Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard unveils the new cyber education module, which was developed in partnership with McAfee and Life Education Australia.
This module expands the Life Education Program that is for primary school children across Australia.

A study called “The Secret Life of Teens 2012 report,” (conducted by TNS Research and commissioned by McAfee) shows an alarming 62% of teens have had a negative experience on a social network and 25% said they had been the victim of cyber bullying. bCyberwise is a program designed to help close that gap. The evidence for developing this program was numerous, but some key points are:

Digital media has become a significant and predominantly positive aspect of the education, leisure and social lives of most of today’s children and young people.

The use of digital media also poses some risks to the safety and well being of children and young people. The most harmful of these appears to be cyber bullying

Other contact risks include exploitive communication, sexting, impersonation, humiliation via doctored images, under-age enrollment on social media sites, and exposure to material that is inappropriate, misleading, unacceptable or illegal

Children and young people need opportunities to learn the skills and values that will enable them to be safe online and become good digital citizens

The middle and upper primary years of schooling represent a sensitive and timely period for introducing students to these skills and values

McAfee and Life Education’s new program content will support the class teacher in this regard, providing an opportunity for young students to learn and practice a set of relevant skills and values (technical, thinking, emotional and social) that are fundamental to the promotion of cyber safety and positive cyber citizenship.

The hope is that being “safe and responsible digital citizens” will hopefully be a part of these students’ lives as they grow up. More info can be found at www.mcafeecybered.com

Robert Siciliano is an Online Security Expert to McAfee.  

In 2012, security challenges we faced were often the ribbon cuttings and business plans that startup criminal organizations launched. In 2013, those criminal enterprise business plans will come together—and we need to be ready.

Social media is high on criminal hackers radar. Criminals scan social media looking for people who they can scam. One such scam seeks out entire families and usually targets a grandparent. Criminals will pose as the grandchild and call granny asking for money to be wired. They are also looking at your page to crack password resets. Only friend those you know like and trust and lock down your privacy settings.

With Windows 8 out, criminals have set their sights on this new operating system and are seeking out its vulnerabilities. Old Win XP machines will be as vulnerable as ever. Macs are higher on hackers’ radars, too. Protecting your devices with essential security such as antivirus protection and keeping the OS updated are critical.

Mobile also is high on the hackers’ radar. McAfee predicts that as mobile malware grows, we can expect to see malicious apps that can buy additional apps from an app store without your permission. Buying apps developed by malware authors puts money into their pockets. We also expect to see attacks that can happen without you having to install an app, so no interaction on your part is needed to spread the malicious app.

Mobile ransomware quickly is moving from the PC to mobile devices. Criminals hijack your ability to access data on your phone or even use your phone, so you are faced with losing your contacts, calls, photos, etc. or paying a ransom—and even when you pay the ransom, you don’t always get your data back.

Protect yourself by refraining from clicking links in text messages, emails or unfamiliar web pages displayed on your phone’s browser. Set your mobile phone to lock automatically, and unlock it only when you enter a PIN. Consider investing a service that locates a lost phone, locks it and wipes the data if necessary, as well as restoring that data on a new phone. Keep your phone’s operating system updated with the latest patches, and invest in antivirus protection for your phone.

Robert Siciliano, is a personal security expert contributor to Just Ask Gemalto and author of 99 Things You Wish You Knew Before Your Mobile was Hacked! . 

Sometimes it’s the worst things that can happen that become the eye-opening best things that effect positive change. The year 2012 saw numerous high-profile data breaches, epic hacks, full-on hacktivism and lots of major identity theft ring busts. The best news is the public is more aware, which means they are better equipped to protect themselves and law enforcement is well prepared to take down criminals. Individuals, companies and governments worldwide all have their eyes open and are taking action to protect themselves.

High-Profile Breaches

LinkedIn, Yahoo and many others were hacked—and hacked BIG. Unpatched system vulnerabilities and simple passwords were the common denominator in many of these hacks. It’s not enough to have antivirus protection; you also need antispyware, antiphishing, a firewall, updated critical security patches in your operating system and strong passwords that can’t easily be cracked. The good news is all these things are easy to do.

Epic Hack:

Wired reporter Matt Honan recounts how his connected digital life was used to destroy all his data. From this we learn that even a technologist is vulnerable and that there is no shortage of lessons to be learned from his experience.

“In many ways, this was all my fault. In the space of one hour, my entire digital life was destroyed,” he says. “First my Google account was taken over, then deleted. Next my Twitter account was compromised and used as a platform to broadcast racist and homophobic messages. And worst of all, my AppleID account was broken into, and my hackers used it to remotely erase all of the data on my iPhone, iPad and MacBook.”

The chance of this happening to you are slim, but knowing it’s possible will make you better prepared.

