BHV hosts Web safety workshop

by Sandra Miller
Beacon Hill Times
At a packed Parish House last week, dozens of residents got a lesson in how not to get caught in the Web of deceit.
Beacon Hill Village hosted a well-attended Internet safety workshop, which featured advice from Cambridge Trust Company Security Officer Charles E. Samour and Information Security Officer Steve Hall.
The talk went late, as many residents peppered Samour and Hall with plenty of questions about banking online, password protection and other ways that doing business online can make one vulnerable to Web pirates.
“I’m so glad I came,” said Marie King of Cambridge. “I liked the websites and other resources they gave us.”
The workshop ranged from warnings about Nigerian princes offering subscribers thousands of dollars in exchange for “processing and tax” fees. “Once you cash a check, you are legally responsible,” said Samour, who added many of these schemes are simply money laundering via wire transfers.
Bottom line, said Hall, “If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.”
The speakers urged the crowd to invest in firewalls and virus protection, especially a paid, customer-service friendly paid service such as McAfee and doing business only with websites that start with an https: (the ‘s” stands for security).
Being concerned about Internet safety should be routine.
“You wouldn’t think of driving without a seatbelt,” said Samour. “Would anyone here buy milk without checking the expiration date?”
The safest passwords are at least eight characters long, and shouldn’t be common words. Use numbers and letters. “FBI passwords are 20 characters long,” said Hall.
Never write down a password. Instead, devise a clever scheme, such as using a dollar sign ($) for the letter “S,” an @ for an “a,” and so on. For example, “Beacon Hill” would be “8eacon Hi!!”
However, be safe. “Never share your scheme on how you created your password,” said Hall, whose wife uses Welsh, an uncommon language, for her passwords. “’Red Sox’ is a really, really bad password.”
Never give your password to someone requesting it in an e-mail. Banking institutions will never contact you via e-mail for sensitive information. NEVER give your Social Security number or similar personal identifying information to anyone online, or at least be very, very stingy with that number, he said. “It’s like gold to a thief,” said Samour.
Other tips included investing in a shredder; always back up your data with an external hard drive, DVDs or online service; know who the contractors are who are coming into your home; never leave personal information lying around in the open; use a locked mailbox; don’t keep valuables in your car, or at least not in plain sight; check your home alarm system and door locks; and if you are the victim of fraud, contact the police and the Federal Trade Commission, and place a “fraud alert” on your credit report.
Recommended websites include: http://fakechecks.org, http://ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/idtheft/idt07.shtm and www.ic3.gov/default.aspx.