Verizon eats its supercookies: Lets users opt out of ID tracking

This was unexpected! Interesting…

Gigaom

Verizon said on Friday it will soon launch an program that will allow its customers to opt out of “supercookies,” a pervasive customer tracking tool that records all activity on the mobile web or mobile apps. Verizon customers today can already opt out of receiving advertising drawn from these supercookies – known in the industry as unique ID headers, or UIDH – but the profiles persist and will continue to collect consumer data even though Verizon says its not doing anything with it.

Changes to its opt-out program, however, will let customers remove those supercookies from their devices. Here’s the statement given to us by [company]Verizon[/company] spokeswoman Debra Lewis:

Verizon takes customer privacy seriously and it is a central consideration as we develop new products and services. As the mobile advertising ecosystem evolves, and our advertising business grows, delivering solutions with best-in-class privacy protections remains our focus.

We…

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How to keep private information from being hacked

As a marketing strategist who handles many passwords, I can understand the challenge involved in managing and rotating them.  Last year was a year loaded with hack headlines.  “Russian Hackers Amass over a Billion Internet Passwords.”  “Officials warn 500 million financial records hacked.”  Sony was hacked, as well as Target, Home Depot and other well-known retailers.

The Heartbeat Bug had to do with OpenSSL, which is used to encrypt traffic on more than 65% of sites on the internet.  This 2014 hack was a major security flaw, affecting nearly everyone including social media sites, company sites, commercial sites, government sites and even sites used to install software.  Scary stuff-

So what can a business do to keep their private information under lock and key?  Changing passwords regularly is a good place to start.  Everyone is thinking about online security these days, but few actually take the time to change out passwords.  By the time a hacker tries to access your information using your stolen information, a new password could block access.

Here are some simple tricks to keep private information from being hacked:

#1.  Organize a hand-written password list.  As prehistoric as anything “hand-written” sounds, it’s not advisable to store a list of logins and passwords on your computer.  To save some time in the future, create a template document with each site listed, and the login.  Leave the passwords blank.  Print out the document and hand-write in the passwords.  As passwords are rotated, you can simply cross off the old and hand-write in the new.  If you don’t like the hand-written list, there are apps available such as https://lastpass.com/.

#2.  Prioritize Password Changes.  Prioritize which accounts hold the most valuable information.  Sites with more personal information should be changed at least monthly.  A corporate network account, for example, should have a new password at least each quarter.  Social sites can be changed at your discretion; at a minimum when an employee has left the company.  Some passwords, such as for protected emails, can be kept for a year or more with little worry.  Set calendar reminders to stay on top of this task.

#3.  Avoid using Yahoo, Hotmail, or other free email services.  They are more likely to be compromised, even if they say they cater to businesses.  The only exception here may be Gmail.  Google has an app to switch between Google’s email servers and your domain email.  (Using your domain name in place of “gmail.com.”)  In addition, Gmail also offers spam filter and other security features.   WHAT TO DO IF YOUR EMAIL HAS BEEN HACKED.

#4.  Don’t take unnecessary risks.  Use longer, more complex passwords.  If you or your staff are expected to change passwords more than monthly, this can lead to the production of poor security passwords in exchange for something easy to remember.  Try to use at least one number, at least one capitol, and an arrangement of letters and symbols to total between 8 and 12 characters.  Try not to re-use passwords.  And if you suspect, or hear that passwords may have been compromised… change them!

The Leaning Tree Marketing is a senior-level consulting in the Metro-Milwaukee marketplace specializing in both marketing and tech-savvy business solutions.