Hactivism Grows Up

Hackers have evolved significantly over the past 20 years. At first “hacker” meant someone who was inquisitive and tested the boundaries of technology. But then in the late ‘90s, hacker became a bad word as a result of a few hackers going too far and the media latching onto the title. Last year saw groups like Anonymous and others take action not just to disrupt, but also to right what they considered wrong. While their actions are often illegal, many feel they have evolved into a sort of voice for those that don’t have one.

The Long Arm of the Law

There isn’t a week that goes by that news reports of federal law enforcement, assisted by state, local and even foreign governments, takes down a carder ring or organized web mob responsible for stealing hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars. It was the year when the law got smart, savvy and as sophisticated as the criminal hackers, and that’s the best news of all!

Robert Siciliano, is a personal security expert contributor to Just Ask Gemalto and author of 99 Things You Wish You Knew Before Your Mobile was Hacked!. 

Identity theft is the easiest crime to commit and the hardest crime to get caught for. It has been said numerous times that identity theft is the closest we’ve ever come to the perfect crime.  This explains why a recent study by ID Analytics found more than 10,000 identity fraud rings in the U.S.  An identity fraud ring is a group of people actively collaborating to commit identity fraud. This study is the first to investigate the interconnections of identity manipulators and identity fraudsters to identify rings of criminals working in collaboration.

In a press release, ID Analytics states that many of these fraud rings are made up of two or more career criminals, surprisingly, others are family members or groups of friends. The ring members may be either stealing victims’ identities or improperly sharing and manipulating personal identifying information such as dates-of-birth (DOB) and Social Security numbers (SSNs) on applications for credit and services.

Other findings of the study include:

Hotbeds for Fraud Rings—States with the highest numbers of fraud rings include Alabama, the Carolinas, Delaware, Georgia, Mississippi and Texas. The three-digit ZIP codes with the most fraud rings observed are areas around Washington DC; Tampa, Fla.; Greenville, Miss.; Macon, Ga.; Detroit; and Montgomery, Ala.

Fraud in the Countryside—While many fraud rings occur in cities, a surprisingly high number were also found in rural areas of the country.

Consumers’ best protection against identity theft begins with a credit freeze or identity theft protection. But businesses can do more to protect the public by not allowing stolen credentials to be used for fraud in the first place.

Identity thieves carry out their attacks in very short-time windows to exploit their newly stolen credentials.  For businesses, what might typically look like a single transaction can often be calculated attacks across multiple businesses, according Oregon-based iovation Inc. and the businesses that it protects. One computer (or a group of related Internet-enabled devices including smartphones) may open new credit card accounts, make online retail purchases, and schedule shipment of stolen goods — yet iovation’s view of device-related activity can connect these relationships across multiple businesses, geographies and industries — in order to detect and stop cybercrime, and make the Internet a safer place to interact and do business.

It’s funny to me that when having conversations about technology people still don’t see the parallel between their smartphone and their computer.

Today, smartphone are connected to the Internet and have much of the same information as the personal computer, if not more. Now Androids and other smartphones have become little mini handheld computers. Carriers are announcing that they’ll be upping the speed of the latest version of their networks, doubling download speeds. And new smartphones will have as much as 64 gigabytes of capacity. That’s more hard drive than my three-year old laptop.

For the next generation of users, the smartphone is replacing the PC as their primary device. Nielsen reports, “We are just at the beginning of a new wireless era where smartphones will become the standard device consumers will use to connect to friends, the internet and the world at large. The share of smartphones as a proportion of overall device sales has increased 29% for phone purchasers in the last six months; and 45% of respondents indicated that their next device will be a smartphone.”

For many of us, your mobile device has already become like your right hand (in my case, my left hand). Not only is it your phone, but it’s used to store some of your most private conversations and confidential information—it’s now your address/phone book, email, digital camera, news source, online banking system and even your wallet—all rolled into one device.

With all this invaluable data and information, and the growth in smartphones and tablets, it’s natural for criminal hackers to see these new devices as a huge opportunity, much like they did with the PC.

So if you have a smartphone or tablet, make sure you take steps to protect yourself.

Never leave your phone unattended in a public place

Put a password on your mobile and set your phone to auto-lock after a certain period of time

When doing online banking and shopping, always log out and don’t select the “remember me” function

Use mobile device protection that provides anti-theft, anti-malware/antivirus, app protection and web protection. McAfee makes this easy with McAfee All Access, a single software solution to protect all of your devices or you can use McAfee Mobile Security to protect your smartphone or tablet.

Robert Siciliano is an Online Security Expert to McAfee. He is the author of 99 Things You Wish You Knew Before Your Mobile was Hacked! 

The cybercrime landscape is always growing and changing as hackers look for new ways to make money from us. And 2012 was no different as McAfee Labs™ found huge growth in malicious software and activities.

