It’s no different with the internet. Just as you’d help your child learn to ride a bike, it’s important to take the necessary precautions when introducing them to the web for the first time.

There’s a lot of content on the web that’s not suitable for kids and they haven’t yet learned that an offer that seems ‘too good to be true’ is exactly that.

It’s surprising therefore that only 32% of households in the US are using parental controls. That’s like 1 in 3 kids learning to ride a bike without stabilisers or a crash helmet; it’s more fun but could probably end in tears.

As my colleague at AVG, Judith Bitterli, explains in the video, parental software isn’t about controlling kids online but instead giving them the freedom to use the web without coming across the bad stuff.

For more information on AVG Family Safety, check out AVG.com.

That said, kids’ top two online vulnerabilities are psychological and financial.

For parents, guarding a child’s emotional well-being is just as important as keeping them physically safe. When they venture alone into cyberspace, kids come across a multitude of fast-moving material that they’re not emotionally ready for. (So do adults for that matter.)

Whether it’s cyberbullying, sexual content or the infinite permutations in between, kids need bumpers and airbags, barricades to the onslaught of heavy emotional weight. On the one hand parents can verbally warn kids and look over their shoulders. But technology should always be in place to supplement the rhetoric and enforce the rules. AVG has a range of mobile products that help you manage children’s use of your mobile device and the content they can access.

On the financial side, countless scammers and legitimate companies have mastered the methods to dupe children into turning down alleys and making questionable purchases – either from websites or app stores where parents might automatically be signed in. As we all know, depending on the payment method, weeks can pass before we notice our kids have ordered virtual currency or a new weapon in a game.

As you know, I am a Brit living in the US.  I keep my eye on what happens back in the home land and I am extremely interested to see what happens with the Office of Fair Trading (OFT, UK’s version of the US FTC) investigation into this very topic. Cavendish Elithorn, OFT Senior Director for Goods and Consumer, says in this article, ”We are concerned that children and their parents could be subject to unfair pressure to purchase when they are playing games they thought were free, but which can actually run up substantial costs.”

If you are handing over a device to your kids, whether temporarily or as a device for them, be sure that you control access to the app store or other services that may have your credit card details stored. All these services have a logout/sign-out feature to protect you from this.

Not only can AVG’s mobile security software identify and block scams, it can help prevent marketers from following kids around the Web and delivering ads that are more targeted and compelling. AVG Family Safety even lets you easily access site history so you can see for yourself whether your kids played on the interstate or the merry-go-round.

So check out AVG’s mobile security solutions today. Your kids are so worth it.

This staggering report from industry analyst firm IDC – coupled with NPD Group’s recent discovery that connected devices in the US now outnumber people in the US – either signals an apocalyptic rise of super-machines or civilized human advancement. Or perhaps both.

From AVG’s perspective, the proliferation of smartphones long ago captured the imaginations of hackers across the planet. As more people use these mobile devices to manage finances, families and jobs, they became fertile ground for thieves looking to swipe a few gems. Or the whole jewelry case.  And now that we can use our smartphones to remotely control our cars, kitchens, home security and entertainment systems, it’s easy to see how we all should be concerned about ensuring the utmost security while we use our smartphones and when we replace them.

It also stands to reason, based on IDC’s and NPD’s research, that most of us have discarded a smartphone or two over the years as we upgraded to the latest and greatest. Many of us have drawers at home that function as electronics’ graveyards, holding all the cracked and sullied vestiges of bygone ages. Or perhaps we donated those devices to charities or passed them down to our children or even shipped them off to be recycled. Of those scenarios, when it comes to data that may linger, the drawer is probably the safest of all those places.

I say all of this because in the race to keep up with the times, there come to exist multiple archives of our most personal transactions – from text messages to bill payments. It’s risky enough to have this on a single device, let alone many.

So I encourage us to think very carefully about our individual mobile footprints. Take action to secure all the devices in your own life and your family’s life, even if they’re lodged in cobwebs. And be sure you know how to delete content for good.

For more information on how to accomplish this, check out AVG’s security solutions for iOS®, Android ™and Windows® smartphones. We may be outnumbered, but we don’t have to be outsmarted.

More telling, parents’ posts are always at risk of becoming permanent record of their children’s formative years – a time of life by definition charged with innocent experimentation. And now that social media reviews are routine in employment, housing and other types of advance screening, your kids may not be so happy when photos of bizarre haircuts and awkward prom dates turn up.

