Cynja
The Cynja, Vol. 4: Another attack coming from a different vector
What is this? Learn about the Cynja comic series here
Year: 2015
Cybercrime / Privacy
Feds hacked again — 4 million employees’ personal info at risk — China blamed, but no evidence yet
For the second time in the past 12 months, the agency that acts as the human resources department for federal employees has been hacked. The U.S. Office of Personnel Management said on Thursday that it would be notifying 4 million current and former federal employees that hackers may have stolen their [Keep reading]
Privacy
Fine print alert: PayPal says it can robocall or robotext users, who can’t opt out (check eBay’s terms, too)
NOTE: Since this story broke on Credit.com earlier this week, PayPal has told BGR.COM that users will be able to opt-out of robocalling and robotexting. That is different from what PayPal told me, though it isn’t clear that this is a change or simply a clarification. As this story notes, PayPal has [Keep reading]
RoadTrip
Cheap gas means you should be planning your summer road trip right now (like me!)
Time to break out the old nationwide atlas road map — it’s going to be a great summer for road trips, thanks to low gas prices. You might want to splurge on an app or GPS with up-to-date traffic information, too, because lots of other families will have the same [Keep reading]
Privacy
AP reports that FBI is behind mysterious aircraft flying surveillance missions above US cities
While Washington continues its dog-and-pony show about a clumsy telephone network dragnet designed to find needles in haystacks, people really concerned about the future of the republic should simply look up — at all these low-flying planes making deliberate left-handed circles around D.C. and dozens of other cities. The FBI has [Keep reading]
Privacy
Test shows 97% fooled in phishing test; terrorists now using popular criminal hacking trick
Plenty of folks think they could never be outsmarted by a hacker; plenty of them are wrong. In fact, perhaps 97% are wrong. Two new studies make this point, and show the devastating consequences of being wrong. (This story originally appeared on Credit.com. Read it there.) Security firm McAfee has [Keep reading]
The Restless Project
The gender gap you haven’t heard about: Women’s emergency savings $36k vs. $58k for men
While many Americans are ill-prepared for a financial disaster, women are far worse off than men, according to a new study by BMO Harris Premier Services. The financial services firm says that men with any emergency savings have an average of $58,061 put away to deal with the sitution, compared to only $33,558 [Keep reading]
Privacy
‘Like drunks at a bar’ — From pet’s names to passwords, we overshare online a lot
It’s the most vexing digital-age question: Should I share this? After the AdultFriendFinder.com hack and the IRS “Get Transcript” debacle, CNBC asked me to look into the topic of online oversharing. You can read the story I wrote here. But here’s one thing to think about: Oversharing rarely *feels* like oversharing. That [Keep reading]
Cynja
The Cynja, Vol. 3: Guardian of all things noble in cyberspace
What is this? Learn about the Cynja comic series here
Kids and Tech
For typical kids, 1,000 photos online before age 5
Parents today are dooming their children to an over-exposed digital life by posting nearly 1,000 photos of kids before age 5, a new British study suggests. An advocacy group named The Parent Zone polled 2,000 U.K. and found they post 973 photos before their child’s fifth birthday. Even worse: many parents admit [Keep reading]