newest iPad can bog down. There are multiple reasons why an iPad may begin running slow, including an app having issues or simply a slow internet connection. 

Quit Out of Your Current App

One common reason for an iPad to start chugging along is an issue with the app itself rather than the iPad. If you experience an app that is running slower than normal, it may sound logical to click the home button to close the app and then relaunch it. However, clicking the home button doesn't actually close out of the app. It suspends the app, which basically keeps it frozen in the background.  

If your problem is mainly with a single app, we'll want to quit out of it using the task screen. This will properly shut the app down and purge it from memory, allowing you to launch a 'fresh' version of it. Please note that you can lose unsaved work by quitting out of the app. If it is currently working at a task, it can be best to wait until the app finishes the task before proceeding.

To close the application, you need to bring up a list of all apps that are running in the background:

• Double-press the home button at the bottom of your iPad.
• When you press it twice in quick succession, your most recent apps are shown as cascading windows across the screen. You can navigate through this screen by swiping from left-to-right or right-to-left. The active window will have its corresponding app icon above it.

To close an individual app:

• Hold your finger down on the active window.
• Without lifting your finger from the screen, swipe toward the top of the display. This gesture resembles "flicking" the app off the iPad. Remember: You touch the app window, not the app icon.

Reboot the iPad

Closing apps won't always do the trick. In this case, rebooting the iPad is the best recourse. This will flush everything from memory and give your iPad a clean start.

Note: Many people believe the iPad powers down when the Sleep/Wake button at the top of the iPad is pressed down or when the flap of their Smart Cover or Smart Case is close, but this only puts the iPad in suspend mode.

To reboot the iPad:

1. Hold down the Sleep/Wake button until instructions appear telling you to slide a button to power off the iPad.
2. When you slide the button, the tablet will shut down and the iPad's screen will go completely dark. 
3. Wait several seconds and then boot the iPad back up by holding down the sleep/wake button again. You will first see the Apple logo on the screen and your iPad should boot up shortly.

Once you've rebooted, your iPad should run more quickly but if it starts bogging down again, keep in mind the apps that are running at the time. Sometimes, a single app can cause the iPad to perform poorly.

Check Your Wi-Fi Connection

It might be your Wi-Fi network that's running slow. You can check the Internet speed of your Wi-Fi network by using an app like Ookla's Speedtest. This app will send data to a remote server and then send data back to the iPad, testing both upload and download speeds.

The average Wi-Fi network in the U.S. gets around 12 megabits-per-second (Mbps), although it is not uncommon to see speeds of 25+ Mbps. You probably won't see much of a slowdown with your connection unless it gets around 6 Mbps or less. That's about the amount of bandwidth it takes to stream movies and video.

Make Sure You Are Running the Current Version of iOS

iOS is the operating system running on the iPad. While a major update sometimes will actually slow the iPad down a little, it is always a good idea to run the latest operating system. Not only will this ensure that you have the most recent performance tweaks, it also ensures that you have the latest fixes for any security issues.

You can check the version of iOS you are running by going into your Settings app, tapping General settings and tapping Software Update.

Install an Ad Blocker

If you are primarily seeing a slow down while browsing the web in the Safari browser but your Internet speed isn't slow, it may be more a symptom of which pages you are browsing than the iPad itself.

The more advertisements on a web page, the longer it will take to load. And if any one of those ads stalls out, you may be left waiting for the web page to pop up.

One solution to this is to install an ad blocker. These widgets enhance the Safari browser by disallowing ads to load on the web page. They make both for easier reading and faster loading. Sites like this one make money from ads, so this is a balance you have to wrestle with.

Turn Off Background App Refresh

This one could actually save you some battery life as well as keep your iPad lean and mean. Background App Refresh allows apps to refresh their content even when you aren't using them. In this way, Facebook might reach out and retrieve posts to your wall or a news app may fetch the latest articles.

However, this uses a little bit of your processing speed and your Internet connection, so it could the iPad to run a little slower. This usually isn't the main cause, but if you often find the iPad running slow (and especially if the battery drains quickly), you should turn off Background App Refresh.

To turn off Background App Refresh:

1. Go to your iPad's settings.
2. Select General from the left-hand navigation menu.
3. Tap Background App Refresh.
4. Tap the on/off slider at the top of the screen.

Clear Storage Space

If you are running desperately low on storage space, clearing up a little extra elbow room for the iPad can sometimes improve performance. This can be accomplished by deleting apps that you no longer use, especially games that you don't play anymore.

It's easy to see which apps are using the most space on your iPad:

1. Go to Settings.
2. Select General from the left-hand navigation menu.
3. Tap Storage & iCloud usage.
4. Tap Manage Storage (under the upper Storage section). This will show you which apps are using up the most storage.

You can also speed up Safari by deleting your cookies and web history, although this will cause you to log back into any websites that have saved your login information.