In a larger and more sobering sense, parents should always be aware that certain types of sharenting could violate their children’s future privacy or imperil their long-term digital identities. Are images of your children getting scraped and used by strangers for other purposes? Do you really want to reveal your kids’ whereabouts via geo-tagging? What seemingly innocuous but ultra-private information do you unwittingly reveal with an image of your child puffing an asthma inhaler or scratching a swollen bee-sting?

To help us approach sharenting with care, I’ve put together the following five tips that should help us stay the course:

1. Be aware of privacy settings when you post information about your child online – do you still own the content once you post it?
2. Think about the consequences of what you’re posting about your child – will that picture still be funny when s/he is 12? Or 17? Or 35?
3. Set up a Google Alert with your child’s name to make sure only information you want to be public about your child is available
4. Register your child’s name as a domain name to ensure you own his or her Internet identity
5. As your child gets older, take an interest in what s/he is doing online

For methods to keep your entire family safe, check out AVG Family Safety® for PCs, AVG Family Safety® for iOS mobile devices and AVG Family Safety® for Windows Phone.

Today is an important day for Windows® Phone 8 users in the habit of passing devices to their kids in order to keep them entertained: AVG just announced Family Safety for Windows Phone 8. Here’s why this is monumental:

Your kids will use your devices to access the Web and the Web is a dangerous place. Whether it happens while you’re driving them home from school or while they’re in their rooms pretending to play Angry Birds, kids will come across content they’re not ready for. If you’re not there to block it or help them understand it, the emotional damage can last for years.

Research is conclusive: children have outstanding digital literacy. While it’s important they develop the skills to explore and assimilate online knowledge, parents can’t chaperone them all the time. To solve this key issue in mobile security, AVG Family Safety is a free, secure, mobile Web browser. Until today, AVG Family safety was available only for Apple® devices and Windows Phone 7.5. For parents already familiar with AVG’s renowned antivirus security and who buy or migrate to Windows Phone 8 devices, AVG is there for them.

As a parent, and as a parent who talks often with other parents, I know it’s easy to forget that mobile devices are just as dangerous as computers—if not more so, simply because we do forget. As a result, we don’t take proper precautions. But smaller screens don’t mean smaller threats. If it’s Web enabled, it’s risk enabled. With just a few clicks, your kids could be talking to the wrong people, bumping into inappropriate images, or tricked into accepting malware.

Nowadays it’s harder than ever to monitor our kids and their use of mobile devices. And that’s why AVG Family Safety for mobile is so important. It doesn’t replace good parenting, but it can surely support it.

What’s more, AVG Family Safety isn’t just about monitoring our kids. It’s about establishing a safe zone where kids can learn and explore. It protects as they socialize. It adapts as they grow. And if you link the app to your AVG Family Safety Account, you can manage filtering options, customize the list of allowed and blocked sites, and monitor online activity for each child. So the next time you pass your tablet to the back seat, feel free to crank up the tunes and enjoy the ride – with peace of mind that, actually, your kids are wearing two seatbelts: one for their bodies and one for their minds.

If you are a parent and a Windows Phone 8 user, download AVG Family Safety for Windows 8 today.

Of course we understand many of you fly through the installation process without reading the screens. So the question becomes how to remove it if it wasn’t wanted. This is where AVG differs from many other toolbar providers. We offer several simple removal options:

The first is actually located on the toolbar itself. The second and more traditional method is via the computer’s “add or remove programs” menu. And third, there is a downloadable program that will remove it. Removing the AVG Secure Toolbar using one of these methods is far more effective than using someone else’s removal tool because we know where all the parts of our software are installed.

Now let’s discuss why you should keep and actively use AVG’s Secure Search tools. We offer:

-         Clear safety ratings for each link in your search results, allowing you to instantly assess the safety of every site you’d like to visit. Infected sites are marked so you immediately know which ones to avoid.

-         Unique, preventative, real-time protection while you search and surf. As soon as you start browsing a Web page that is infected and that AVG has rated ‘Dangerous,’ AVG Secure Search warns you and prevents the page from opening. It’s as simple as that. AVG Secure Search always protects you when you enter a Web address directly into your browser, when you click links on search engines or social networking sites, and anytime a program or application opens your Web browser on its own.

