Wednesday Newsbytes – News for You – 031622
Every day we scan the tech world for news that affects all of us who use Windows computers. Today, we’re featuring some of the news articles that grabbed our attention over the past week. We hope you find this week’s “Wednesday Newsbytes” informative and interesting!
SIM Card Swapping: The Dangerous Cell Phone Scam Everyone Needs To Know
In this article, I’ll explain what SIM swapping is and what phone carriers are doing about the issue. I’ll also share some tips on how you can stay safe using today’s technology.
What Is SIM Swapping?
SIM swapping, or a SIM swap scam, happens when a crook is able to take control of your personal information stored on your SIM card by using it on another phone.
According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), a successful SIM swap can occur if a scammer impersonates you and contacts your phone service provider with a bogus story.
According to the FTC’s website, ‘They may call your cell phone service provider and say your phone was lost or damaged. Then they ask the provider to activate a new SIM card connected to your phone number on a new phone — a phone they own.”
DuckDuckGo ‘down-ranks’ Russian disinformation. The search engine’s users are not happy
Is DuckDuckGo turning on its users, or did they misunderstand the search engine to begin with?
Tech companies are continuing to take action as Russia’s war in Ukraine rages on. Search engine DuckDuckGo is the latest platform to take measures in the information war that’s being battled online.
According to DuckDuckGo’s founder and CEO, Gabriel Weinberg, the privacy-focused search engine has ‘down-ranked’ websites in its search results that are ‘associated with Russian disinformation.’
Tech companies are continuing to take action as Russia’s war in Ukraine rages on. Search engine DuckDuckGo is the latest platform to take measures in the information war that’s being battled online.
According to DuckDuckGo’s founder and CEO, Gabriel Weinberg, the privacy-focused search engine has ‘down-ranked’ websites in its search results that are ‘associated with Russian disinformation.’
15 Google Chrome Settings You Need To Change Immediately
Unless you lived through it, it’s hard to imagine a time before Google, when Internet Explorer was actually a commonly used browser, people asked Jeeves their internet questions, and if googling was a verb at all, it meant something totally different.
Today, even while Internet Explorer or Edge might come standard on a new computer, one of their most common uses is downloading Chrome. Chrome is easily the most popular web browser on the planet, taking up nearly two thirds of the browser market. There are good reasons for its popularity. It’s sleek, it works well, and it does everything we expect a web browser to do. It doesn’t hurt that it has Google’s search engine built in. Still, while it’s doing all the things you want it to do, it might also be doing some stuff you don’t want and probably don’t even know about.
Here are some settings you should check out and consider changing, for a better, more private, or just a more customized browsing experience.
Google warns BILLIONS of Chrome users about rising number of attacks – how to stay safe
GOOGLE has issued a chilling warning to the 2.6billion people who use its Chrome web browser.
The US tech titan told fans last week to expect a rise in the number of reported cyberattacks in the coming months.
Adrian Taylor, a member of Chrome’s Security Team, explained the increase in a blog post on March 10.
He was prompted to write the post in response to increasing reports of exploits found ‘in the wild’ by Google’s network of researchers.
Those are the software vulnerabilities that are actively being used by cyber crooks to break into Chrome and attack users.
Google reports the exploits it finds in a regular blog series.
‘If you are a regular reader of our Chrome release blog, you may have noticed that phrases like ‘exploit for CVE-1234-567 exists in the wild’ have been appearing more often recently,’ Taylor wrote.
He added that the rise in cyberattack reports is likely a result of two factors.
‘While the increase may initially seem concerning, it’s important to understand the reason behind this trend.’ Taylor wrote.
‘If it’s because there are many more exploits in the wild, it could point to a worrying trend.’
What does the ‘Connection Not Private’ warning really mean?
How to decide when it’s safe to proceed, and what’s at risk if you do
Chances are at some point in your internet travels you’ve stumbled on a warning that reads something like “Your connection is not private. Attackers might be trying to steal your information.” The page usually gives you an option to proceed to the website anyway. But should you?
Today, we conduct more activities online than ever before: paying bills, buying groceries, and interfacing with doctors, to name a few. With more of these websites requesting personal information, we rely on our web browser’s security practices to ensure that our data stays safe.
Each time you visit a website, your web browser (e.g., Chrome, Safari, or Firefox) first checks for the existence of one of two digital certificates: a Transport Layer Security (TLS) or Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate. These indicate two important things. First, they confirm the identity of the website, affirming that the website is who it says it is…
These Newsbytes were good from DuckDuckGo, Chrome settings, etc.
Thank you…