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How to Protect Personal Information

Introduction

Motivation (ZeuS Trojan)

General Awareness

Cyber Awareness

References and furtherreadings

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Introduction

Almost All personal affairs are now conducted online.

Online shopping.

Job hunting.

Governments related official functions.

Social networking.

Distance Learning.

Flight, Hotel and cars reservation.

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Motivation

Zeus (Trojan horse)Steal confidential banking information

Customized through the toolkit.

Spread mainly by phishing.

In 2009, Zeus had compromised over 74,000 accounts on Bank of America, NASA, Oracle, Amazon.

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General awareness (PII)

Personally Identifying Information

Social Security number

Credit card number

Debit card number

Bank account number

Driver’s license number

Passport number

First and last names and DOB

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General awareness (Passwords)

How to choose a good password

At leas 8 Chars, Mix and contains symbols.

Don’t use any actual word.

Don’t use consecutive letters, adjacent keys.

Use pattern and change regularly e.g. xxYYMYMYxx like xx201103xx

First letter: “Pay no attention to the man

behind the curtain,” becomes PnAttMBtC

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Cyber Awareness (3 Easy Steps)

1) Operating systems

Turn on the automatic update.

2) Anti-virus software

Automatic scan regular basis.

Manual scan on email Att. And file download.

3) Firewalls

Help block many attacks from the outside.

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Cyber Awareness (Phishing)

Well designed emails and web pages trying to get your personal information.

Don't follow links from untrusted sources. Never reply message that asks for sensitive

information. Trusted institution will never

ask you for personal information.

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Cyber Awareness (Social Network safety)

Never post personnel or sensitive information. Review how much information you share in profile. Apps and games provide strangers access to your

profile. Deleted contents does NOT mean it is gone. Take some time to read Privacy Policy and settings.

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Cyber Awareness (Wireless Network)

Before you join a wireless network What is an untrusted network? What you should do to ensure security

Never save passwords in your browser

Check the URL of any site you visit.

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References

Zeus Trojan

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeus_(Trojan_horse)

Virginia Tech IT Security Office

http://www.security.vt.edu/

More About Passwords

http://www.cs.umd.edu/faq/Passwords.shtml This Presentation Online URL

http://www.slideshare.net/hosamshahin/protect-personal-information-27707669