|
Welcome to the City of Seattle's Information Security Homepage!
Protecting the city's computing systems, computer networks and the
information that these systems host is critical for the successful
delivery of city services.
This website is designed to help you as citizens of Seattle or visitors to our site learn what you can do to
help protect against the many emerging threats found in today's computer and network environments both in the
workplace and at home.
Be on the Lookout!
Information Security bulletins about the latest threats to your computer security are now posted on our site.
We have decided that you, our subscribers, would be better served if we simply update this news bulletin with timely and
important messages as they arise. New and significant threats don't tend to wait until we have time to publish our
newsletter!
So, we will be posting new items as they arise and as we are able, and will only use email notifications if there is a
particularly dangerous threat. We will keep notices on this letter for about a week and then archive them.
You can find our newest information security news in our current
newsletter
NOTE: We now provide the ability to subscribe to an RSS feed. The summary above is being fed by that RSS system to
give you a preview of some of the items in the latest newsletter. Enjoy!
In case you don't know how to subscribe to RSS feeds and missed the tip where I gave instructions on how to do so - I've archived
that tip here.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
City of Seattle - Your Internet Safety Partner
New Cyber Security Mailing List
Newsletter with tips and stategies to stay safe
The City of Seattle's Office of Information Security (OIS) has setup a computer security mailing list. We will post
a periodic newsletter with cyber security tips and strategies to keep you safe on your work and home computers. We'll
also send out notices of critical new threats and information on how to protect yourselves.
If you would like to sign up for this new service, please click on the following link and then create a New User account.
Computer Security Mailing List
New Security Tip O' d'Week!
The following blog was just posted by Kevin Lam on the LockBox website: (LockBox Facebook Settings Article), and I thought it was very good advice, so I am re-posting it here. Enjoy (and I would suggest following all his advice - I have).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Somebody recently asked me how I would use my experience as a legal and professional hacker to steal their personal identity. There are lots of way to do this. I might attack your email account, bank accounts, your laptop, your work account and your home wireless network just to start.
Or I could take an easier path: your Facebook account. Here are the top 3 things I would turn on or off on your Facebook account right now if I were you.
A quick note before I get into the details is that I realize that not everyone will agree with me. That’s fine. Just at least be aware of the risks.
Tip #1: Turn On Secure Browsing
Malicious hackers love it when people access their Facebook accounts using public networks like the ones at coffee shops or at the library. Know why?
It’s because these types of networks are often not very well secured, if at all. This makes eavesdropping on the data you exchange with Facebook much easier, such as your birthday, your mobile number and your address. All very useful things for identity theft.
Fortunately, Facebook has a feature called “Secure Browsing”. All this feature really does is it turns on SSL (when possible) whenever you access your Facebook account. This will make accessing Facebook over public networks safer. There’s a catch however: Secure Browsing is turned off by default.
Here’s how to turn on Facebook Secure Browsing:
- Log into your Facebook account.
- Select your Account Settings.
- Select the Security Settings icon.
- Check the Secure Browsing option and click the Save Changes button.
Tip #2: Remove Your Family Links
Facebook has a feature that lets you tell other people who the members of your family are. If you’re using this feature, bad idea. Real bad idea. Here’s why.
If I know who your family members are, I can infer things about you such as your mother’s maiden name, your wife’s maiden name, how many children you have, their ages, places you may have been to on vacation, your family members birthdays, favorite food, pets names, favorite sports teams, your anniversary date and so on and so on.
Sound familiar? These are all answers to common security questions that are used to protect your other online accounts, like at banks and shopping sites.
You may already be careful about this type of information and how much you share. But can you say that your family members take the same level of care? Better be safe and not make identity thieves jobs easier by letting them know who your family members are.
Here’s how to turn limit access to this type of information:
- Log into your Facebook account.
- View your own profile and select the Edit Profile button.
- Select the Friends and Family tab.
- Next to the Relationship Status section there’s a drop down controls the visibility of this type of information. Select this and change the setting to Only Me.
- Clear out the Anniversary information if it’s set.
- Repeat this for the Family and Friends sections. At most I would only let direct Friends see this information.
- Click the Save Changes button.
Tip #3: Hide Your Birthday, Mobile Number and Address
Information like your birthday, mobile number and address really needs to stay private on Facebook. These are really useful pieces of information when it comes to stealing your identity.
Yes I know. Part of the Facebook experience is having people wish you happy birthday on your wall on your birthday. And when you remove visibility of your birthday from Facebook you can expect a dramatic drop in birthday wishes from people who would otherwise not know it’s your birthday.
I am perfectly fine with giving this up if it means my identity is better protected. You might not agree and that’s OK. Everyone’s tolerance levels to privacy and security risks are different. Again, just be aware of the risks.
To mask this information in Facebook, follow these steps:
- Log into your Facebook account.
- Go to your profile page and select the Edit Profile button.
- Under the Basic Information tab, select the Don’t show my birthday in my profile drop down at minimum. You may wish also to clear out or restrict access to information such as your Hometown and Current City.
- Click the Save Changes button when you’re done.
- In the Contact Information tab, clear out any addresses, or mobile numbers you have listed or at least restrict their visibility to only friends.
–Kevin Lam
***********************************
----------------------------------------
Last Updated: February 7, 2012
Website Contact:  David Matthews
|