-          AVG Do Not Track, to bring the control over your privacy back to you. This feature helps you identify and block ad networks, social buttons and Web analytics that potentially track your activity. In addition, you can choose to notify those websites about your preference not to be tracked.

As you can see, there are some real benefits in AVG Secure Search that will help keep you safe while adventuring in the online world. Our recommendation is that you allow us to protect you by using these tools. Regardless, remember it’s your choice and we provide you everything necessary to make that choice either during or after installation.

Zooming out a bit, the inspiration for this post comes from AVG Insight Issue 1, the newest incarnation of our threat report, which discusses how several trusted websites have been commandeered to display malicious links. The upshot of the report is that nowadays Internet surfers need to be vigilant about security no matter where they are online and even if they think they’re on a website that is impenetrable.

So, in your adventures in cyberspace, if you inadvertently take on one of these destructive germs, there is literally a silver bullet to eradicate it. By creating an AVG Rescue CD or USB, you can handily neutralize the poison coursing through your hard drive. I’ll briefly run through how to do this.

If your computer won’t boot or refuses to operate normally, AVG Rescue allows it to start up in a clean environment and cure whatever malady it’s picked up. In order to have it handy at all times, all you have to do is download the software and burn it onto a CD or USB. It’s as simple as remembering to pack anti-venom and a sat-phone before your leisurely promenade through the rainforest.

AVG Rescue does a number of things with the clean space it creates, such as:

• Scanning – to report and delete infected files
• AntiVirus update
• AVG Vault file view
• Mounting of storage devices
• Configure a network connection
• Reboot
• Shut down

AVG Rescue also contains useful utilities, such as:

• Midnight Commander – for two-panel viewing of files on all of a computer’s hard drives
• Windows Registry Editor – to access and repair registries
• TestDisk – for the recovery of deleted files, lost partitions, MBR records, etc.
• PhotoRec – for the recovery of deleted files on the computer and connected devices
• Links – for text-only viewing of websites

As you can see, nothing’s really over if you’re prepared. Think of AVG Rescue as your emergency airlift out of the jungle.

Take a moment to really think about all the personal data stored on your phone: text messages, emails, even intimate photos of you or your significant other. These days we can’t avoid carrying a literal wealth of information on our devices. Here at AVG, we want to ensure everyone is well equipped to wipe out that data when the time comes. Your identity is essentially yours to lose, so take every precaution possible to stay safe.

While the factory reset button seems like the logical place to start, numerous industry and security experts report that even after consumers carry out this exercise, personal information often remains. The following tips will help ensure private information is erased:

• Remove the memory and SIM cards. Both store personal data and are best kept safe in your possession or destroyed.
• Use a data removal application to ensure data really is deleted. Android users can use AVG AntiVirus Free™, for example.  For other platforms there is a list of apps available on the CTIA web site.
• Once the data is deleted, then run a factory reset. Instructions can be found on manufacturers’ or carriers’ websites.
• If you are going to simply throw away your mobile phone, older handsets can contain toxic materials. Consult your local authority or drop it off at a mobile phone retailer, where they will be able to dispose of it correctly. Additionally, there are specialist companies that will take it apart and recycle each component.
• Of course, recycling or handing it on for use is a good option; there are many charities and organizations that redistribute old phones and will even send you a pre-paid postage box to send it in. Just search on the Internet for the many options!

Over the years, AVG’s threat labs have seen time and again that certain events entice cybercriminals to step up their game. For March Madness, data thieves have developed multiple ways to capitalize on the rush to predict who will win the big dance. What tricks do they use most?

First off: Spamdexing. Designed to elevate fraudulent websites to the first page of search results, cybercriminals manipulate search engines by using repeated unrelated phrases or optimizing a Web page around one topic to dupe visitors into downloading virus-infected brackets. In the process, they encourage unwitting users to register and thereby collect identity details.

Second: Phishing. Cybercriminals send out e-mails suggesting recipients register now to put in their playoff predictions. They deploy clever tactics to direct fans to places where they can steal personal details. And they may even suggest using a Facebook login to register, giving them access to this very valuable piece of a person’s identity.

All things considered, here are some tips for winning the security game this month:

• Go to a trusted source to enter your predictions or collect bracket printable content.
• If someone is making you an online offer that seems too good to be true, the offer is likely a scam. Check the address of the website in question. If you don’t recognize the brand or if it looks suspicious, leave immediately.
• If you’re unsure about an email (you never subscribed or do not know the sender), delete it.
• Rather than clicking on a link, manually type in the Web address of a site you know and navigate to the content you want to get to.

