We all know there are risks to storing personal information online, yet few of us take even the most basic precautions, like choosing unique and hard-to-guess passwords.
On Thursday, Google will introduce a tool, known as two-step verification, that will make Google accounts more secure and less vulnerable to hackers and phishing scams.
Google users who choose to use the tool will still enter their passwords to get to Google accounts like Gmail, Picasa and Google Docs. But they will also need to enter a second verification code, generated on the spot for one-time use and sent to their cellphone through a text message, phone call or app.
“Passwords tend to be the weakest link in the process of securing a Google account,” said Nishit Shah, a product manager for Google security who worked on the project. “We wanted to improve the security of the account in a way that is not just something the user knows, the password, but what the user has, the phone.”
The threat is a real one. For instance, a hacker reached personal and business information about Twitter and its executives by breaking into e-mail accounts. And when you get those e-mails that say friends are abroad and in dire need of money, a phishing scheme is to blame.
Google’s new operating system for laptops, called Chrome OS, stores all of a user’s information in the cloud and none of it on a computer hard drive, making strong security even more important.
Businesses have used tools that require several passwords to access company systems for years, and Google started offering its business customers the service last year. But consumer Web sites haven’t done it, in part because the security hardware that companies give employees, like key fobs, is expensive and inconvenient.
Google has tried to overcome that by delivering the codes on cellphones, something most people have with them all the time. Users can provide a backup phone number in case their phone is dead or lost, and receive a list of 10 backup codes to use if they can’t get the codes via phone. And people who don’t want to enter two codes each time they access their Google account can tell Google to remember the code for 30 days.
Google users can find a link to set up two-step verification on the account settings page.
A new scam is spreading rapidly across Facebook, using rogue applications to post spam messages onto users' profiles claiming to be a way of discovering the total number of times your Facebook profile has been viewed.
The following YouTube video explains more:
Tens of thousands of users have been tricked into clicking on the messages.
My total facebook views are: XXXX
Find out your total profile views
The number of "views" shown each time changes, and there are a number of different links being used, but all of them point to rogue applications which trick you into allowing them to access your Facebook page and profile:
And as soon as you click on "allow", the scammers have you by the short-and-curlies. Behind the scenes, they are already posting messages which can be seen by your Facebook friends.
Plenty of people may want to know how many times their Facebook profile has been viewed (some may regard it as a badge of honour, rather like collecting followers on Twitter, or connections on LinkedIn) but this application is making the number up.
How do I know? Well, the test account I used to research this particular rogue application is friends with no-one, and isn't found in a Facebook search. I hardly think that it's true that it's been viewed over 3645 times..
But, of course, if your friends see "you" posting a message like that on Facebook they may well be tempted to find out their score for veiwers themselves, and click on the link and approve the application. And thus the rogue application spreads virally across Facebook.
So, what's the intention of all this? Well, if you do allow the rogue app to access your profile and post to your Facebook page then you'll next be taken to the webpage which claims it will calculate the number of people who have viewed your profile.
But first, they want you to complete a survey.
The scammers make money every time one of these surveys is completed. They're simply using the draw of a mythical Facebook view count to lure in the unwary and get as many people as possible to click on their links and take their surveys.
If you've been affected by this scam, you should clean up your account before any further damage is done.
I've made a YouTube video where I show you how to clean-up your Facebook account if you were hit by this, or similar scams on Facebook:
(Enjoy this video? You can check out more on the SophosLabs YouTube channel and subscribe if you like)
Make sure that you stay informed about the latest scams spreading fast across Facebook and other internet attacks. Join the Sophos Facebook page, where more than 50,000 people regularly share information on threats and discuss the latest security news.
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