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  Geebo 9:01 am on July 10, 2018 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: computers ( 4 ), hard drives, laptops ( 4 ), personal information, phones ( 5 ), security ( 46 ), tablets ( 3 )   

  Wipe your devices before selling them 

  

  Congratulations. You just bought a shiny new device, but you’re unsure what to do with still functioning older device. You could either donate it, recycle it, gift it, or even sell it on Geebo. However, before you do any of those things, you want to make sure there is no longer any valuable information left on the device.

  Recently, ABC Action News in the Tampa area bought a number of laptops from people who were selling them on online marketplaces. A number of those laptops still had valuable information on them including bank account and social security numbers. Before parting with a device that has been in your service for years you want to make sure that there is no personal information left on it. While Action News mentions taking your device to be professionally wiped, that costs money and could eat into any potential windfall if you’re planning on selling the device. That’s not even taking into account that while most professionals are on the up and up, there are those bad apples who may use this as an opportunity to harvest your data. After backing up the data you want to save, try these tips for wiping the hard drive on your PC or laptop.

  As the video mentions, software like DBAN is probably your best bet for wiping your hard drives of all important information. Apple computers have their own built-in process for wiping the hard drive. The same goes for Android and iOS devices in case you’re selling a phone or tablet.

  In these days of personal information being leaked from just about everywhere taking these few extra steps and a little bit of time are definitely worth the effort and your peace of mind.

   

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  Geebo 10:55 am on December 13, 2016 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: hacking ( 31 ), hello kitty, identity theft ( 105 ), personal information   

  Why hackers want your kids’ accounts 

  

  We’re used to hearing about companies being hacked and personal information being stolen. Usually it’s a tech monolith like Yahoo or a retail giant like Target. However, it seems that some hackers are targeting sites and services used by children. Popular Mechanics has reported that children’s sites like V-Tech and Hello Kitty are being hacked for their users information, and their users are children.

  So what would hackers want with the user information of children? A lot of it is what some would call a long con. Hackers could hold on to this information for years until the child turns 18. Then they could use that information to do the usual with stolen personal information. They could open banking accounts, take out loans, apply for credit cards, etc.

  So while you may think that your 10-year-old’s current personal information may currently be useless, that’s not to say that it can’t be eventually be used for bad intents. What you can do is what most adults do. When signing up your kid for some website or service, use false information. How many sites do we adults sigh up for and give the service fake names and addresses. I’ve lost track of how many services I’ve signed up for where I used the address of 123 Fake Street. Also, I think it goes without saying that you should never let your young children sign up for services on their own as they tend to freely give out their personal information. Plus, this would be a great teaching moment to your kids as to why and how their personal information should be protected.