Surviving the digital world

Eldar Kudinov Michail Diakov Vasily Yaltonsky Dennis Fisher
SURVIVING
THE DIGITAL WORLD
Practical advice for keeping your online life secure
Special thanks to:
Sergey Malenkovich, Yulia Polozova, Maxim Baranovsky, Evgeny Chereshnev, Jeffrey Esposito

INTRODUCTION
The dawn of the digital age does not look like what we expected. PCs and mobile
phones have given people access to vast amounts of knowledge and endless new
ways to share it; our lives are easier and better thanks to new technology and the
Internet. However, all of this good also came with a negative side full of personal
information theft, malware, and groups of criminals who use the Web as their personal
playground.
The good news is that there are people who are fighting this chaos and are willing to
share their experience and knowledge with the next generation. So the dark part of the
legend ends and our story begins...

TIP 1:
USEFUL INFORMATION
Just imagine: a virus infiltrates your computer via the telephone network, turns it on
in the middle of the night and sends a command to launch a missile. It’s a Hollywood
scenario but in the real world, malware usually functions in a very different way and
has a different purpose. The vulnerability of computer systems and the fact that users
don’t know the basic principles of information security are the key ingredients for the
success of any piece of malware. It may sound incredible, but a hacker doesn’t need to
type a lot of strange information while scary music plays in the background if he wants
to infect your computer. A single email with a malicious file enclosed is sufficient. If the
victim believes the message is legitimate, she will start the malicious app herself. So in
order to defend against cybercriminals, you must understand what the threats are.

TIP 2:
INFORMATION SOURCES
As with many things in life, the person with the most knowledge usually has the upper
hand. The same is true when it comes to computer attacks and defense. The person
who knows the most about his adversary wins the threat war; not the one who has
better weapons. So to stay ahead of the attackers, you need to arm yourself with as
much information as you can. Some great sources of data on new attacks and threats
are the blogs and news services published by antimalware companies. These sites also
have tips and tactics for defending against attacks and what to do if you think your
computer has been compromised.

TIP 3:
SHARE WHAT YOU KNOW
Hackers create phishing, exploits, malvertising and many other types of threats
rely on the fact that victims don’t know much about the attack. It is impossible to
protect yourself from what you don’t know. This is where the topic of the free flow
of information among potential victims becomes important. Don’t be afraid to tell
your relatives and friends about any new threat, vulnerability or attack that you find
out about. The more people who know about a threat, the more difficult it is for the
attackers to use it. Remember: knowing is half the battle.

TIP 4:
EDUCATE CHILDREN
Kids learn all there is to know about computers, gadgets and the Internet much faster
than parents can imagine. Children have Facebook pages and Twitter accounts before
they’re even born now and start producing their own YouTube videos as toddlers. But
kids still depend on their parents to tell them about the temptations and dangers of the
Internet. In today’s environment talking to your kids about online threats and problems
is just as important as having “The Talk” with them, but without all of the stuttering and
embarrassment. Make sure to discuss the importance of internet safety with them as
much as they need.

TIP 5:
MAIL WITHOUT SPAM
Email can deliver the most touching letters and wonderful news to someone
anywhere on the planet. But like the Internet itself, email inboxes have become
filled with junk mail and become much less useful than it should be. Spam makes
working on the Internet harder and drives people insane because of the time they
spend every day cleaning out their inboxes. If that doesn’t sound like your idea of
fun, avoid giving your personal email to stores and Web sites if possible. Try using
disposable or temporary email addresses when you need to register for site you
may never visit again.

TIP 6:
FAKE LETTER
Every day, thousands of people open an email or answer a phone call that’s
supposedly from the IRS. The person on the other end of the line says that they
owe back taxes and the police have issued an arrest warrant. The only way out of
the mess is to open the PDF attachment in the email and follow the instructions for
payment. The catch, of course, is that the email/phone call isn’t from the IRS; it’s from
a scammer. The IRS doesn’t issue arrest warrants and it doesn’t demand payment via
cash card or Bitcoin. Cybercriminals love to use fake letters from government services
and famous companies to spread their malware. Scammers can call themselves tax
authorities, lawyers, government employees, social media representatives or Internet
service provider employees. Their goal is to confuse and terrify you enough so that
you’ll pay their ransom. If you see an email or receive a phone call like this, ignore it
and call the real number for the IRS that can be found on their website.