Hope this helps and good luck!

I think we have all been subject to this whether at work or in our personal lives, that situation where someone has used a keyboard to say something either to you or about you that maybe should never have been written down at all. Maybe it was just badly written or the author never thought about the consequences of what they were writing or the effect it may have on the person it was directed to or about.

This then creates the quick response issue, the fast read email and the reply that was not considered or proof read before sending starts a stream of communication that should never have been started and quickly turns into something much bigger that the originator ever intended. We are all guilty of this one.

Several years ago someone gave me the best piece of advice about writing things down “remember you are writing for the reader, not yourself”. This has stood me in good stead when communicating, but not everyone was given the advice. I would extend this advice a little further and urge all of us to follow some simple rules when writing anything down, especially in the digital

• Always read back what you have written and consider if you would be happy to receive or see this written down

• Would you say it to the person directly face to face, if the answer is not then don’t write it down

• Can you justify what you are writing, if its criticism make sure you have the facts and the correct perspective and even then maybe it better to either not say it or to deliver the message verbally and in person

• Do other people need to be involved in what you are posting, or is the message you are delivering better sent to just the person it involves

• Write for the reader, uncomplicated words and easy to read messages get remembered

• Something you find funny might not be considered humorous by all the recipients, again think of your audience.

• Is it worth responding or better to ignore, if a response is required then verbally might be best

My point here is that we should not hide behind digital delivery to say something that might be awkward or difficult to deliver in person. We must keep communicating directly and not lose the skill of talking to someone and having a face to face or even a telephone conversation as opposed to sending an email that we could later regret. That thing in your pocket is more than a device to deliver text messages or email, it is also a phone and designed to allow us all to talk to each other.

While BYOD carries numerous benefits for workers and employers alike, both parties must understand that the practice brings respective assets out of the vault and closer to the open square. The most alarming aspect of the BYOD security conundrum is that it seems nearly impossible for companies and employees to know where to draw the line.

For employers, vulnerability becomes an assumed risk

There’s no way around the fact that proprietary corporate data is more vulnerable on employee devices. As workers take their phones, laptops and tablets into all of the locations and contexts of their personal lives, there are more opportunities for those devices to be lost or stolen.  There’s also the multitude of networks, both wired and wireless, that users will plug into over time – all with differing security protocols – where hackers can and will have a field day.

The answer? Education.  I’d even argue that once users have basic knowledge about remote wiping software or the dangers of public Wi-Fi, they’ll want to protect their personal data with the same vigilance.

For employees, personal data splashes onto the corporate network

Many of us are so relieved that we no longer have carry two phones or use two laptops that we forget one crucial reality about BYOD: in many cases, personal data becomes viewable or accessible on the corporate network.

A recent AVG study showed at least 25% of us store intimate images on our devices. Think your browsing history is private because you’re browsing from your smartphone? Not if you’re connecting to the Internet via corporate Wi-Fi on a corporate network. Furthermore, are you inadvertently backing up your entire hard drive to your corporate server?

Maybe BYOD isn’t sounding so appealing any more.  At the very least, it’s nowhere near as simple as we originally thought.

A joint effort

On both sides of the corporate aisle, the trick to effectively navigating BYOD security is to be hyper-conscious of what’s on a device and familiar with the security measures available to mitigate risk.  For example, employers fearful of devices falling into the wrong hands in the field could require employees to use passcodes at both the OS and file level for accessing e-mail and documents. They could also require users to install remote locking and wiping software along with a host of scanning functions.

And for what it’s worth, I’m sure users are much more worried about their naughty pictures finding their way onto the Internet than they are about leaking next month’s product launch.  Oftentimes, opportunity comes in strange packages.

Finally, workers should consider keeping at least one of their devices completely off their corporate network. Whether it’s a tablet, smartphone or laptop, consider keeping all of your sensitive browsing and files on this device only, backed up to a cloud service that none of the devices you use for work are linked to.

Firstly, I need to ensure that there is no personal information on the machines prior to them leaving our possession.  Some steps to ensure this:

-          Remove the hard disk. This might be a bit technical for some but it is definitely the best way to ensure you give nothing away. Then decide what to do with the hard disk.

-          There is the option of deleting the data with one of the many utilities available. Our own AVG PC Tuneup has an option to securely delete data and on a daily basis this is great, but if you are getting rid of the machine you need to get rid of the files and settings you can’t see.

