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Oops! The new product from Apple and Nike seems to do more than monitor athletes' workout information. As two University of Washington researchers discovered, the Nike + iPod Sport Kit can be harmful to the privacy and security of those who use it. ... The Nike + iPod Sport Kit is comprised of two parts: a chip which resides inside the running shoe and a receiver which attaches to an iPod. The receiver stores information obtained from the chip, and after a workout, users can upload information such as distance travelled and speed. (Source: theregister.co.uk ) Sounds like a great idea, and perhaps ... (view more)

Now that the holiday season is rapidly approaching, it's a good time for some quick reminders about safely purchasing items online. Armed with the proper knowledge and a little common sense, purchasing things online can be as safe as going to the ... store and purchasing it in person. It's getting easier to purchase items online from reputable companies. However, there are also several "companies" that want to steal your personal and financial information. Listed below are some suggestions for making your online shopping experience more enjoyable. Contact Information Is the sellers address and ... (view more)

U.S. soldiers must now be fearful of invasion, even when back in the comfort of their own homes. Unlike the fears of physical invasion experienced on the battlefield, soldiers must now be weary of an invasion of privacy coming from the very same ... military they represent during times of war. A Virginia-based military surveillance company, Army Web Risk Assessment Cell, is monitoring all soldier blogs and Internet posts to avoid the leaking of vital information that may jeopardize the security of the U.S. military. Among the most detrimental items being pursued are official military documents, ... (view more)

Both McAfee and Symantec have recently countered claims that Microsoft has provided security firms with enough information to get their products working its upcoming operating system, Windows Vista. McAfee's Worldwide Corporate Communications Vice ... President Siobhan MacDermott released a statement explaining that the information is inadequate. MacDermott says that although McAfee has received a document that contained the SDK (Software Development Kit) for Windows Security Centre, requests for both clarifications and meetings have been ignored. "To date, we have not had any cooperation from MS ... (view more)

What would you do if you found records of your personal search information haphazardly sprinkled all over the web? For three AOL subscribers, the reckless mismanagement of their personal data sparked a class-action lawsuit against the Internet giant ... this past Friday. This is the first time AOL has been sued for the intentional release of over 19 million search requests made by about 650,000 subscribers during a period of three months. The Internet service provider is being charged under the federal Electronic Communications Privacy Act and California's consumer-protection laws. (Source: ... (view more)

Credit card numbers. Bank passwords. Business secrets. Proof of adultery. If you give away your cell phone, you may be giving away all of those things -- and more. In the case of a married man who was cheating around, deleting the information on his ... cell wasn't enough to completely eliminate the sordid secrets he had stored there -- even though he did exactly as the manual instructed. Despite that, the guy he sold his phone to on Ebay was quickly able to scoop out the hanky panky. This reads like a bad, cheesy soap opera -- but it's real. And it could happen to you. Even if you aren't ... (view more)

Is the FBI poking around your e-mail? Randall C. Ashby II used his Google Mail (Gmail) account to distribute hate speech -- and that was all the feds needed to investigate him. On May 22nd, 2006, Ashby signed up for Gmail and sent a threatening ... message to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The NAACP immediately forwarded the offensive letter to the FBI. Here's a transcript of Ashby's e-mail: Warning: The following quote contains disturbing content! "You are no match for our numbers and our power. We will come out of the night and rise from the dirt to ... (view more)

A firewall is a barrier to keep destructive forces away from your computer. In fact, that's why it's called a firewall. Its job is similar to a physical firewall that keeps a fire from spreading from one area to the next. Firewalls use one or more ... of three methods to control traffic flowing in and out of the network: Packet filtering: Packets (small chunks of data) are analyzed against a set of filters. Packets that make it through the filters are sent to the requesting system and all others are discarded. Proxy service: Information from the Internet is retrieved through the firewall and then ... (view more)

If you have children and own a computer with an Internet connection, there's a good chance your kids are on MySpace.com. MySpace is a popular online community where users can post personal information about themselves, including: Age Gender Location ... Pictures Where they work Where they go to school ... almost anything at all! And that's the problem. MySpace is an easy way for people to connect with current friends or rekindle old relationships. Unfortunately, it's just as simple for sexual predators. A quick search for "Chris" (my name) on MySpace yields at least a few under-18 profiles. That' ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader 'Jennifer' writes: " Dear Dennis, I recently received an email from an unknown person via Yahoo. I think I understand how the email got to me but I'm not sure. Would the email headers help to tell me this? I'd really like to know ... how this person sent me the email. Can you help? " My response: To sum it up the answer briefly: email headers are often forged by spammers, so it's plausible that the email you received came from somewhere else (other than what is stated in the email header). Having said that, most big-name ISP (Internet Service Providers) have an onslaught of ... (view more)