Cyber Security – a necessary or unnecessary prospect

Scenario:

Security endures a name, which holds an ancient bond with our broadening in materialistic aspect, when there is invention; there lives a probe adjunct being embezzlement, wreck or harmfulness.

Due to the macrocosm is blended in bi-form elements determines the defective by the atrocity.  From history to present beside by for the time to come security development claims a climacteric role in our globe, security can be adjunct financial component, cell phones, computer, online businesses, software, any material element, it endures a critical aspect of mortal life.

As we encompass that the Earth is become a village now a days. Hence anything you expect in shape of material exists efficiently feasible; a person sitting in any niche of the world can acquires contact effortlessly with any person or detect solution for its necessities. It actually could be attainable only by the consecrating of Cyber Technology it has commuted our conventionality as well as our psychology. No one had the condemnation in history that humankind will be on such a proud peak in this universe.

Overview:

Cyber security prevails today a modernistic challenge in today’s globe. Due to phishing scam, identity theft, hacking, manipulation of online money exchange, malware attacks, fraud sites, spyware, viruses etc. a somebody may loss his considerable information on maintained on his computer or it may crawl down his network speed, embezzlement his confidential information and abuse of his identity. If in that respect will be no security a stream of information will be cease which affects in loss for the businesses. So to cease such cyber terrorism a Cyber Security Act has accomplished to in existence in 1995. It allows affirmation to us about a flowing of facts of individual, a defensive online environment and cautious online exchanges and activities, rebuilt our trust.

One of the commanding broadly applied security standards today is ISO/IEC 27002, which began in 1995. This benchmark consists of dual elementary components. BS 7799 part one and BS 7799 part two both were discovered by (British Standards Institute) BSI. Currently this standard has become ISO 27001. The National Institute of Standards and Technology has released several special publications relating cyber security for organizations.

Cyber security is a thriving industry, with quickly enhancing requirement in government and industry.  A survey by trustful internet movement found that there are 75% of the most famed sites are vulnerable with browser exploit. Hence the vulnerability of site compels alertness, time and awareness. Over the antedating ten years, multiple cyber assaults occurred aiming both governmental agencies and private companies. In 2000 ample commercial websites like yahoo, Amazon, e-bay etc has become victim of damage of $1.7 billion and in 2003 a slammer worm infected world’s computers in couple of minutes. Hence a cyber security is an ablaze question for every human being using internet applications.

Necessary or Unnecessary:

Cyber Security will guard us from sniper attacks. It helps us to browse the safe websites. It provides internal security process with all the ingress and outgoing data on our computer. It defends from hacks and virus. It is being modified on proper time so our computer feel safe environment and prevents from upcoming attacks. It protects from accidental download of virus and malware and spyware, protection from data corruption and theft. Person can easily shop online without obstruction.

The business litigate will be smooth and people will regain confidence through cyber security. Giant corporation where network is mandatory which connects many computers can well be a victim of a cyber offense and many important information will be misused by hackers but cyber security will provides a safety seal to such organizations and as well as their customers. It is satisfactory that as we will communicate through new generation cyber crime will takes a new form to cheat us so it is time to awake for ourselves for a secure and healthy cyber environment.

Users keep prevail harmless online by bypassing hazardous files and websites. In today’s globe if your company holds no cyber security then it prevails an unlock access for hackers to manipulate your system. Hackers can steal tax information, Social Security Numbers of employees, contact data from your customers and anything else that you have stored on your computer.

According to “Entrepreneur” magazine, about half of all small- to mid-sized business holders appear not has decent security on their computers. It upholds the information on your computers protect from outside eyes. All computers or networks oblige antivirus and anti-spyware programs, firewalls and defends across spam and phishing frauds.

Yes, it is also noticeable that many security certificates and firewalls do not protect our computers firmly and need an immense space on the hard drive. Some hardware based firewalls only read incoming information but not outgoing information so your network system will be affected sometimes. So overall if we see from business outlook Cyber Security plays a meaning role and for their customers.

