As you go through your day, your smartphone automatically gathers information that can reconstruct your activities. For instance, when you take a photo or video, your phone records the time and location. All your calls and text messages are logged, and even if you browse the internet, your searches and visited websites are tracked (this remains true even in incognito mode). GPS data and Wi-Fi connections can accurately pinpoint your whereabouts.

Wondering if your computer or network has been hacked? Are you worried about malware or spyware?

Sometimes, computers have problems that have nothing to do with malicious activity, but hacking does happen and it is a growing problem. Visit the wrong website, open the wrong email or download the wrong app and you can find yourself with a host of problems. Risks run the gamut from someone ruining your computer to someone accessing your personal data, bank accounts and other crucial information.

It takes a computer forensics examination to determine whether you’ve been hacked and how it was done, but there are some signs you can monitor. If you encounter any of these, you [...]

Network infrastructure devices – the routers, switchers, servers, firewalls and other devices that facilitate communications on yor network – can be prime targets for hackers. Almost all network traffic crosses these crucial devices, and if one of them is compromised a hacker can do serious damage.

For example, an attacker with access to your organization’s gateway router can control traffic going in and out. He can monitor, modify or deny traffic in any direction. An attacker with access to an internal switcher can control traffic within your organization. As the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Computer Emergency Readiness Team puts it succinctly: Whoever controls the [...]

Online blackmail is happening more frequently these days, according to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center.

The IC3 reports an increase in extortion attempts received via email and postal mail, often using the victim’s specific user information to add authenticity. The “recipient’s personal information is noted in the email or letter to add a higher degree of intimidation to the scam. For example, a recipient’s user name or password is provided at the beginning of the email or letter,” the FBI reports.