TIP 7:
HIDDEN THREAT
A surprise can be great. If it involves a diamond ring, a puppy or a trip to Tenerife,
it’s really great. But a surprise that includes a malicious YouTube link or a photo
attachment full of malware is not so awesome. Even if an email with a suspiciouslooking
attachment (apparently) comes from a person you know and trust, DON’T
open it. Attackers are adept at spoofing email addresses--or compromising email
accounts altogether--so those seemingly harmless pics or videos could easily be the
first stage of an attack that compromises your entire PC.

TIP 8:
MONEY FOR NOTHING
If future cyber-archaeologists start to examine trillions of our e-mail messages, they
will probably be really surprised how many millionaires lived in Nigeria. But that’s in
the future; right now, the idea of someone in a foreign country wanting to send a pile
of cash to a person they don’t know is exactly as insane as it sounds. It’s a fairy tale,
but one with a brutal ending. The letters from Nigerian scammers, African princes and
other rich but miserable people are sent by criminals who are looking to capitalize on
people’s greed. The ones who wish to share the “millionaire’s” wealth pay for “fund
transfer,” “inheritance tax” or “legal fees.” The money that’s sent by victims goes not to
pay the freight for a trunk of gold to be shipped, but to the scammers, who have been
running this scam for more than 15 years now. You’re better off buying a scratch ticket
at a 7-11.

TIP 9:
DANGEROUS SPAM
Millions of people wake up every day and look for a new job, and many of them, as
they’re searching for legitimate opportunities, come across spam emails and garbage
online ads promising easy work-from-home jobs. If the offers seem too good to be
true, it is because they are. Many of these scams involve money mule operations,
transferring stolen or ill-gotten goods to other criminals or pyramid schemes. The
emails and/or ads find a credulous audience of honest people who need work that
continues the scam. Steer clear of any work-from-home get rich quick emails; they’re
straight garbage. No one could possibly be getting paid in this kind of “business”.

TIP 10: PERSONAL PROTECTION
We were all born unique, but on the Internet, no one knows if you’re a dog, a spy or
bad guy. In reality, the only way that people can be differentiated is by their online
IDs, which can be stolen or faked with ease. If John wants to impersonate Jane, one
good way is to hijack her email. To do that, he needs to reset her password. This can
be done if John knows some information about Jane to answer the security questions
on her account. Usually a social network profile is enough (it has lots of information
about Jane). For example, John can find out the birth date of a husband/wife or a
dog’s name. Jane’s email gives John access to all of the services that are connected
to it and he also can send her friends very interesting (malicious) emails. Remember:
personal information is really important, don’t share it.

TIP 11: KIDS AND THE INTERNET
Usually parental control apps work very well and protect kids from reaching bad
content or an unwelcome person. However, these apps are not effective if your child
discovers the account password and is brave enough to use it giving them “parental”
rights. A child will never look like an adult in real life but cyber-world offers more
opportunities to fake being one. No one asks for a real photo or documentation.
Remember that kids love forbidden fruits. Make sure you hide your password where
they can’t find it.

TIP 12: PROTECTING CHILDREN
FROM THREATS
When your little girl says something she shouldn’t, or is very interested in a relationship
between men and women, don’t rush to blame her classmates or your too-talkative
neighbors. The source of this conversation could be her computer. Many parents let their
children use the Internet for educational purposes, but forget one thing - there is a lot of
information on the Internet that is not supposed to be read by children. There are three
possible options to protect your child: don’t let them use the computer, control all their
actions while they surf the Internet or use parental control apps. It is up to you to choose.

TIP 13: PASSWORD STRENGTH
Hackers usually start their work with a special vocabulary that contains millions of
passwords that were previously used or leaked online. There are several people on this
planet who think exactly like you, so your password may be on that list. You shouldn’t
use common words, song lyrics, a film title, your cat’s name, your date of birth or
any type of information that can be easily guessed or found on social media as a
password.

