Phishing Internet Privacy Protection

A new threat to users around the world is the lack of phishing internet privacy protection. On a computer phishing is the term for when a user attempts to criminally and fraudulently acquire private, personal and sensitive information such as user name and passwords, credit card information by misleading the user to believe they are a trustworthy source of communication. Common targets online are PayPal, eBay, and most of the online banks across the world. In essence, Phishing is generally carried out via email or instant messenger and will either direct users to a website or provide information through a reply.

Have you ever received an instant message from one of your buddies that maybe says something like “Check out my MySpace picture!!!” followed by an odd looking website link. Chances are these messages are fraudulent and are an attempt to get you to click that URL by any means necessary. This is an extremely useful technique especially with the computer illiterate that will have no idea of what they just clicked on and what it could potentially do to their system. The most recent of phishing attempts have targeted select customers of banks and online payment service accounts. These emails or messages will ask for sensitive or private information from you, never give this information out clearly. Some of these techniques are even targeted towards specific people. Recently there have been Phishing attempts directed at senior executives and other rich and high profile targets within the largest companies of the world. This term is also referred to as whaling due to the prestigious, specifically targeted personnel behind these phishing attempts.

The most recent and notable of these Phishing attempts has been directed towards social networking sites or directories. These networking sites generally provide quick and easy registration with simple means of identification and a quick means to spread these scams. Experiments of Phishing from social networking sites showed a success rate of over 70%, meaning that these attempts to Phish for information and private data are fooling the general public with relative ease. If you notice anything suspicious about a link or message, look it over a few times. Generally the URL or link will secretly link to a different page, or a site that you did not expect to reach. If you are a fan if these social networking sites and ever see a suspicious looking link possibly with one too many words or letters in their name, its most likely a scam to get your personal information. The only defense to these scams and Phishing techniques is the constant knowledge and proactive tools to defend against them. Your best bet is to stay on top of all the phishing internet privacy protection related technology and tools.

Pharmacy Chain to Pay HHS $1 Million for Privacy Violations - MedPage Today

89.3 KPCC

Pharmacy Chain to Pay HHS $1 Million for Privacy Violations MedPage Today The HIPAA privacy rule requires healthcare providers, health plans, and other related entities to protect patient privacy, including during maintenance and ... Rite Aid to Pay $1 Million for Potential Patient Privacy BreachesHealthLeaders Media 13 WTHRRite Aid fined $1M following WTHR investigationWTHR Rite Aid will pay $1M for HIPAA privacy abusesGovernment Health IT The Hill (blog) -Trading Markets (press release) -Business Insurance all 63 news articles »

Computer with patient data stolen from Jefferson - Philadelphia Inquirer

Computer with patient data stolen from Jefferson Philadelphia Inquirer Perhaps as a result, the US Department of Health and Human Services has increased penalties for violations of patient privacy, including fines for up to ... and more »

Behavioral health offers cues for privacy control - ModernHealthcare.com

Behavioral health offers cues for privacy control ModernHealthcare.com "My sense is the right solution is the thing the patient privacy groups are talking about," Hicks said. "It's more about a consumer having protection about ... and more »

A girl dies during restraint at hospital already criticized for problems - St. Louis Post-Dispatch

A girl dies during restraint at hospital already criticized for problems St. Louis Post-Dispatch ... corporation that operates DePaul and several other hospitals, said they could not speak about specific patient cases because of federal privacy laws. ... and more »

Feds propose rules to strengthen patient privacy rights - BusinessWeek

Feds propose rules to strengthen patient privacy rights BusinessWeek In addition to boosting patient rights, the proposal would extend certain privacy and security rule requirements to business associates of organizations ... Health provider partners may face privacy finesReuters HHS Proposes Patient Privacy RulesInformationWeek HHS pitches new patient privacy safeguardsGovernment Health IT FierceHealthcare -ModernHealthcare.com -Nextgov all 79 news articles »