Hindi maipagkakailang lalong nagiging tanyag ang pag gamit ng mga mobile devices. Sa kabila nito, lalo din namang nadadagdagan ang bilang ng mga cyber crimes. Sa ngayon, ang internet ay accessible o bukas halos sa lahat, gamit ang smartphones at iba pang digital devices. Ito ang isa sa malalaking dahilan upang ang mga maykapangyarihan ay maghanap ng makabagong paraan upang labanan ang ganitong uri ng mga krimen. Hindi na umuubra ang mga nakagawiang paraan; kailangan ang maparaang pagharap dito, gamit din ang teknolohiyang gamit ng mga cyber criminals.

Sa state ng California sa United States of America, itinatag ang bagong eCrime Unit upang manghuli at maglitis ng mga internet crooks. Ang team na ito ay binuo ng isang state attorney general at kinabibilangan ng dalawampung abogado at imbestigador. Bihasa sila sa mga makabagong paraan upang matunton at matukoy ang mga maysala. Kabilang sa mga tinututukan ng team na ito ay mga email scams, piracy, child pornography, online fraud, at marami pang iba. Kawawa lamang ang mga taong nabiktima at patuloy na nabibiktima mapa-offline man o mapa-online.

Naipakulong na ng team ang isang lalaking nahatulan ng guilty sa kasong hacking ng mga email at Facebook accounts. Marami nang nabiktima ang lalaking ito na ang karaniwang modus ay pasukin ang account ng ibang user. Pagkatapos ay maghahanap siya ng mga kontrobersiyal na larawan ng may-ari ng account. Tatakutin niya ito na ikakalat sa internet ang mga larawan kapag hindi sinunod ang gusto niya.

Ang internet ay napakahalaga sa ekonomiya, sa mga tao, at sa mga negosyo. Dahil dito, hindi na kailangang maghanap ng biktima ang mga cyber criminals. Napakaraming maaaring maging biktima ng pagnanakaw ng mga impormasyon. Ang taong 2012 ay nakikinikinitang magiging taon ng matinding pakikipaglaban sa online crimes. Naranasan noong isang taon ang napakaraming mga scams at inaasahang marami pang darating ngayong taon.

Ito naman ang dahilan ng pagpapaigting ng kampanya laban sa ecrime. Ang bagong eCrime Unit ay naglalayong makagawa ng isang bagong trend ng pakikipaglaban sa online crimes. Sinabi ng attorney general mula California na gusto nilang manguna sa makabagong paraan sa paghahanap at paglilitis ng mga maysala. Gamit ang internet technology na siya ring gamit ng mga criminal, mapatutunayang ang batas ay mangingibabaw sa lahat ng oras.

There are many names to call it, but all in all, a natural disaster is one that comes with or without warning. The past year was overloaded with natural catastrophes that cost billions of dollars. People in the United States alone suffered from several hurricanes and tornadoes. There were many areas that were rocked and destroyed by earthquakes, like the East Coast, Colorado and Peru. Japan had her share of tsunami, and Queensland, Australia, Bangkok and most recently, the Philippines suffered from destructive floods. These events tend to send a lesson across – that natural disasters should be put in the top risk concern.

Today, businesses and government agencies should prepare for all of these looming disasters. Each should have an individual plan for disaster recovery. In today’s information-driven world, further disasters can result from power outages and network failures. There should still be time for every business to adjust and respond to risks. In any possible event, there should be uninterrupted and continuous access to either personal or corporate data.

The continuous increase in data breaches at health care providers has raised privacy concerns. There were some studies conducted in order to find out the main cause of these breaches. Some of the hospitals surveyed said that it is due to insufficient funding for security. Others said that lost or stolen devices contributed greatly to the sudden surge in data breaches. The first reason could be attributed more to the government’s priorities in dispensing funds, but the second one seems to point to human error, or the lack of knowledge on the part of the health care professionals on how to secure patient data.