-          Run a tool that erases the disk. Check out examples at www.killdisk.com or www.dban.org/. While these are not guaranteed for removal, they are a good start. It also depends what the next step is. It may seem odd to spend this much time on your old machine, but it’s a worthwhile thing to do. Both are free and killdisk has a professional version with defence-grade deleting. Make the decision based on what you did on the machine.

What to do with the old laptop:

-          Give it to a school or local charity. Be sure to reinstall the Windows OS that came with it.  (This will be in the form of a recovery or restore disk that shipped with the machine.)

-          Recycle it through a national program. They will clean the machine, but I still recommend you do the above first. Google the options to recycle an old laptop. Good examples in the US areDell  http://content.dell.com/us/en/corp/d/corp-comm/us-goodwill-reconnect.aspx and Free Geek http://www.freegeek.org/. All countries have options; join this conversation and list your local ones in the comments section.

-          Dump the machine in an environmentally friendly way. Most local authorities offer facilities where you can drop the machine off and allow them to recycle the many components that have valuable materials contained in them. I think this is a last resort, one to consider if the machine no longer works.

It’s important to remove your data and then make a responsible decision on what to do with the laptop afterwards. I strongly favor recycling it for re-use after removing all your data. Just because I no longer need it does not mean someone else might not enjoy using it.

As both my old laptops are Dell, I will use their recycling option. Most manufacturers have similar programs, but remember, delete your disk first with a program designed to keep you safe!

Two and half years ago, AVG’s various offices in the Czech second city were combined at one location and the team is now based in a smart modern office that has all the trimmings of a modern tech company: pool tables, foosball and even an inside beach.

There are many departments located here and I am visiting our virus labs with a number of European journalists who were on ‘a behind the scenes’ trip to experience the heartbeat behind the AVG products. And when I say behind the scenes I really mean it.

We do not have marketing labs with fancy screens and maps of the world showing virus outbreaks as some vendors do. What the journalists have witnessed today is engineers and researchers in their native environment, working on real life and real time malware threats.

First to address the journalists was AVG’s Director of Engineering who provided the assembled with an in-depth look at the components that provide the core elements of the protection engine that is a fundamental component of the AV product range. These range from the scan engine to the identity and intrusion protection.

Next to speak was the Head of Virus Labs who reviewed the history of malware. With a fascinating timeline showing the evolution of malware from script kiddies earning a few dollars writing code to the more sophisticated cybercriminal with a support team that operates as a global organization.

In my mind, malware writing is a business that just seems so wrong: buy module one, add some variants and a support contract and off to the checkout to purchase. It’s not quite as simple as this but it’s not far off either, a growing industry on the dark and destructive side.

An example of this can be found in the AVG Q4 Threat Report where we outline an example of malware written by an 11 year old (now 12). This is shocking but not surprising at the same time.

With two informative presentations behind us and our visitors engaging and questioning the presenters, the topic moved to mobile threats with a discussion led by one of our Android researchers.

The mobile sector is emerging at an incredible pace and the criminals targeting smartphones are becoming very sophisticated. The threat should not be underestimated.   The statistics that have been gathered about mobile detections sparked immediate interest.

The complexity and simplicity of some mobile malware is amazing. Intercepting the authentication code on a mobile device and hijacking a bank account shows that this is not being done for sport  but for real financial gain.

We tend to think our mobile devices as simple easy to use devices which make managing our lives easier and more efficient – we forget sometimes the amount of vital information we store on them which we do not properly protect think of it this way  would you leave home today and leave the front door unlocked? Probably not, so why not make sure your mobile device is protected.

A walk around the office to see where different elements of the research team work led to an ad hoc demonstration of a styrograph-looking image that is used to graphically represent a related virus family. I am not sure how the audience all crammed into the algorithmic team’s office for the demonstration, but we did, and the team leader was proud to show off what they were doing in real time.

I have been to our labs numerous times and have continual email contact with many of our virus labs team that we introduced our guests to, yet I am still in awe and amazement of what they do every day of the week. Thanks guys! You work hard to try to make the digital world a safer place!