Credit: http://techwirenews.com/cyber-security-a-necessary-or-unnecessary-prospect/

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Internet Marketing – An Advance Approach

Marketing frolics an essential role in business enterprise it is an archaic term. In former time marketing has limited concept for only production and selling preference. But as time moved on the scheme and construct of marketing is changed it is not just bound by production and selling but expands with the horizon of service, relationship between customers and business, branding, industrial marketing, social marketing, relationship management and business marketing. As its horizon expands its technique also varies from time to time now the up most concept in marketing is Internet Marketing. The concept of web marketing or Internet marketing is spreading heavily now a day. It is to tell in elementary phrase that it is a selling platform of product and service over the internet.

If you await at this concept deeply it is a cost saving effort for business individual it is like a branch office of your company. Secondly you don’t have to assign a sale person. Thirdly the information provide on web is like crystal clear one can judge your product and goodwill through internet. Fourthly people can shop anytime at their will. Fifthly solve their query with troubleshooting guide listed on your site. Sixthly write any product related message or query or suggestion in provided forum. The main reward that you are alive to the world anybody can take vantage of your product and service.

It also build network of social as business relations without cost and helps in business success. There are some proficiencies by which you can administer your product and services to the world like display advertise or banner on third party’s website, e-mail marketing, social media marketing via social sites like facebook, twitter, LinkedIn etc, referral marketing include promoting products through current customers, affiliate marketing, inbound marketing, search engine optimization which ameliorates the profile of a site.

Social media security is most important part of internet marketing. You can note that most usable social media like facebook and twitter now secure with SSL Certificates. You just login that networks and enable to HTTPS security that can build your social media account now a bit secure. Generally, you will desire to allow SSL on as lots of websites as you can for added security. Now you can see Google also allows this.

Companies can ambit to a wide community through internet marketing. Consumer can experience the details and purchase product easily. Many website have images and videos of products and service which also impacts on customer’s mind and draw them to buy their product. All internet market campaign can be traced and measured for product performance. The minus of internet marketing is solely that a personal touch to consumer is lacking. One to one meeting impacts more for merchandising a product but online marketing lacks this element. Secondly security over the net is ponder able aspect while entering confidential details like debit card number, addresses, phone numbers. It may be misused by some illegal identity. So online business must comply with a security seal for accessing customer’s information.

Besides this online marketing provides one to one access via internet while entering right keyword for right product so the proper attention is gained through online marketing. As seen from this prospect the futurity of Internet marketing is astonishing and the latter generation will surely take interest in online theory, may be more advance than this.

Credit: http://www.esoftload.info/internet-marketing-an-advance-approach

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SSL Implementation monitoring by SSL Pulse in July, 2012

SSL Pulse is an evaluation system that monitors SSL performance test conducted by SSL Lab. It reassures the health and parameters of website that running globally. It provides tools and documents according to health of website so the user may raise the security as well as the SSL accomplishment. SSL Pulse took a survey about 2million website. SSL Pulse is an online dashboard that analyzes the quality of SSL. The Trustworthy Internet Movement a nonprofit project had revealed its first project which called “SSL Pulse”. It was driven in Feb, 2012.

The survey determined that 50% sites were secure and well managed and the rest were needed to be improved. SSL Pulse is available for anybody to assure if the site has secure seal or not. The motto of SSL Pulse is to bring cognizance about the SSL functions. Using SSL Pulse you can check any website within a minute. SSL if not properly managed than it will give user a phony identity. The results come from the survey is listed following: 

• The survey discovers that nearly 72% well configured sites are found vulnerable.
• Only 12.9% sites were found secure under prescribed parameters.
• It also come across that a certificate chain was incomplete in 7.5% sites.
• There were 38.2% sites that are using lower cipher strength less than 128 bit.
• The Key used in SSL certificate was about less than 1024 bit.
• There is 31.2% site using SSL V2.0 which is unsafe.
• 11.8% of sites were utilizing renegotiating support which allows attacker to steal confidential data.
• There are 91.9% sites have not Extended Valuation Certificates (EV).
• 72.4% sites are found under BEAST attack.