TIP 14: A STRONG PASSWORD
Associations are the easiest way to create a difficult password. Take a phrase
associated with the service or website that you’re signing up for, type it, add some
numbers and letters. Now that is a strong password. Such a password is easy to
remember and makes sense only to you.

TIP 15: PASSWORD STORAGE
The more difficult the password, the harder it will be to guess. The easier the
password, the easier it is to remember. So it should be both difficult and easy – not
everyone is capable of coming up with a good one. If TIP 14 doesn’t suit you, then use
a special password manager app. These apps will create difficult, unique passwords
for on-line services, social media, applications etc., and then save them in its coded
database. The only thing left for you is to create one main password for the manager.
Remember: the password should be difficult so no one can guess it, and it’s easy to
remember!

TIP 16: DATA BACKUP
When computers crash, they often crash instantly and without warning. The most
precious data lost usually consists of family photos and important documents like a
thesis or a portfolio that took a whole year to complete. Fortunately, you can store all
this information with big data security companies (usually cheap or even free). You can
copy computer or smart-phone data to these centers using special software. This will
save all the information you have in case any troubles come up. This is the so-called
«cloud storage,» which has become very popular today.

TIP 17: INFORMATION SECURITY
If the world ended tomorrow, cloud storage would allow future alien investigators the
opportunity to watch photos of Earthlings in toilets and elevators taking selfies, listen
to Justin Bieber and read millions of pieces of information written by the world’s social
media addicts.

TIP 18: WELL KNOWN PEOPLE
We use the word “friend” both in social media and in real life, but it is important to
distinguish between virtual and real friends. It’s one thing to be friends in social media
with the people you know well enough in real life, but it’s another thing when you
“make friends” with all of the people who want to chat with you. Having these casual
contacts with strangers in the real world can cause a lot of trouble. It starts with
family conflicts and ends up with robbery. The same happens in cyberspace: people
who take a lively interest in communication can be cheaters, child abusers, malware
distributors or spammers.

TIP 19: ONLINE DATING
Online dating is like an equation with many unknown factors. Or maybe a better
comparison is Russian roulette? The user will only reveal what he or she wants to
reveal. Even if you chat online for a day, you can’t truly be sure about the person on
the other side. You can only guess this person’s true thoughts and motives. There are
many people on online dating sites that lie about their marital status, age and even
gender. Let that sink in for a second.

TIP 20: UNDESIRIBLE CONTACTS
While some people may put crazy lies on their accounts,, but for the most part photo
retouching or changing one’s birthday are enough. However, the worst case scenario
is that your potential soul mate can turn out to be cheating on his/her own partner.
But that’s not to say that there aren’t also really nice people on the Internet. You just
need to be more attentive while looking for them and don’t rush to meet him or her.

TIP 21: DANGEROUS FRIENDS
An adult can protect himself or herself from scam artists on the Internet
whereas a child cannot. Unknown contacts have the potential to not only be
unpleasant but also very dangerous. How could a child possibly know that friendly
VinnieThePooh1967 is a persistent criminal and child molester who is looking for
a private meeting? Don’t forget to make contact filters for messengers and social
media using parental control apps.

TIP 22: VIRTUAL SPYING
In the past criminals would remotely view you, your apartment, country house or car.
But all this is not all that interesting and out of date. Today’s thieves can just subscribe
to your news in the social media to find out where you are and where you are not
should you make it a habit to check-in everywhere. Think about how many real and
old friends there are in your Swarm or Facebook account the next time you check-in.

TIP 23: SAVE THE DOCUMENTS
There are many people in our media age who are open to the whole world. They share
photos, videos, and daily plans with family and virtual “followers” and “friends.” Your
real friend will not pay too much attention to this information, but an enemy will find it
very useful. Surfing the Internet, the criminal can find really valuable information about
his or her victim. This information can even be enough to make fake documents.
The victim will have proof that he or she didn’t take out four loans but it will cause a
massive headache cleaning up the mess.

