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Today’s Cheat Sheet Q & A:  They want to protect their phone and ID by not automatically connecting to Wi-Fi – they have an iPhone – what’s the best way to protect their phone?

Bottom Line:  On Friday I mentioned that the fastest growing ID theft tactic with smart phone usage is taking place when using your device on unsecure Wi-Fi networks (often public).  This commonly happens when your phone or other mobile device automatically connects to a Wi-Fi network if it can.  Today’s question asked what the best way to prevent this from happening on iPhone is (most smart phones will be similar)?

There are two ways to do this:

  • Turn off Wi-Fi altogether

  • Turn of Wi-Fi except for those networks you’ve identified as acceptable

Here are the steps to do this:

  1. Go to your “settings” app
  2. Select Wi-Fi once in settings app (it’s the 2nd selection)

Now you have to make a choice.  If you want to turn off Wi-Fi altogether, which certainly will prevent you from connecting to any Wi-Fi network, turn the Wi-Fi option off.  By doing this your phone won’t connect to any Wi-Fi network until you turn it back on. 

If you want to connect only to networks that you enter as being safe (these should be secure networks you trust – like home and perhaps work) leave the Wi-Fi option at the top on but turn the Ask to Join Networks button at the bottom to “off”.  By doing this, your phone won’t be given the option to connect to a new network you haven’t identified as secure.  This is the method I use. 

If you have a question or topic you’d like me to address on-air & online email me:  brianmudd@clearchannel.com

 

Riskiest way to file taxes:

Bottom Line:  So there were approximately 642,000 people who had their identities stolen while filing taxes in 2012 according to the IRS.  The number may be much higher but that number can be verified by the Feds.  The most common way that people are compromised may surprise you. 

Most people seem to think that e-filing is more likely to lead in you being compromised then when mailing the taxes paper work.  Not so.  While the IRS didn’t provide exact numbers, more people are actually being compromised by having their physical tax papers fall into the wrong hands.  If safety is a key concern for you the safest way to file taxes is e filing on a secure computer.  Before filing your taxes do these tasks to protect against your ID being compromised:

  • Run a full system scan with good anti-virus software to ensure you don’t having any looming viruses or malware on your computer
  • Prepare and file your taxes with a known software company that properly protects it’s users information online
  • File your taxes using only a secure internet network

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/tax-time-is-id-theft-time-152800728.html

 

Twitter Hacked?  Could you be compromised?:

Bottom Line:  So it appears as though Twitter was hacked on Friday (there had been some dispute as to if it was an internal issue or hack attack) and 250,000 users may have had some information compromised.  For those potentially compromised the following information would have been accessed:

  • Email address
  • User name and password
  • Phone number
  • Possibly your address

Twitter has taken action on their end to reset user names and passwords on your end if you were identified as possibility being compromised.  So is there anything else actionable?  Yes…

If you were potentially affected by the Twitter hack attack and you use the same username and password on other sites, you need to change those immediately on the other sites.  Hackers use computers to phish for other sites where the info they stole can be used.

http://allthingsd.com/20130201/twitter-hacked-250000-user-accounts-compromised/

 

Top Super Bowl Ads (what the experts said – and how we voted):

Bottom Line:  What were the top Super Bowl ads?  Depends on who you ask...  The experts and their views don’t exactly line up with what we said. 

In this link you’ll find the USA Today admeter results from viewers:

http://admeter.usatoday.com/articles/view/the-results

In this link you’ll see what advertising experts though would have the most value:

http://www.cnbc.com/id/100430423

 

January effect suggests great year for stocks:

Bottom Line:  Last Friday I mentioned that a 5% + January meant that the stock market mostly likely would be higher for the year.  Historically that number is north of 80%.  Over the weekend I saw a more recent breakdown and the results were pretty interesting.

When you look at modern history (1950 – present), there have been 11 years in which the Dow and S&P 500 each gained 5% or more.  In all of those cases the market ended the year higher.  If you’re in the market that’ll come as pleasant news I’m sure…

http://www.cnbc.com/id/100424708

 

Be sure to check out today's Fact or Fiction with Jim Edwards here:

http://www.wjno.com/pages/jimedwards.html