There are 198,216 websites who owns valid SSL certificates, but only 99,903 websites, that deserves “A” grade. EV SSL Certificate is the complete security solution to avoid risk of BEAST attack.

The above anatomy points that SSL implementation is need to be detected by the programmer so Trustworthy Internet Movement has issued a guideline for implementation and governance of SSL which helps developers to implement and secure the website against the attacker. In current assumption there are numerous users who deal with online shopping and the only fidelity of user is SSL and if the survey outcomes with such results than it will be not untimely to tell you user that you and your monetary details are not safe. So for an E-commerce company desires to heighten its profit and bank of their customers than it should be absolved SSL Pulse assessment.

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E-commerce- A Revolution

As the technology elevates day by day it opens new doors and facilitates us with its new features. Technology removes our hurdles in our day-to-day life. Our forbears found many difficulties in their mundane and never thought of leisurely of life. Due to blessing of technology a human is living such a dreamy life. If we view at a glance, we can feel that everything is accessible. E-commerce is a gift of cyber technology which makes our life so comfortable. One bailiwick we can ponder that the future of e-commerce is awesome. So let’s take an overview about E-business.

E-business is a subject which defines commercial transactions of selling and capturing products over the web or other cyber networks. It includes money transfer, supply chain management, viral marketing, inventory management, automatic data accumulation system exchange of data via business to business. It covers technology like e-mail, telephone and mobile devices. We can classified in E-business in shopping cart software, online banking, online assistance, online shopping, instant messaging, electronic tickets, newsgroups, online advertisement. E-commerce removes worries of those busy professionals in their day-to-day life essential like food and drink etc.

The main gain of e-business is that a man posing at anywhere can get things well with a strike of thump with a reasonable price. It absents the trouble of walking to the shop, fight for bargaining, consume of time, theft of money in crowd. Nowadays many companies are espousing this revolutionary service due to change in technology, people now either use desktop, mobile or laptops can easily surf the e-commerce websites and order the requisite services. It provides marketers an easy access with the customer by doing this marketers can improve their products receiving the opinions of customers directly and it builds reputation and a healthy relation with customer. It also feeds the customer database if you are authorizing commerce which is suitable with customers.

This scenario shows that how the futurity of our world will be? Customer becomes more approachable and predictable many products are linking with e-commerce one day will come where person will stop his roaming for his mostly needs. It’s like a wish and the doorbell abruptly calls and your wish will be fulfilled. It is now disputing for a business to constant update themselves with the customer’s need because in such a varying world if you bear at end waiting for some buyers with your superannuated products than you are lacking in judging the customer choice.

Therefore e-commerce is an easygoing source both for customers and vendors just it is to a greater extent challenging field to satisfy your customer as it is an epoch where customer finds easily your defects and will twist in a bit to another marketer so there is no evasion for cheating. You will actualize that today everything is transparent on web on each topic. Economists claim conceived that e-commerce ought to administer to deepened amount competition, as it amplifies users’ adeptness to amass facts about products and costs. How future e-commerce trend will cast is a wonder of bunch of desires and anxiousness.

Credit: http://www.techmaish.com/e-commerce-a-revolution/

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HOW TO SECURE A WIRELESS NETWORK

Wireless net (WI-FI) prevails an ascending technology in a cyber globe. It abolishes the bounds of wired technology peculiarly conducted in internet connection. It conducts radio frequency and utilized to wireless information exchange over a PC set-up. “Wi-Fi” continues a characteristic of the Wi-Fi association. It attains with WEP, WPA, and WPA2 encryption. For connection with Wi-Fi, wireless local area network is exercise to bond contrary apparatus for switch of information, which is marketed under Wi-Fi.

Wi-Fi attracts ample boons at our doorstep composing trouble-free breakneck and cost effectiveness solution network configuration and reconfiguration. Every goodness carries badness with it. Here all communication dealt through radio frequency, interception hazard is emerging. If the information affected encrypted the assailant could debase the information. The wireless networking security core accommodates secrecy, coherence, availability.