As the year closes, McAfee Labs looks ahead to see what is on the horizon for 2013. Here’s the areas they predict that we’ll see growth in and that consumers should be aware of.

Malicious app proliferation
As mobile malware grows, we expect to see malicious apps that can buy additional apps from an app store without your permission. Buying apps developed by malware authors puts money in their pockets. We also expect to see attacks that can happen without you having to install an app, so no interaction on your part is needed to spread the malicious app.

Mobile “tap and pay”
Phones with near-field communications (NFC) enabled are becoming more common. As users are able to make “tap and pay” purchases in more locations, they’ll carry their digital wallets everywhere. That flexibility will, unfortunately, also be a boon to thieves Thieves will also use the “bump and infect” method to steal money from your digital wallets in large, crowded areas like airports, malls and theme parks.

Mobile ransomware
Ransomware is quickly moving from the PC to mobile devices. Criminals hijack your ability to access data on your phone or use of your phone, so you are faced with losing your contacts, calls, photos, etc. or paying a ransom; and even when you pay the ransom you don’t always get your data back.

Regaining control of botnets
Botnets are networks of infected computers, that are controlled by a criminal for malicious activities and they are one of the largest sources of spam emails. As cooperation to shut down these botnets grows, the criminals that control these botnets lose money. We anticipate that hackers will find ways to regain control of their botnets (a larger group of computers they have control over) once they are taken down.

Hacking services traded online
Online criminal forums have always been used by cybercriminals to buy and sell malicious services, but they still did most of their actual dealings face to face. In 2013, the growth of traditional e-commerce methods are being used, and anonymity on these sites has improved. Buyers can make their choices with the click of a mouse, use an anonymous online payment method, and receive their purchases without any negotiations or direct contact with the seller.

Here’s some 2013 security resolutions:

Install security software on your mobile device—With the growing amount of mobile threats that we’re seeing, you want to make sure that your smartphone is protected, just like your computer. Consider installing security software such as McAfee Mobile Security, which can guard against viruses and malware, as well as protect your device and information in the case of loss or theft.

Strengthen your passwords—If you’re still using easy to remember passwords that include your home address and pet’s name, it’s time to get serious about creating strong passwords that are at least eight characters long, and a combination of numbers, letters and symbols. Don’t include any personal information that can be guessed by hackers.

Make sure that all of your software is up-to-date— Software updates often include fixes to security holes and other vulnerabilities so you want to make sure that you have the latest version of all your software programs, especially security software. Also, make sure to download application updates when prompted.

Check your bank statements and mobile charges regularly—This way, you can discover and report any suspicious charges.

Finally, as cybercriminals continue developing new attacks, realize that you need to stay up-to-date on the latest threats and how to protect yourself.

Robert Siciliano is an Online Security Expert to McAfee. He is the author of 99 Things You Wish You Knew Before Your Mobile was Hacked! 

It has long been believed that elderly, which depending on your definition, are people over the age of 60 years old, are targeted by scammers due to their generations naïve upbringing. But from my perspective, a 65 year old grew up in the 60’s and there’s nothing naïve about the Vietnam war/Woodstock generation. My dad’s one of them, and we have this ongoing conversation about how there isn’t a day that goes by when someone isn’t trying to pick our pocket.

Apparently based on a recent UCLA study, a potential reason why the elderly are scammed is because of “a particular region of the brain that influences the ability to discern who is honest and who is trying to deceive us.

Older people, more than younger adults, may fail to interpret an untrustworthy face as potentially dishonest, the study shows. The reason for this, the UCLA life scientists found, seems to be that a brain region called the anterior insula, which is linked to disgust and is important for discerning untrustworthy faces, is less active in older adults.”

So the anterior insula disseminates good verses evil and as we age it doesn’t work so well. Worse, the study states, “It looks like their skills for making good financial decisions may be deteriorating as early as their early-to-mid-50s.” Which means a lame anterior insula coupled with deteriorating financial decision capabilities leads to a diminished ability to connect the gut to the head.
With this study, if I was a scammer, I’d be hyper focusing my market with the baby-boomer generation in mind.

Protect yourself.  Like mom said, if it’s too good to be true it is.

Scammers use incoming communications including phone, email, text and snail mail to fleece their victims. Just hang up, or delete the email or text. Responding only means engaging in their activities and cannot lead to a good outcome.

When participating in online communities, it is not necessary to disclose so many personal details. Disclosing your street address, date of birth, and identifying your relatives is unnecessary. Remember, if a cybercriminal targeting you is missing certain details needed to steal your identity, they just might ask one of your “specified” relatives. Don’t make it easy for them.

Many social networks, dating sites, gaming sites and online auctions are one step ahead of such bad actors.  By employing identity, credit and device reputation checks provided by online fraud prevention companies, these layered approaches proactively detect and thwart cyber scammers in their tracks.