First off, Valentine’s Day is a terrible excuse for oversharing. When we were kids, the consequences of admitting our crushes on the schoolyard were relatively short-lived. Even the lingering memories exist only between you and those present. But using today’s social media platforms to show your hand will leave a permanent record of your most intimate thoughts. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing. Perhaps that’s exactly what you want to do. But if not, perhaps find a more private forum? I’m no psychologist, but it’s probably also a good idea to think of what you’d do if you don’t get the response you want.

In a much more practical sense, it’s critical we recognize cybercriminals will use the occasion of our madness to steal personal information. Our compromised emotional states make us less watchful for malicious links and more likely to transmit details over unsecured networks. Let’s face it: everybody wants admirers. So when we get the flirty Facebook request or e-mail offer for irresistible edibles, it’s easy to let the intoxication get the best of us.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not advising that we strip Valentine’s Day of its potential magic. I’m just saying perhaps it’s the worst time to let your digital proxy do your bidding. Here are some tips to help your love stay true:

• Pre-qualify those potentially dodgy email links, e-cards or QR Codes by activating link scanning technologies, such as those embedded in AVG’s AVG AntiVirus Free for Android, that automatically detect malicious sites and halt the action before your phone or tablet becomes infected.

• Whether using a home computer or mobile device, before entering credit card information to order your flowers, ensure you either recognize the URL or that it begins with “https” to confirm the site is secure.

• When you’ve finished buying your sweetheart a sweet treat, consider cleaning the cookies on your computer so you don’t leave a footprint for the crooks.

• While there are daily reports of ‘harmless’ social media pranks, Valentine’s Day provides additional avenues for bullies. Always log out and make sure you’re using a good password or passphrase so someone else can’t access your account pages.

• Don’t break someone’s heart or bank account by unintentionally sharing a malicious link with friends – they can so easily go viral on Facebook and Twitter.

A woman and her daughter’s names, and town where they live, were shared with an internet security expert who researched what information he could find on them. I should point out that the pair thought they had private profiles and were not culprits of ‘oversharing’.

The security expert then sat down with them and told them some fascinating facts. He had discovered that the mother has tickets to a concert on a specified date. He had also found her brother’s name and where he lives, date of birth, and her mother’s maiden name etc. The information available on her profile was way beyond what she believed was in the public domain and she was astonished by what information was available to her online.

I wonder what they would find out about out me or you?

The article did not go into the detail of how information was found but I would imagine the data was identified through their settings not being locked down on certain social media sites and through others inadvertently sharing details and not thinking about the consequences.

So how do you go about auditing your own online profile?  Put yourself outside your world and see what you can find out.  Try to use a machine that is neither yours’ nor a friends.  Use a device where no cached passwords or history about you exist, and then start searching as though you are the security expert. Search for you, your friends, your family and see if there are people that don’t have profiles locked down that give you a back door into your details.

In the age where we need to manage our online image or brand, it is important to be aware not only on what we share about ourselves but also our friends and family. No single piece of information is interesting but adding bits together can build a real profile.

The BBC article can found here

Details of Safer Internet Day can be found here

Twitter was able to detect and shut down the attack moments after it began – and automatically reset passwords for all the users in question.

Twitter also immediately notified all affected users, demonstrating admirable speed and transparency in today’s climate of increased scrutiny and debate over how and when to address these types of events.

Notwithstanding Twitter’s quick action, we all play a role in protecting our personal digital assets. The more proactive we are as consumers in guarding our privacy, the harder it will be for data thieves to access our information even if they’re able to break through firewalls.

It’s also important to note many cybercriminals may see Twitter’s Friday breach as an opportunity to grab your password through trickery. There’s likely to be a flurry of phishing emails telling Twitter users they need to reset their passwords due to the hack. Unsuspecting customers will click on these emails in good faith, and rather than resetting a compromised password they will simply reveal their current one.

So what do you need to do to stay safe if you’re a Twitter user and curious about whether or not your account is affected? The following steps will help you get to the answer:

• If you use Twitter and did not receive a message from the company on Friday, check your spam folder just to be sure it’s not there.
• If you have an e-mail from Twitter, click on the password-reset link and pay particular attention to the URL that appears in the browser. If you do not see the Twitter domain, do not enter any information. Instead go directly to the Twitter homepage and log in.
• Create a strong, new password more than six characters long with a combination of numbers and upper- and lowercase letters.
• Remember to update any stored passwords for your smartphone or tablet with your new password.
• If you were one of those affected, you will not be able to sign into Twitter until you follow the above steps and reset your password.