TIP 24: BEAUTIFUL LIFE
Criminals can use social media as well as we can and maybe even better because such
skills are really useful in making them profit. You should be more modest in the virtual
life for your own safety as photos of you luxury condo, new car or expensive laptop
on the Internet or information that you’ll be on vacation with a loved one next week
could make you a target.

TIP 25: GAME DATA THEFT
Did someone hack your online game accounts, steal your super sword and take a level
9 pig? It’s not a surprise. The Say’s Law of Markets says: everything has a price you’re
ready to pay. That is why many gaming accounts and even items from popular games
cost a lot of money if they are hard to find or it is a case of luck that you have them. It
is not the pixels that are stolen, but your time and hard work. So if you really appreciate
your time and effort, you should protect your digital possessions. Start with complex
passwords, and then protect your e-mail that is linked to the game accounts.

TIP 26: THE RIGHT SEARCH
People make mistakes. That’s why they can make mistakes in search queries. Search
systems are learned to help a user choose the best variant, but keep in mind that the
best cybercriminals are waiting on the other side. They thoroughly choose the queries
they can depend on. If you’re lucky you will just find the wrong website, but if you’re
not then the website will look like what you needed but will be malicious or fraudulent.
Such websites can infect your computer and you may also lose your personal data and
even money.

TIP 27: FAKE WEBSITES
Phishing occurs when a victim is trapped on a fake website. This is one of the most
popular weapons of cybercriminals. It is not so difficult to create a website looking
almost like a popular resource (e.g. PayPal or Facebook) and then use almost the same
URL as the real one (only several letters can be changed). The only thing left to do then
is to send letters to users asking for them to change their password on Facebook and
provide a fake link. If you believe the scammers, you’re going to lose your account.
Anti-virus apps find and block phishing websites but you’d better still watch out and be
safe rather than sorry.

TIP 28: FRAUD ALERTS
You opened a new website and saw a bright banner warning you about viruses on
your computer. Don’t worry and don’t agree to do everything advised by this banner.
Think about how a banner could know such things. All of this scary information is used
to make you download an unknown magical anti-virus program. In fact these banners
spread the viruses and malware. The best thing you can do is to close this annoying
banner and also the website. You won’t find anything useful on a website that runs ads
as unscrupulous as this one.

TIP 29: NO BANNERS ON THE INTERNET
It was proved by scientists that advertising has an effect on everyone (even on those
who don’t draw attention to it). So you’d better get rid of all the banners on websites
that are sometimes take up most of the screen space. There are pop-ups that totally
close the needed page. You should get a special program that hides the banners if
you don’t want to be fooled. There are a lot of special applications to do this. Most
browsers have such additional functions. But check twice before downloading such
applications (they can work vice-versa and load more banners). Advertising helps to
generate money for the websites. So remember: good and soft-sell advertising won’t
hurt you.

TIP 30: FAKE SHOPS
It is not so hard for scammers to copy the goods from an online shop, change it a
little, use his or her own domain, promote it for a while and compile everything that is
needed: user names, e-mails, contact information or credit cards numbers. It is really
lucky when they can get online payments from unsuspecting users. Perhaps the most
important rule to follow when shopping online is to only shop on the sites of wellknown
online shop. That is unless you want to part with your money and receive no
goods.

TIP 31: SAFE SHOPPING
A good online shop will use HTTPS certified by a legal authority. Look at the URL bar
and you can learn about the protocol. If there is “https://…” and a code icon (it is a
green lock usually) then you’re just where you need to be. HTTPS saves users from
many threats: website faking, information capturing, and sending or receiving data
diddling.

TIP 32: ONLINE ORDERING SCAMS
Many people have been in a situation where goods ordered were dispatched,
transferred to a courier and then suddenly the product has become out of stock. There
could be some problems in the trading system or a shop or in the worst case, the work
of a scammer. These scam artists do not intend to sell you anything, they only want to
steal your money. If you paid for your goods with a credit card or e-wallet, then such
problems can drive you insane in getting your money back.