The principal reward of wireless network embodies ease, mobility, productivity, deployment, expandability, and expense. The dislikes of wireless network involve Security, extent of acreage, dependability and speed. The wireless network adjures four elements exchange of details via radio frequency, access points and users. Every technology expects security or assailants may annoy the data that proceed in it. There are absolute benchmark determine the shelter of wireless network security.

Encryption

The chief discipline to assign impunity to wireless network is to encrypt the details exchange on wireless network there exists two categories of encryption WEP (wired equivalent privacy) and WPA (Wi-Fi protected access) WEP was first encryption approach but due to defective encryption an exigency of  fresh encryption arise and WPA was come into exist. In order to conduct WPA all the communication apparatuses must be configured through WPA. Once you encrypt your router, you have to array your wireless network apparatuses with adequate data to approach the network. Alike encryption will maintain hackers and snoopers out of your wireless network. Ceaselessly conduct a longer key capacity for encryption to deliver stronger security. Hence turn on your encryption element in wireless router.

Spyware/firewall usage

Anti spyware, made in on computer will attribute protection cover to your network across malware, alien assailants and hazards. It alarms opposite numerous malicious sites or URL appearing caution popup. One should always arouse his system firewall to defend from jeopardy and exposure it is a safety shield that allocated by OS in your PC.

Non- broadcast WLAN

Ample wireless access points providers non- promoting their SSID (service set identifier) who is central saying endures to control your identity from outsider attackers by function this SSID will be depicting in the list of attainable wireless network. Hence disable your identifier broadcasting system if your wireless router affirms you.

Default ID & Password

When you amass wireless router from manufacturer it will access with default ID. Hackers have cognizance of default id hence alter your id and password you can recall or rewrite down it on a separate note hence that in case you elapse you will obtain easily. Even your router is not broadcasting its id; it has a big hazard to be applied by malicious cyberpunk. The stronger you maintain your password the safer your system will be.

MAC (Media Access Control)

Each wireless router has media access control, which apportions odd chosen apparatuses that contrasts with MAC address to the network. Hackers may copy MAC and can defraud your data via wireless network hence coherently display your identity to definite computers that you absolutely perceive otherwise you will be a dupe of fraud access control.

Turn-off Wi-Fi in idol time 

Wi-Fi endures based on radio frequency and assailants may debase its signal for their malicious action therefore when you are not conduct your Wi-Fi it should be turn off hence outsider may not debase it. The more it is exemplary the more in a jeopardy zone of threats and vulnerability.

Hot spot

Today the globe is abutted more with Wi-Fi there are ample locus in our area, which is comprehensively colonized by Wi-Fi hence people chronically utilize their laptop in such locus preserving in attend that they are cautious while utilizing wireless technology. However, the essential fact is that Hot spot are no harmless in today’s age because hackers have a briefing about akin locus. Hence they can hack facilely your wireless system and can defraud your data, deliver numerous male ware, baffle your email by allowing numerous spam mails hence one should not facilitate Wi-Fi in accessible hot spot or you may be assault by attackers.

Knowledge

User must be attentive of pros and betrays of Wi-Fi and user cautious himself by following the precaution about the wireless network conduct. So there continues a less chance of being hacked. User has to update himself about the budding technology adept by cyber network in respect of wireless security hence user might long exult the benefit of akin technology. User should approach other about the correct conduct of wireless network.

Network scrutinizing

Network should be examined coherently and match with former map with appropriate network mapping apparatuses. The approach of audit the network is to detect out the action aftereffects and identify the security and also layup bottom parameters on which future check will be affirmed. The audit comprises feeble keys for encryption, key reuse and WEP security areas, and pass of network stumblers, packet logging and analysis breakthrough access point hardware and configuration, felonious network access, interfaces with other networks.

Although it is imaginative to exterminate entire barriers or hazard in wireless network but yes it is a conceivable appeal to appraise and administer unwanted hazard.

 Credit: http://www.gamesht.com/2012/06/06/how-to-secure-a-wireless-network/

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9 Reason To Choose ClickSSL on SlideShare

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Steve Jobs, Apple co-founder, dies aged 56

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like, ‘If you live each day as if it was your last, some day you’ll most certainly be right’.

