How to protect your privacy in Windows 10

There has been some concern that Windows 10 gathers too much private information from users. Whether you think Microsoft’s operating system crosses the privacy line or just want to make sure you safeguard as much of your personal life as possible, we’re here to help. Here’s how to protect your privacy in just a few minutes.

Note: This story has been updated for Windows 10 version 22H2. If you have an earlier release of Windows 10, some things may be different.

Turn off ad tracking

At the top of many people’s privacy concerns is what data is being gathered about them as they browse the web. That information creates a profile of a person’s interests that is used by a variety of companies to target ads.

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LinkedIn Adds Verified Emails, Profile Creation Dates

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Fri, 04 Nov 2022 21:09:52 +0000

For whatever reason, the majority of the phony LinkedIn profiles reviewed by this author have involved young women with profile photos that appear to be generated by artificial intelligence (AI) tools. We’re seeing rapid advances in AI-based synthetic image generation technology and we’ve created a deep learning model to better catch profiles made with this technology. AI-based image generators can create an unlimited number of unique, high-quality profile photos that do not correspond to real people. Fake accounts sometimes use these convincing, AI-generated profile photos to make their fake LinkedIn profile appear more authentic.

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Hacker Charged With Extorting Online Psychotherapy Service

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Thu, 03 Nov 2022 14:43:22 +0000

A 25-year-old Finnish man has been charged with extorting a once popular and now-bankrupt online psychotherapy company and its patients. Finnish authorities rarely name suspects in an investigation, but they were willing to make an exception for Julius “Zeekill” Kivimaki, a notorious hacker who — at the tender age of 17 — had been convicted of more than 50,000 cybercrimes, including data breaches, payment fraud, operating botnets, and calling in bomb threats.

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Accused ‘Raccoon’ Malware Developer Fled Ukraine After Russian Invasion

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Mon, 31 Oct 2022 20:53:27 +0000

A 26-year-old Ukrainian man is awaiting extradition to the United States on charges that he acted as a core developer for Raccoon, a “malware-as-a-service” offering that helped paying customers steal passwords and financial data from millions of cybercrime victims. KrebsOnSecurity has learned that the defendant was busted in March 2022, after fleeing mandatory military service in Ukraine in the weeks following the Russian invasion.

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Google execs knew 'Incognito mode' failed to protect privacy, suit claims

A federal judge in California is considering motions to dismiss a lawsuit against Google that alleges the company misled them into believing their privacy was being protected while using Incognito mode in the Chrome browser.

The lawsuit, filed in the Northern District Court of California by five users more than two years ago, is now awaiting a recent motion by those plaintiffs for two class-action certifications.

The first would cover all Chrome users with a Google account who accessed a non-Google website containing Google tracking or advertising code and who were in “Incognito mode”; the second covers all Safari, Edge, and Internet Explorer users with a Google account who accessed a non-Google website containing Google tracking or advertising code while in “private browsing mode.” 

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Is performance tracking about to go mobile?

Productivity and performance tracking have been on the rise since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and the shift to remote and hybrid work. Now, as pandemic restrictions recede and more traditional work habits reemerge, it’s inevitable some organizations will want to extend tracking beyond the company PC to mobile devices.

That means IT could soon be involved in selecting, implementing, and supporting productivity and performance monitoring solutions that keep tabs on workers wherever they are — even if they’re not sitting in front of a computer.

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Battle with Bots Prompts Mass Purge of Amazon, Apple Employee Accounts on LinkedIn

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Thu, 20 Oct 2022 17:07:34 +0000

On October 10, 2022, there were 576,562 LinkedIn accounts that listed their current employer as Apple Inc. The next day, half of those profiles no longer existed. A similarly dramatic drop in the number of LinkedIn profiles claiming employment at Amazon comes as LinkedIn is struggling to combat a significant uptick in the creation of fake employee accounts that pair AI-generated profile photos with text lifted from legitimate users.

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How Card Skimming Disproportionally Affects Those Most In Need

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Wed, 19 Oct 2022 01:28:46 +0000

When people banking in the United States lose money because their payment card got skimmed at an ATM, gas pump or grocery store checkout terminal, they may face hassles or delays in recovering any lost funds, but they are almost always made whole by their financial institution. Yet, one class of Americans — those receiving food assistance benefits via state-issued prepaid debit cards — are particularly exposed to losses from skimming scams, and usually have little recourse to do anything about it.

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