TIP 33: CHILDREN AND CREDIT CARDS
It is very useful to pay for the Internet purchases with a credit card, especially when it’s
attached to your account and there is no need to enter the data over and over again.
Don’t be surprised when you get the bills for the goods you didn’t buy (e.g. all of Taylor
Swift’s albums). Congratulations! Your kids learned how to use your credit card and
how to shop on the Internet. Unlike physical stores, you won’t be asked to show your
license when you pay with a credit card online. So take care of how you store your
credit card details with your kids using your devices.

TIP 34: FILES STOCK
A torrent tracker is a catalogue of links or a forum where free-share fans post the links
to download useful programs, films, books and etc. A special app (torrent-client) helps
to download the needed file. This file is being downloaded from several computers
that downloaded this file earlier. There are also pirated copies of commercial
applications, new Hollywood films, adult content or something more nefarious.
Now European law enforcement authorities are interested in active torrent-users and
downloading copyrighted files can lead to a huge fine or a jail sentence in the USA. So,
as you can see, there is no such thing as a free lunch.

TIP 35: TORRENT DANGERS
There is a dark side of a torrent tracker. There are terabytes of different files that were
downloaded by any user. So before downloading ask yourself if you are ready to trust
this user: a nice download can turn out to be a Trojan that will spend all your money
and block the system and then will ask to pay for unblocking it. It is very easy, fast and
anonymous way for the cyber-criminals to spread malware, but this fact doesn’t stop
torrent users.

TIP 36: CLEAN YOUR BROWSER
Are there lots of banners offering profitable deposits and moderate loans after
visiting the bank website? The reason is a cookie – a small text file of a website
that “remembers” you and your wishes. Cookies are used by third parties to follow
and track users as they surf on the Internet; these companies then sell the data
to advertisers. Plus cookies can live for years in a browser. So now you should
understand how important it is to delete cookie files (all browsers have this function).

TIP 37: PRIVATE INTERNET
We won’t ask you what you do while surfing the Internet because everyone needs a
private space even in the virtual world. But your cookie files and a web-history can be
used to follow you on the Internet. You may cover your tracks and clean all the history
but there is a better way – private mode. You’ll find it very useful, especially if you
share the computer with someone else.

TIP 38: NO TRACKS
All computers suck in all the information, you can’t do anything about. So if you use
a borrowed computer, remember that there could be someone who can collect
your information. You will never know who has your web history, user names and
passwords, your letters and messages on a borrowed computer. Of course you can
use public computers but don’t forget that they are not trustworthy and friendly
systems. A little bit of paranoia won’t hurt you.

TIP 39: A PUBLIC VIRUS
When using someone else’s computer, you may not only forget something important
on the device but also get an unpleasant surprise. We are talking about malware in
public systems. This malware can be spread in different ways. A usual flash drive can
turn out to be a dangerous malware spreader. No one knows what the previous flash
drives plugged into this computer had and what websites a previous user hasvisited.

TIP 40: CLOSE TO A HACKER
Public Wi-Fi usually is much better than the mobile Internet. It is often free as well as
faster, but these networks are usually very poorly protected. This means that you don’t
know its settings and you have to share Wi-Fi with many other people. Unfortunately
there are trespassers among these people who are hunting at your personal data and
who know how to get the information via unprotected networks. The most horrible
thing is that you will know about these trespassers only when they use the stolen
passwords and send spam from your e-mail or your social media account.

TIP 41: SAFE DOWNLOADING
You’ve heard about a very useful app that friends have recommended. When you
search for the app, remember: don’t download it using the first link you’ve found. This
application will work but could have an unpleasant bonus. Many types malicious and
annoying advertising is spread with popular apps. Trespassers promote their website
then the search systems show such websites before the official ones. So think twice
if you are ready to sacrifice your computer and personal data only because you don’t
want to spend time looking for the official website of the app.

TIP 42: UPDATING
Once downloaded, an application can be used for years. It is not a machine that runs
out of power. But be careful: every app has mistakes that are used by trespassers
to infect your computer. The more popular the app, the more trespassers there are
looking for such vulnerable spots. At the same time the authors of this app create
new versions that fix the vulnerable spots. Downloading is not enough - you need to
update the application as the developer releases updates.

