Germany's Love Hate Relationship With Social Networks and Search Engines - Often Schizophrenic

Do you recall recently when Germany had a feces fit over Google's street view and satellite view maps, too much resolution and too much invasion of privacy they said, unacceptable they claimed and they sued. Google acquiesced and that case is history. Okay so let's talk because something else has come up, this time instituted by some pretty well connected folks in Germany's financial sector.

You see, there was an interesting article in the Huffington Online News titled; "SCHUFA, Germany's Largest Credit Agency, To Mine Facebook, Twitter for Consumer Risk Information," by Catherine New published on June 15, 2012. The article clearly stated;

"Forget the euro crisis. There's another credit storm brewing in Germany that hits much closer to the heart. It's on Twitter and Facebook. Germany's wired population and business press freaked out when a broadcast news agency revealed confidential documents that showed that the country's largest credit agency, SCHUFA, plans to scrape data from social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to determine an individual's risk to lenders and ability to pay bills, according to Der Spiegel."

Now then, I suppose this is very similar to how insurance companies for auto policies in the US used credit card data and late fees to determine if someone was a greater risk of getting into an accident in their automobile - yes, it turns out that there is a statistical correlation. Still, that didn't sit well with many Americans, and although there was massive outrage, one must understand American politics, insurance lobbying, and how our government works to see why the rectifying of this problem went unabated for so long.

We should all note that social networks are getting a little too friendly with our information, a little too loose with which advertisers they choose as partners, and in the case of Facebook, now it's a public company and needs to make money - and data mining and big data are big business and big money. Worse, much of this information is free for the taking whether or not it is sold to the offending groups who want it or not, and as I note in this case study, it isn't just here, this is happening globally with your personal and private information.

Of course, in their defense, how personal is your data if you willy-nilly post it all over hell's half acre for all the world to see? Whose fault is that my friend? Please consider all this and think on it.

Lance Winslow has launched a new provocative series of eBooks on Future Internet Concepts. Lance Winslow is a retired Founder of a Nationwide Franchise Chain, and now runs the Online Think Tank; http://www.worldthinktank.net/

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Security Threats Within Social Media

Social networks, one of the largest growing online sectors in the last few years, have changed our attitude towards the internet and how we communicate with others. No one is too far to reach now, especially as more and more people join social networks.

However, these networks also require a certain discipline in the behavior so that they remain safe for everyone who uses them.

Social networks may make it easier for people to communicate, but they also make it easier for those with dubious intentions to reach out to victims, and sometimes people put themselves in uncomfortable situations created by something they said or posted on the internet. Also, this unlimited source of information and entertainment, unfortunately, can lead to excessive use, even to the extent that we can talk about internet addiction.

The decision about whether you need a website or social media profile is up to you. However, in most circumstances, it's good to have at least a basic webpage that describes what you are doing and your contact information, regardless of whether you are a local area company, association, business, or club of people that have the same interests.

In addition to basic data, your website is the place to present what your business is actually doing, and in some ways it is a public showcase for the random and not so random web surfers who will pass by your place on the internet. It is, therefore, very important that the very concept and execution is designed to convince visitors that you are good at what you are doing.

Anyone with a little effort and training can make their own website. However, it is usually necessary to create a quality website to look for help from outside contractor who has training and experience in creating websites. The internet is an indispensable tool for work, entertainment, and socializing with friends.

Another issue brought about by social media and websites is that it's somewhat easier to pass around computer viruses. You must protect your computer at all times from these malicious programs. Fortunately, there are many different antivirus programs out there. Some must be paid for, but there are plenty of very high quality free programs, too.

Originally, antivirus programs detected viruses and spyware tools detected spyware, but today, the difference between antivirus and spyware tools is negligible. Most of today's high quality antivirus tools detect all types of malware, including viruses, worms, Trojans, spyware, adware, dialers, key loggers, and root kit infections that perform malicious actions on your computer.

To increase the security of their computer, users must know how antivirus programs work. Some people only have one main antivirus application, while others use several different programs to make certain they catch every single damaging program that attempts to get into their computers.

But this is all you really need if you know what you're doing with the computer. Just do not open any files that come from suspicious emails or links. Anything that looks suspicious or dangerous should be avoided immediately.

People who yearn for knowledge on the Internet have an endless source of information at their fingertips. However, this desire for knowledge can lead to constant searching, researching trivial things that aren't that useful. The chances of landing on a page with a virus can also be a concern, especially if you do not have adequate antivirus protection.

Need more information on network security? Then visit Firewall.cx, a globally recognized site covering networking topics, protocol analysis, Cisco routing, switching, security and VoIP technologies.

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Social Engineering and Hackers - Mobile Apps and Cyber Attacks

As any computer security consultant will tell you that one of the biggest challenges are insiders being duped by social engineering tactics, and once the hackers get in, well, then it's very difficult to prevent them from doing real damage or infiltrating data, or collecting boatloads of proprietary information. The other day, I was discussing all this with an acquaintance, after I explained why I could not open a file which was sent to me.

At first, he thought I was a bit paranoid, although I just consider it to be disciplined, as it only takes one mistake and that's easy to do. Eventually he saw my point, and I stated; yes, well, I guess we can't be too careful, the hackers are just as smart as we are, and "social engineering" is pretty easy to do, especially living in such a great country and free society.

He also asked why we didn't have web forms on our website. Well, we removed the web-forms after the massive bot attacks by hackers, mostly Russian and Eastern Europe, then the spam bots, it became almost impossible to deal with, 100s per day at one point, and we added "captcha" and still had folks entering by hand I am guessing, amazing the trouble they went to, including attempts at denial of service trying to overload us.

So, what's the answer, do we cut off or curtail communication to the point where we limit ourselves, do we take more risks, less risks, give up, or just stop communication? Well, perhaps, it is similar to the security settings on your web browser, you have many choices, many of which totally limit your ability to adequately surf online. Meanwhile, perhaps the biggest recent problem is all these apps available now for mobile communication, and all the tracking software to deliver appropriate advertising and marketing.

Too many of these apps, allow tracking too far deep into the users activities, meanwhile if the user is interfacing with secure websites, using temporary secure access certificates the app allows it to ride along and infiltrate, causing massive chaos considering how many apps there are and how many users are using so many various mobile devices out there these days. Combine that with careless users with ridiculously easy passwords and social engineering, and what you have is a recipe for disaster to the hackers delight.

Maybe it's time you became better educated on computer safety online, and with your own software programs so that you understand your vulnerabilities out there. Please consider all this and think on it.

Lance Winslow has launched a new provocative series of eBooks on Future Internet Concepts. Lance Winslow is a retired Founder of a Nationwide Franchise Chain, and now runs the Online Think Tank; http://www.worldthinktank.net/

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