Thieves steal 113 smartphones every minute -- Is yours next?

The ZoneAlarm Security Blog has some great tips for safe computing. A recent post deals with smartphone theft. Many people have no password to their smartphone. If you lose or even just temporarily misplaced your smartphone, anyone can do business "in your name" as well as gather up contact information and much, much more.

Adding a strong password (not just a simple PIN) to use the phone may be a slight inconvenience while using it, but it protects your data. This is crucial if you do any online [shudder] financial transactions with your smartphone.

Protection tips also apply to tablets and similar portable computing devices.

• Read more at the ZoneAlarm Security blog's post,
  Smartphone theft in the US: Are You an Easy Victim?

Fun games foster security awareness

The U.S. government has a great site to learn more about being smart and safe online. It's called OnGuard Online. The site includes some simple online games that let you check your "smarts" about safe computing.

You may learn something new or maybe just reinforce good habits. Either way, visit the site.

Below are links to some interactive video quizzes:

• Phishing scams
• Spam scam slam
• Invasion of the wireless hackers
• Beware of Spyware
• Laptop security
• ID Theft Faceoff

Does that email pass the smell test?

We get lots of email messages every day. How do you tell what's a fake (and likely to try to hurt you) and what's not? Carnegie Mellon's Software Engineering Institute produced a set of checks that are still valid. It's the KREVS "test".

• The Know test. Do you already know the sender?
• The Received test. Have you received safe emails from the sender before?
• The Expect test. If the email has an attachment, were you expecting to get it?
• The Virus test. Does the message pass a virus-check? (Make sure your Antivirus program also checks your email messages).
• The Sense test. Does it look right? Are there unexpected misspellings? Does it "smell" in any way?

If an email messages fails any of the above tests, delete it. Even if an email messages passes all 5 tests above, it still might be malicious. Be paranoid; the "bad guys" really are out to get you. Criminal attack attempts using email are increasing rapidly.

If the email is from a person you already know, still be careful. Call them and see if they really sent any unexpected attachment.

Firefox 3 to better indicate "safe" site

For many people, the "padlock" symbol showing in their browser status bar means "safe" or "secure". Actually, it only means that someone has bought a certificate and is using SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) -- encryption.

Since it's possible for criminals to buy a certificate and use SSL, the padlock is no guarantee that you won't get duped or have your identity stolen. What's important is to know that the site is really what it seems and to know who really owns it -- identity.

Firefox developers are now working on a different way to indicate the potential safety (or not) of a site by concentrating on identity, not SSL. In the process, Firefox looks like it will abandon the padlock symbol as an indicator of safety. This should appear in Firefox 3.0 when it comes out.

• The shape of things to come
• "Beyond the Padlock" (WMP video)

Quiz: Identity theft potential

National Public Radio's web site has a quiz that tells you what your chances are of becoming an identity theft victim. Dare to take it?