Mobile technology is now widely used in almost all private and public organizations. The use of smartphones or tablets has made it very convenient for people to manage data. Doctors and other health care professionals are now using these gadgets for electronic health records. These tools, as observers point out, lack the much needed, required security. Working on their own, some doctors are using these gadgets without ample knowledge on the use of encryption technology, or even passwords.

For every increase in the number of shoppers who visit retail stores, there is a corresponding increase in incidents of identity theft and fraud. It seems that it is connected with the use of credit cards, checks and identification documents. Shoppers have been warned to be extra careful when using these personal information-containing cards and documents. Thieves are out there waiting for the right opportunity to steal personal information or to commit fraud. The holiday season encourages them to heighten their operations because shoppers seem to be more energized than observant.

In the United States, at least two regions have reported a large increase in identity crimes, most of which are data breaches. The cost of information that is stolen from companies costs more than $150 billion in the national picture. This was reported by LifeLock Consumer Education that spanned the years from 2005 to 2010. The theory is that this is a result of technology that criminals take advantage of, plus human error on the part of consumers.

Is there a new computer malware that was released in time for Christmas? Yes, and as always, this new malware attack comes in a disguise; this time as a license key. There are spam emails that pretend to come from Adobe, and the license key is supposed to be for Adobe InDesign. This desktop publishing software is one of Adobe’s most useful products at present.

The emails sent bear the subject InDesign CS4 License Key, and looks very convincing. It is not easy for users to suspect that the emails are spam. It uses very subtle encouragement for them to explore what is new about InDesign and how its features were enhanced. The email bears an attachment that supposedly contains tips, tutorials, and eSeminars.

It was noted that there were different versions of emails; each one being slightly different from the other. The emails also used different reference numbers in the subject line. Some attachments bear the filename “AdobeSystems-Software_Critical Update Dec_2011-[random].zip”; others have the filename “License_key_ID[random number].zip”.

Hackers know that users are concerned about their security so they use subtle threats in their emails. To make sure that users open the attachment, they “promise” such things as advanced features. Furthermore, there is insinuation that work productivity would not be enhanced unless users open the file.

Users who do not have sufficient knowledge about how malwares are spammed out are likely to open the attachment. Not realizing that it contains malicious software, they will install it and so, their Windows computers are infected with it. Sophos said that its antivirus software detects the malware as the Troj/Bedo-MY Trojan horse. It also reminded users that Adobe would not send emails to people and attach its updates in them. Users have to always remember that Adobe only uses its own website where users can visit for legitimate updates.

It’s just a few days before Christmas and many parents will be giving their kids tech toys. The items that can always be found on children’s wish lists are smartphones, tablets, and computers. Parents would gladly say “yes” and then share in their kids’ happiness, watching them click or tap their newest cherished possession. However, just as other parents will always include a helmet when they give their child a bike, technology gifts should also come with safety measures.

There are many parents out there who do not realize the need to child-proof these devices. These open the world of the web for children to explore. Parents should make sure that their kids do not stumble upon the unpleasant side of the internet. Kids have vulnerable young minds and there are a lot of “bad” sites online that could cause them permanent harm.

Children who are left without protection might open a Pandora’s Box with their tech toys. The world online contains millions of x-rated web pages, violent videos, websites with disturbing topics from gambling to guns, and many more. Parents should take this seriously and they should look for software that could help sort out the good from the bad.

A majority of the world’s population today is connected to the internet for many different purposes. There are those who find that social networking can be an effective tool for individuals, organizations, schools, institutions, businesses, governments, etc. Along with this are the billions of devices that are interconnected via an array of wired and wireless networks. These devices come in a wide range of sizes, including those that are small, hand held gadgets to bigger devices that are powerful enough to get connected to the whole world. It is much easier now to communicate with anybody, anywhere in the cyber world.