It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself, ‘If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?’ And whenever the answer has been ‘No’ for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life.

Almost everything – all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – falls away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.

Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new.

When Apple co-founder Steve Jobs addressed students from Stanford ­University with those words in 2005 he had been living with pancreatic cancer for a year.

Yesterday, at the age of 56, the billionaire behind the Apple Macintosh computer, the iPod and the iPhone finally succumbed to the disease – and made way for the new.

Fans mourned his death by lighting candles with a touch to their iPad screens at Apple stores around the world. US ­President Barack Obama led the millions of tributes, saying: “Steve was among the greatest of American innovators – brave enough to think differently, bold enough to believe he could change the world, and talented enough to do it.”

Jobs’ father Abdulfattah Jandali was a Syrian professor teaching in San Francisco where he met student Joanne Carole Schieble. The couple had a baby boy in 1955 but decided to give him up for adoption.

His mother nearly refused to sign the papers after she discovered would-be adopters Paul and Clara Jobs had not gone to university but relented when the Armenian couple pledged that her son would go instead. They kept their promise but after only six months at Reed College, Oregon, Steve dropped out of his course. He travelled to India, returning in robes, and dabbled in drugs, describing taking LSD as “one of the two or three most ­important things I have done in life”.

After developing circuit boards for games firm Atari, he and old high school pal Steve Wozniak, together with Ronald Wayne, founded Apple in 1976. They designed the Apple I computer in Jobs’ parents’ garage, followed in 1977 by the Apple II, which was a big hit.

In 1984, they launched the Macintosh, which was to revolutionise the computer world with its pioneering use of graphics.

However, despite rave reviews, it sold poorly and Jobs found himself under ­pressure. He was often difficult to work with and was dubbed “one of Silicon Valley’s leading egomaniacs”.
His confrontational style led to a split at Apple and in 1985 he was forced out after a boardroom bust-up.

The ever-practical Jobs later said his firing was the best thing that could have happened to him. He set up computer company NeXT and bought what would become the hugely successful Pixar animation studio for a bargain $10 million.

Then, 11 years after his ousting, he was back at his spiritual home when Apple bought NeXT for $429million.

What followed was unimaginable success, with Jobs’ unquenchable drive and vision leading to a string of best-sellers, including the all-in-one iMac computer in 1998.

A fan of the Beatles, he had named his company Apple after the Fab Four’s record label, who allowed him to use it on condition he steered clear of music.

And so he did, until the 2001 launch of the portable iPod, an MP3 player which offered “1,000 songs in your pocket”.

It led to a lengthy battle which ended last year when the Beatles’ music went on sale on Apple’s iTunes. The company then became the world leader in telecommunications after the launch of the touch-screen iPhone in 2007. It saw scenes of near-hysteria at Apple outlets and the device went on to sell 100 million.

Away from work, Jobs was a fiercely private man. He had a son and two daughters with his wife Laurene Powell but also had a daughter Lisa Brennan-Jobs, 33, from a previous relationship.

Her mother struggled on benefits when Jobs denied being her father, claiming he was sterile. But after another lengthy battle, Jobs finally admitted he was her dad.

“He had a love-hate relationship with his fame,” says biographer Alan Deutschman.

“Steve wanted it both ways. He enjoyed the celebrity and access it gave him, but wanted total control over his image.”

As he became increasingly ill from the pancreatic cancer which was to finally take his life, Jobs stood down from his CEO role at Apple in August.

He amassed a fortune estimated at £5.3billion but once said: “Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me. Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful, that’s what matters to me.”

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SSL Certificate and Web Hosting Promos Roundup - ClickSSL

Here at various promotions appealing to all kinds of hostingrelated needs, including cybercrime prevention, Wildcard SSL Certificates and aweb design contest. CoreLink Data Center is offering companies a free hour-longsecurity consultation to protect from cyber attacks, ClickSSL has launched aWildcard SSL certificate for $99/year, HostBaby is giving away three years freeweb hosting to the winner of its web design contest, Yahoo Web Hosting isoffering 50 percent off its small business hosting packages and Namesco isoffering 25 percent off web hosting.