TIP 43: PROPER INSTALLATION
Free apps make us happy, but the creators need to earn some cash. That’s why there
can also be different apps, tool bars and browser additions added into the download.
These installation bonuses will create unnecessary tools or spread lots of advertising
banners, which is worse than paying for an app.

TIP 44: APPS WITHOUT GARBAGE
We have good news for you: usually you can cancel “garbage” installations. All you
need is change settings of the original app installer. So while installing any application
you should read all the messages on the screen and installer windows. If you do it then
you won’t have to clean your system from tens of useless and sometimes malicious
additions.

TIP 45: AGREEMENT VERIFICATION
The information you paid for can have some functions that won’t be good for you.
Another situation is that an app works with your data and the authors don’t really
want to be responsible for its safety but want to give information about you to their
advertisers. In such a case developers carefully think over the license agreement
according to which they have no responsibility. We advise you to read these complex
papers before installation. This will make your life easier.

TIP 46: BASIC PROTECTION
I suppose every homeowner has dreamed of having an automatic defense system that
will keep thieves and stolen garden equipment sellers, noisy teenagers and annoying
neighbors at bay. Unfortunately these systems don’t exist in the real world, but they do
in the online world. Anti-virus software will protect your computer from threats and
undesirable spammers, allowing you to work, study and have fun on the Internet.

TIP 47: ANTI-VIRUS SETTINGS
Who is ready to entrust an unknown person his or her money, documents or personal
secrets? No one of sound and body would agree to that. A PC is your possession that
serves as an e-wallet and personal diary. That is why you should take care about its
settings and especially protection apps. We are talking not only about threats from
cheaters, but also about responsibility. You can lose information protection because of
your carelessness about the settings.

TIP 48: PROPER PROTECTION
The Internet is very dangerous. You download a nice app and it brings you an
unwelcome guest who will want to gain control of your computer and then ask for
money to allow you to use the computer again. Having a good anti-virus application in
place can help automatically protect your system.

TIP 49: PROFESSIONAL WORK
Careless colleagues make problems for IT-managers all the time. They are just like
kids and can unplug a cable, split coffee on the keyboard or download a malicious
file. In the worst-case scenario, an IT-manager will always help you. Just don’t disturb
him while he works. First of all allow complete access to your workstation and explain
everything about the problem. Don’t say: “I’m busy now, come back later,” “don’t
reload,” «no, I need these 19 Excel documents to be opened.” These phrases are
perfect for trespassers and make it impossible for IT-managers protect the company
from information threats.

TIP 50: WORK SECURITY
It doesn’t matter, who is working from your workstation: you or another company
employee. If you don’t lock the system while you’re having lunch, you could have
someone fiddling with your files You’ll find many unpleasant surprises: your joking
colleagues must have sent something unpleasant to your boss or printed the whole
“Lord of the Rings” collection with colored pictures. What’s worse is when someone
not so friendly gets access to your computer. All you need to do is log out!

TIP 51: NON-DIGITAL DOCUMENTS
Your garbage can be very useful (even valuable) for a criminal. Sooner or later old
unnecessary documents and printed papers are thrown on the scrap heap. And if
you didn’t use a paper shredder, trespassers can find a lot of interesting information:
company’s seal, directors’ signatures, addresses, names and payment details of
partners, lists of employees and etc. Did you forget to feed the paper shredder? Then
don’t be surprised that someone will get your company’s goods or draw money from
the company’s account.

TIP 52: SMARTPHONE HACK
Nowadays mobile operating systems are well protected from damage caused by the
owner, so they don’t allow enough freedom (e.g. it is impossible to change system
files), but that can be changed by the smartphone “hack” and getting administrator
rights. This is called rooting or jailbreaking. The extended rights are appreciated not
only by users but also by trespassers who can destroy your mobile phone’s system.
Hacked OS are much easier to attack, so it is highly possible that the mobile phone
with root-access can be infected. Ask yourself once again: do you really need a
jailbroken phone?

