By: Gary S. Miliefsky

We've all lost our identity at least three times, with more than 930 million records breached, lost or stolen to hackers and cyber criminals, says consumer advocacy non-profit Privacy Rights Clearinghouse.

Why don't we do all we can to stay safer online?

According to StaySafeOnline.org, more than a quarter of Americans say they lack the information necessary.

So, here it is - everything you need to know to enjoy the shopping experience without losing your privacy and identity or putting your children's safety at risk:

•  Assume you've already been compromised. Whether it's your baby monitor, your SmartTV, the Webcam on your laptop or apps you installed on your smartphone or tablet, your antivirus is not enough protection. It's time to take those devices' and apps' privacy policies, and the permissions you grant them, much more seriously.

•  Change your passwords - all of them. Now. And do it as frequently as you can tolerate. Also, if you don't want to change it often, then use any unique characters you can think of, such as a dollar sign ($) or exclamation mark (!), or replace an "oh" with a "zero" (0). This goes a long way in preventing attacks against your password.

•  Turn off wireless and geolocation services. Protect your smartphones and tablets by turning off WiFi, Bluetooth, NFC and GPS, except when you need them. That way, if you are at a local coffee shop or in a shopping mall, no one can spy on you using nearby (proximity) hacking attacks and they can't track where you were and where you are going on your GPS.

•  Assume most of your apps are creepware. Do you really need them? Delete all of the apps you aren't using too often. Replace apps that ask for too many permissions and take advantage of too many of your privacy settings -- like GPS, phone and sms logs, personal identity information - with similar apps that don't.

•  Opt out of sharing your information. Opt out of every advertising network that you can. Visit the National Do Not Call Registry and register your smartphone and home phone numbers at www.donotcall.gov. If you use a Google email account and have an Android phone, even with your GPS off, it's tracking your every move. (Log in to maps.google.com/locationhistory/b/0 and see for yourself.) Go into your smartphone or tablet settings and turn this feature off. In your Android phone, go to Settings, then Location, select Google Location Reporting and set Location History to off. The same holds true for the Apple iPhone, iPad and iTunes. You need to find the location and privacy settings and turn off access under Settings, then Privacy then Location.

•  Your browser is a double agent - keep it clean. It is spying on you for advertisers unless you block and remove cookies and delete the cache frequently. In your web browser settings, delete your history, all cookies and passwords and the cache. You should do this frequently so you don't leave personal information sitting around on your computer, smartphone or tablet.

•  Remove third-party Facebook plugins. Third-party plugins are mini applications designed to eavesdrop on your behavior in Facebook and possibly grab information about your habits within that social network. Some websites you visit will require you to log in using Facebook, and then you have to trust them to connect to your Facebook account. This is very risky. Read their privacy policy and make sure they are a legitimate business before you risk doing this.

•  Only shop on the websites of companies you already trust. If you don't know where the merchant is located, don't shop online there. If they don't have a corporate address or are located in another country, it is risky for you and you may never see the goods you think you purchased. Also, if their shopping cart experience is not an HTTPS browser session, then everything you type in, your name, address and credit card information, is going over the internet unencrypted -- in plain view.

•  Turn off geotagging - your photos are full of information. Twitter and Instagram as well as your iPhone will give away your location. Most people don't realize Twitter and Instagram both use geotagging for everything you send out. Geotagging stores the latitude and longitude of your tweet or image. Pictures you take on an iPhone usually store geotagging information, as well. The less information you give out about where you are located, the safer you are.

•  Don't use cash or debit cards - use credit cards, wisely. Credit cards allow you to travel with less cash, and if you're purchasing online, it's safer to give your credit card than your debit card information. The same holds true when you visit your local retail outlet. The reason? If you experience identity theft, credit card laws allow you to keep all of your credit,  with no responsibility during an investigation. With a debit card, your bank can tie up your money in the amount equivalent to the fraudulent transactions for up to 30 days.

About Gary S. Miliefsky

Gary S. Miliefsky is CEO of SnoopWall (www.snoopwall.com) and the inventor of SnoopWall spyware-blocking technology. He is a founding member of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and serves on the advisory board of MITRE on the CVE Program, and is a founding board member of the National Information Security Group. He's also the founder of NetClarity, Inc., an internal intrusion defense company, based on a patented technology he invented.

Register Today at:

http://qcesc.org/qc-first-volunteers.htm

No previous experience or technical background is required for many of the volunteer positions with training available. Teachers, education administers, and people in human resources are encouraged to consider volunteering to be a judge for FIRST LEGO League for Core Values (teamwork) and for the Research Project which is based around Learning.

Positions are available for adults and students in college & high school. Applications for volunteering will continue to be accepted until we fill all of the posted positions.

Volunteers will be provided food, beverages, and a great experience supporting our local youth!

If you have any questions regarding volunteering at Quad City area FIRST events, send an e-mail to qcesc.org@gmail.com

 

Register Today at:

http://qcesc.org/qc-first-volunteers.htm

PTC extension was included in package of tax-extenders

Washington, D.C. - Congressman Dave Loebsack released the following statement today after the House of Representatives passed HR 5771, a One Year Tax Extenders Bill. The bill included a one year extension of the Production Tax Credit (PTC) for wind energy. Loebsack has been leading the fight in Congress to pass an extension of the PTC to give the wind industry, and the thousands of jobs in Iowa that it supports, the stability and certainty it needs.

"The extension of the PTC included in today's bill is the bare minimum that we must do to support the thousands of jobs that the wind energy industry employs in Iowa alone. While I would have liked to see the PTC extended for at least two years, this current plan will provide some of the stability and predictability that the industry needs. Now is not the time to pull the rug out from under this home grown, clean energy."

HR 5771 also includes tax extenders for teachers, small businesses, low-income families and farmers. The legislation will now proceed to the Senate for a vote.

"While I am pleased that the tax extenders bill finally passed the House, it should have been passed far sooner to provide certainty and stability. Iowa's small businesses, farmers and working families deserve to have some confidence in their taxes system so they can plan for the future and make purchases. Passing Band-Aids at the last minute is no way to keep our nation's economic system running. Iowans are demanding more from Congress and we owe it to them to work together to pass a long term bill and give people confidence in our economy."

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ANKENY, Iowa - Reacting to today's announcement from the Environmental Protection Agency that it will not finalize the 2014 Required Volume Obligations before the end of the year, Grant Kimberley, executive director of the Iowa Biodiesel Board, issued the following statement:

"At the news of this delay, we're hopeful it could indicate that EPA might be taking the time to revise its proposal. An increased RVO for biomass-based diesel would mean good news for Iowa, the number one biodiesel-producing state. Uncertainty has hurt the biodiesel industry and created a ripple effect through the farming community, major ag suppliers and equipment companies. But the EPA has the chance to reverse this.

"The Proposed Rule as it stood would have taken biodiesel backwards from the volumes produced in 2013. The Administration has a chance to make it right by finalizing a 2014 rule that sets the Renewable Fuel Standard's biomass-based diesel volumes at or above the nearly 1.8 billion gallons consumed in 2013. We also urge them to fix the RVO process so we don't have to face this disruptive uncertainty every year. We need to put biodiesel back on the course of diversifying America's fuel supply, supporting green jobs and boosting economic development."

The Iowa Biodiesel Board is a nonpartisan state trade association representing the biodiesel industry.