Behind the scenes of the beneficial effects of internet technology are those unscrupulous criminals who use that same technology to carry out their own agenda. There is a very high risk of cyber attacks, coming in different forms. There is espionage, malware, denial-of-service, cyber war, and terrorism that lurk behind the interconnected systems. This is one concern that needs to be addressed not only by individual networks, but by the cooperative effort of all.

Network protection is becoming more and more important, and researchers in Germany have proposed a new approach to it. They believe that the risk of cyber attack could be reduced by rewarding those organizations that support their own network security. They have observed that those organizations who have implemented this strategy have greatly reduced the spread of malware and other problems. Today, communications that are internet and computer-based are, for the most part, done anonymously. This results in systems becoming ever more vulnerable to cyber attacks and harassment.

The internet has been laden with numerous privacy problems for many years. Despite the efforts to enforce privacy laws, the nature of internet technology quickly outdates these legislations. After a year or two of its implementation, a privacy law is made “useless” by the rapidly changing technology. There has to be a plan that will always be in pace with the real-time circumstances. Privacy advocates now say that self regulation is the best solution to privacy problems.

Self regulation is the self-imposition of privacy related measures so as to avoid privacy invasion. Even without a law, it is the limiting of the use of gathered personal information by companies or groups that collect such information. It is a voluntary action that follows a clear set of guidelines about how a certain company can protect privacy. Such actions could be done by website advertisers, ISPs, data brokers, social networking sites, apps providers, etc.

The idea of self regulation began in the U.S. in 1997. Since then, this idea has been promoted by way of distributing information and encouraging websites to make it their commitment. However, history shows that not one self-regulatory effort has had prolonged success. There were attempts that were initiated, but failed in one or more significant ways. Others never got the chance to show what they had all about before they disappeared. Although it is believed that self regulation can really help solve privacy problems, reforms in its implementation are needed. There is a strong opinion that consumers themselves have the greatest responsibility in protecting their own privacy.

Meaning of words can sometimes cause misunderstanding especially when viewed by different groups. In legal standpoint, the meaning of a word can significantly affect the coverage of a law. Just like in the case of the Freedom of Information Act, the word “personal privacy” was interpreted by some to include “privacy of corporations”. The Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Philadelphia made such a decision.

The Freedom of Information Act was helpful in making open those documents that used to be out of the public’s eyes. It has made a distinction between those documents that can be divulged and those that cannot. Disclosure of facts gathered for law enforcement would be tantamount to “invasion of personal privacy” because these are considered private. Personal privacy is protected while the people’s right to know is also served. The abovementioned provision is stipulated in the law’s “exemption 7”.

What brought about such debate on word meaning? According to the appeals court, the phrase “personal privacy” is meant to include corporations. It further added that the word “personal” is the adjectival form of “person”. Because F.O.I A. defines “person” to include “corporation”, then it follows that personal privacy includes corporations.

Setting expiry date for photos that you upload to the internet has become possible. German IT professor Michael Backes has developed X-pire that easily allows a user to set the expiry of photos. He presented the so-called “web eraser” to the Consumer Protection Ministry. It can delete pictures according to the conditions set by the user. The availability of this tool is believed to be the first step towards regaining control over uploaded pictures. So far, owners of photos lose control over the pictures that they share online so problems crop up sooner or later.

Backes explained how the tool works. Photos are first encrypted before these can be uploaded. This limits the photo’s accessibility. A special plug-in is required on the browser so that the viewer can see the image. The “key” contained in the plug-in unlocks access to the image. Using X-pire, this key expires on the date specified by the user. The picture can no longer be accessed and hence “erased” from the web. This is how the tool gives the user control over his photos.

This new system might put an end to the problem which many users encounter regarding abuse of uploaded pictures. Pictures in the net have been used with malicious intentions and this has caused unpleasant experiences. Once pictures are uploaded, they can stay there for eternity. Imagine the host of pictures uploaded in Facebook or Picasa. Having no control over them, the owner is at risk of problems coming his or her way sooner or later. Many have experienced the “Streisand effect” which up to now haunts many people.