TIP 53: APP CHOICE
So a calculator app sent your bank a SMS message to transfer all your money to an
unknown account and then sent its copy to all contacts from your telephone? This is a
big problem. Now try to remember if you read the authorization list while installing the
app. Surely you didn’t, otherwise you’d be very confused to know that this application
needs your contacts and SMS message access. Unfortunately many smartphone
users ignore such authorization lists, agree with all conditions and let the authors do
whatever they like. Fortunately one good and expensive lesson could be enough for
being more serious about security.

TIP 54: SMOOTH MOBILE PAYMENTS
Mobile apps prices are not so simple: if it is free, there is no guarantee that you won’t
spend your money on it. Free apps can be even more expensive than paid ones. You
may suffer only from advertising but the worst thing if this app will spend some of your
credit card money. The owners of mobile apps stores work legally: many users are
ready to spend their money to buy a new cool sword for your favorite game. All they
need is to make this purchase fast and smooth. But there are dishonest developers
who create apps that make purchases without your permission.

TIP 55: DANGEROUS TEXT MESSAGES
Do you often send Text (SMS) messages with interesting links to your friends? I don’t
think so. But trespassers adore sending messages with malicious links or a text
persuading users to click it. Moreover the malicious message can be sent from one
of your friends’ phone number! It doesn’t mean that he or she helps these criminals
get the money, but rather your friend must have followed the malicious link earlier
and his or her phone was infected and now is sending the link to all people from
their contact list.

TIP 56: CHILDREN SMARTPHONE
PROTECTION
Your smartphone is well protected but you notice that money is still spent on some
strange Google Play purchases. Google isn’t trying to clean you out – this company
is too respectful. Now it’s time to remember that you entered your credit card
information when you bought some games for your kid’s smartphone. So the mobile
malware got the kid’s smartphone and steals your money from the credit card or the
mobile account. It is about time to stop it and install a mobile anti-virus app. Your
child’s gadgets need to be well protected!

TIP 57: NEW PROTECTION
TECHNOLOGIES
All action movies show us that castle owners with a dactylogram (finger print) lock
sooner or later lose their hands and all the treasures. But this won’t happen in reality. In
fact a dactylogram lock is much safer than a 4-digit code or a pattern lock that can be
overseen. The simple codes are not effective if your soul mate wants to read SMS on
your smartphone. A biometric is good for the owner and bad for the trespassers.

TIP 58: FOREWARNED IS FOREARMED
ATM, online purchases, Internet and mobile banks and other financial technologies
are thief’s best friends. These “friends” for you are helpers but for a thief they mean
money. Bad boys like to steal without being close to the victim. It’s easy, fast and safe.
But you can protect yourself from such a robbery on condition that you know you’re
being robbed. There are SMS alerts that don’t need your time like having everyday card
account statements. Did you receive SMS with the purchase you didn’t make? Go to
the bank and block the card. And you can get your money back without running after
the thief – that’s the privilege of non-cash money.

TIP 59: DOUBLE MONEY PROTECTION
Unfortunately for you a good hacker can steal almost any password. If you are advised
to have two-factor authentication by the needed system, you’d better agree. An
additional protection such as a one-time code sent in SMS will save your account.
USB-token (flash drive key) is a very good type of protection. No one will be able to log
in the bank or other protected app without this key.

TIP 60: DANGEROUS ATM
It’s a pity that banks don’t write “Watch where you swipe or insert!” on cards. This
could prevent many cases of fraud. Credit cards are the easiest way to pay for goods
and at the same time an easy and safe way to rob you. For example, a usual person
doesn’t know if there is a skimmer (a device used to scan a card information) in the
ATM or not. Criminals who use this devices (they are also called carders) are experts in
hiding their devices installed in the ATM. Engineers check the ATM once a month, so
skimmers can steal information from hundreds or even thousands cards.

TIP 61: HOW TO CHOOSE THE ATM
Not all ATMs are dangerous. Thieves like to be alone with the ATM to install or remove
their equipment without being noticed. The place can be a shopping center full of
people: lots of people with bags and sleepy security let the criminal come and leave
with loads of credit card information including yours. The best ATM is the one in the
bank that is highly visible and watched by security cameras.