CoreLink Data Centers Offers FreeSecurity Consultation, Free Managed Security Service

Colocation firm CoreLink Data Centers (www.corelink.com)has launched a managed security promotion, offering companies a free 60-minuteconsultation to evaluate IT infrastructure, ensuring it's protected againstattacks and unauthorized access. Valued at $250, the meeting will be held withan expert security engineer, and will include any managed security service freeto users for the first 30 days. A minimum 12-month hosting contract isrequired. The offer expires June 30.

ClickSSLOffers Wildcard SSL Certificate for $99/Year

SSL Certificate provider ClickSSL (www.clickssl.com)is offering a special promotion on its wildcard SSL certificate. With the promocode CLICK@198 a Wildcard SSL Certificate costs $99/year. The Wildcard SSLCertificate enables SSL encryption on multiple sub-domains using a singlecertificate. Wildcard SSL certificates areissued for (*.yourdomain.tld/*.*). Where * stands for anything and does notlimit the numbers. Wildcard SSL certificates are same as regular certificates and offer the high encryption and browser support.

HostBaby Web Design CompetitionEnds Sunday, Awards 3 Years Free Hosting

Web host HostBaby (www.hostbaby.com)is holding a web design contest to promote its new Site Builder. The contest isopen to musicians, authors and artists and prizes include three years free webhosting, CD manufacturing packages, custom stickers, posters and more. Thewinning sites will be selected by a group of web designers. The contest endsSunday, May 15 and the winners will be announced via its blog on Wednesday, May18.

Yahoo Web Hosting Offers Half OffSmall Business Packages

Web host Yahoo Web Hosting (smallbusiness.yahoo.com/webhosting)is offering 50 percent off its small business hosting packages. The plansinclude a free domain name and unlimited disk space, email storage and datatransfer.

Namesco Offers 25 Percent OffHosting Packages

UK web host and domain registrar Namesco (www.namesco.co.uk)is offering 25 percent off selected hosting packages for the month of May. Thecompany's hosting starts at $6.49 per month. Namesco offers a variety ofpackages, including a starter package for personal use, a professional packagesuitable for business hosting, a premium package for high traffic sites and aplatinum option for developers and reseller hosting.

Credit: Web Host Industry Review

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The recent survey says people are not very conscious on online frauds

Surveys are a great window into people’s minds, especially when they can illuminate contrasting, and even contradictory, behaviors in the same group. Results from the Symantec Online Internet Safety Survey have done just that. The most compelling finding – that respondents frequently proceed with online transactions they know might be insecure – inspired me to ask not just, “What are they thinking?” but “What are they thinking?!?”

The survey’s focus must be on many people’s minds, as we’ve had an extraordinary response – 301 people in just a few days! My initial impressions of the results are below. Feel free to share your comments and questions here.

Findings:

Risky behavior remains common despite respondents knowing better: What struck me the most was that in many cases, respondents continued online transactions even when those transactions lacked security cues respondents knew should be there. For example, 80 percent of respondents knew to look for the padlock icon signifying Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption, but only 55 percent said they would abort a transaction if they didn’t see it. Similarly, 81 percent knew to look for secure Internet connections (HTTPS) but only 56 percent got spooked by secure URLs not matching certificate domains (not an exact correlation, I know, but related). These are differences of nearly 30 points! What is driving this reckless behavior?
An equally notable figure is that 15 percent don’t use secure connections for social media activities even though they know improved security is available. Come on, people!

People know to bail out of online transactions they suspect aren’t secure: Exactly 3 out of 4 (75 percent) of respondents have abandoned online transactions because they felt the website wasn’t secure. This figure affirms respondents’ understanding of security cues and isn’t surprising given respondents’ high sensitivity to data loss. In fact, I’m wondering why the figure isn’t higher, closer to the high 90s like in Questions 1 and 2 (see below). Why would a quarter of respondents not cancel such transactions? Do they only go to websites they trust? And how do they know that trust is warranted without those security cues?

Many people are still learning about new browser security cues developed to counter evolving threats:

The majority (55%) of the respondents knew to look for a green address bar – the sign of a website having an Extended Validation Secure Sockets Layer (EV SSL) certificate. More than half of respondents (54 percent) knew a green address bar means a website is secure and only 1 percent said it didn’t make them feel safe. In contrast, nearly half (46 percent) either didn’t remember seeing the bar or didn’t feel either way about it. These figures indicate that popular understanding of the value of the green address bar is growing but this new security feature is still not top of mind for many users. Perhaps businesses can help educate their users about their use of the green bar, where applicable. If you need help with that, there are great resources available at the VeriSign Authentication Services.

Moreover, 42 percent knew to look for a third-party trust mark or seal. In fact, 1 in 3 (35 percent) respondents said lack of a seal worried them enough to end an online transaction. These figures may indicate most people don’t yet understand how seals represent an important security guarantee. Think about that for a moment. There is a potential for online businesses to be having a third of their businesses not transacting simply because the site lacks a recognizable trust mark to encourage users the site is safe.

At the same time, more than 4 out of 5 respondents knew to look for the padlock icon and/or the “s” in the HTTPS in the URL address of a website (80 percent and 81 percent, respectively) which is not too surprising as users have been conditioned over the years to look for these traditional cues. A vast majority of respondents know the value of secure connections (HTTPS) and how to use them – 77 percent set their social media security tools to use secure connections whenever browsing or logging in.

Nearly everyone has armed themselves with knowledge about security, but room for improvement still exists: Nearly all respondents (97 percent) considered themselves either somewhat or extremely knowledgeable about keeping their confidential data safe when shopping or banking online. The breakdown here was much more even, with 54 percent saying they were extremely knowledgeable and 43 percent somewhat knowledgeable.

Keeping confidential data safe when shopping or banking online is a universal concern: Ninety-eight percent of respondents were either somewhat or extremely concerned. What’s telling is that 82 percent were extremely concerned and only 17 percent somewhat concerned. That means more than 4 out of 5 respondents see protecting their data as a top priority.
This data ties into other findings that phishing attacks are widespread but not always recognized as a threat. More than 1 out of 7 respondents (16 percent) said they had been phished, highlighting how endemic cybercrime is today. Five percent of respondents, though, had no idea what phishing attacks are – a dangerous blind spot. Think you know what a phishing site looks like? Play our Phish or No Phish game to see if you can tell the difference.

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Twitter Turns on SSL Encryption for Some Users

Twitter is slowly turning on automatic encryption on its website, a move following other major providers of web-based services to thwart account hijacking over wireless networks.

Twitter has offered an option for users to turn on SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) encryption, but said on Tuesday that it will turn the feature on by default for some users. It did not indicate when the option would be turned on by default for all users.

SSL encryption, indicted by "https" in the URL bar and sometimes a padlock in the browser window, is an encryption protocol used to protect communication between a client and a server. It is important to use because unencrypted information passed over wireless networks can be intercepted.

Many websites encrypt a person's login and password but will stop encrypting further data that is transmitted. A reason for not using SSL throughout a session is that it can occasionally slow interaction between the user and website.

Last year, a freelance web application Firesheep released, an add-on for Firefox that snatches cookies transmitted on unencrypted networks. Web sites drop a cookie, or a small data file, into a person's Web browser while they are logged into a session. Cookies are also used to "remember" people and keep them logged into the website.

Firesheep used an technique that was well-known but made it very easy for novice hackers to grab cookies and immediately log into a website as another person with just two clicks, known as session hijacking. If Firesheep detected someone logging into say, Facebook, on an open wireless network it would display their photo and name, which could be clicked in Firesheep, hijacking the person's account.

SSL Certificate would thwart such an attack since the cookie would encrypted. Other websites have started to step up their security as well. Facebook allows people to turn on SSL for a person's entire session in the "Account Settings" under "Security." In January 2010, Google turned on SSL for everyone using Gmail by default.

Credit: PCWorld Business Center

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