TIP 62: HI-TECH THREATS
We sometimes think that all means of communications were created to harm
someone. The Internet is full of cyber threats and the phone is still used for stupid
jokes. NFC technology should be harmless as it needs some centimeters to work.
However, there are new methods to tap the information via NFC that can infect the
mobile phone. So be careful when you put your smartphone down.

TIP 63: PROFILES FOR USERS
User accounts control advisor is a very useful tool that controls all applications actions
and stops a potential dangerous app that needs administrator rights and shows a
message on the screen. You can create user accounts for every family member using
this advisor. It will help you and make the life of viruses much harder. Even if a user
account is infected, the malware won’t get the administrator rights and won’t hurt the
computer too much.

TIP 64: PROTECTED STUDIES
About 100 years ago only people from high society could afford good education.
Other people could hardly study some basic lessons. Time passed and thanks to the
Internet getting education is much easier to get education but not safer. There is a lot
of information on the Internet but there are also many cyber threats that make for a lot
of trouble. Unnecessary advertising, personal information theft, coding the hard drive
with further blackmail are all some ill effects of poor Internet surfing. Modern antiviruses
are easily installed and will you child’s computer will be safe.

TIP 65: CHILDREN’S CURIOSITY
Children are very curious and they will certainly love playing with a multifunctional
device like a computer. Luckily, your child can’t suffer serious injury from the
computer, but can cause fatal damage to the machine if handled or used
inappropriately. Maybe it’s better to give them their RC car instead.

TIP 66: THREATS FOR ALL SYSTEMS
Some people think that malware was created for Windows only and other systems
are totally safe. It is true for the systems that no one uses. Linux and Mac OS are used
by many people, but their users sometimes don’t install anti-virus apps or use other
protection methods. So such systems are easy to infect. Unfortunately the only one
virus is enough to steal valuable information and prevent your system from working
properly.

TIP 67: DANGEROUS FLASH DRIVES
We tech our dogs not to pick up everything from the ground as we don’t want
them sick or to choke. The same happens when we talk about your “electronic pet.”
Automatic startup of physical drives or DVD files can infect the computer if these files
are malware. Fortunately, this option is turned of on new Windows versions but if you
still use Windows XP you’d better do it yourself.

TIP 68: DATA SAVING
Saved the files on a flash drive and unplugged it immediately? You won’t find
anything there. It is not sabotage. This was made for the users. The fact is that speed
of information recording on the flash drive is lower than the computer transfer
speed. So Windows saves information in the special part of the store (buffer store)
and this information is being transferred to the flash drive step by step. After all the
files were buffered the progress icon disappears but the transfer is not finished. If
you need the flash drive immediately then use Safely Remove Hardware and the
transfer will be successful.

TIP 69: UNNOTISABLE SPY
Web-cameras are perfect for people whose friends or relatives live far away. But,
please, be sure that your cameras won’t show the trespassers you private life. Hackers
can use them in different ways. It all depends upon the fantasy and the story he or she
has. They can sell photos and video to a porn site or blackmail the user. If you don’t
want such trouble to happen to you then use anti-virus app protection that will control
the access to your camera.

TIP 70: TELEPHONE FRAUD
“Hello, I am a specialist from Windows Technical Support. There is a very dangerous
virus on your computer,” — this is a possible beginning of a talk with a telephone
scammer. Everything is easy now: the trespasser convinces the user that his or her
computer is infected and then recommends to do some actions that will certainly
help. But the real malware is the very actions that are “recommended” by “the
specialist.” So remember once and forever: Microsoft Technical Support won’t call you
no matter how many viruses there are on your computer.

If you’ve read our recommendations carefully, that
means you have now been educated foretold and
are ready able to effectively resist the threats. But in
order to ensure you are protected, you have to be
forearmed armed as well! Install reliable antivirus
software, like our Kaspersky Total Security, which is
available in a free trial version. Also, check out the
most up-to-date information on new online scams,
cybercriminal campaigns, and emerging viruses and
malware oin our blog: https://blog.kaspersky.com