It is a good practice for  all users of any social media to refresh their passwords regularly with a new one, so this is a  good opportunity to not just update your Twitter password but all your social media passwords.  This is the best way to protect your information and to protect your reputation.

Remember – the digital  world is full of reminders that our online personas are a vital component of our overall reputation.

When we meet new people we often check their digital histories on the most popular social platforms (just as they check yours). From potential employers to potential spouses, one forged update or inaccuracy can severely hinder our ability to move freely about the world whether it is applying for a job, networking or meeting someone new.

To me, it’s well worth the extra attention to keep our digital identities true to our physical ones.

But bullying survives long into adulthood and has migrated to the workplace, according to the latest installment of AVGs Digital Diaries series: Digital Work Life.

Digital Work Life examines the intersection – or rather collision – of social media and office politics. We found that most offices have a long way to go when it comes to creating awareness and educating their employees or putting guidance or policies in place about what’s acceptable to share on personal and corporate profiles. To set the stage, the study of 4,000 adults from 10 countries across the globe, found that more than half of the respondents believe social media has eroded their privacy in the workplace.

Menacing numbers

Should we be Facebook friends with our colleagues? Should we post photos from drunken work parties? In fact 11 percent of worldwide respondents have experienced embarrassment from photos or videos from a work event that have been uploaded to social media.

And if it’s a work event, who has the authority to decide whether photos can appear on a corporate Facebook page?

What strikes me about our Digital Work Life findings is just how blurred the lines have become for most people and just how conflicting our workplaces can be. For example, 15 percent of US workers have been the victim of a social media insult from a colleague.

Nearly one in 10 of worldwide respondents has had a manager use information gleaned from social media against them or a colleague.

What’s more, nearly a third of worldwide respondents accepted colleagues’ social media requests even though they did not want to.

Boundary time for Employers

When it comes to social media at work, there are a number of different forces at play and employers of all sizes should educate employees about social media etiquette. It is important for employers to create clarity around the responsibilities and accountability of employees in the use of company resources and social media in the work place. A good place to start would be to offer clear codes, guidelines or policies about the use of social media in the office, the sharing of information between colleagues or about the company and clear examples about what is and is not acceptable.

And it’s not enough to just create a policy; employers need to make sure workers are aware of it and how it applies to them.

Employees should Think ahead

Young workers – especially recent graduates – should think carefully about transitioning their student personas, where pretty much anything goes, to professional personas, where one indulgent evening can get them in to trouble and possibly curtail their career.

Regardless of the rules in any one company, employees should create personal guidelines for social media engagement and stick to them over the course of their career and from company to company.

Either you’re friends with your colleagues or not. You can create special circles or walled gardens for colleagues and restrict what you share with them or you can share everything with them.

It’s much easier than people think to simply say that you do not want to become “Facebook” friends with colleagues and, at least in my experience, this reaction garners a great deal of respect. But keep in mind that anything you DO share online about anyone, no matter how seemingly disconnected, can find its way into the wrong hands.

In a sense, the discussion begs a variation to that well known adage: Don’t tell anything to Facebook that you wouldn’t tell every single person you know.

Let’s look at my future life:

Work finishes up and I jump into a cab to take me to a dinner engagement. It’s one of the new driverless cabs that have now been licensed by some states in the US. I kind of miss the banter with the driver on and the general humor that cab drivers bring to the journey. Dinner is great, I book another cab with my cell phone and I head home where I find the shopping delivery that my fridge had ordered by itself. Flick on the entertainment system and a recording of the soccer game springs into life. All sounds super convenient, doesn’t it?

Let’s take a look from a different view point. Work finishes up and I jump into a cab to take me to a dinner engagement, it’s one of those driverless cabs that have been licensed by some states in the US. It travels in the wrong direction and will not heed my smartphone commands to change course. I end up on the wrong side of town looking for another cab. It appears someone has hacked the cab network and scrambled up all the destinations and customers.

When I get home there are 50 pints of milk waiting for me, and when I switch on the entertainment I get an old episode of The Golden Girls. The news comes on and headlines reveal that someone has bought futures in the dairy business and made lots of money by hacking millions of fridges.

I am sure the second scenario will be prevented by relevant protections, but you get my point. We are starting to rely on technology in every aspect of life and this was really what CES was promoting. When we purchase or think about new technologies we need to always think about the security aspects that we need to follow. Let’s consider a watering system controlled by an app on my phone. If malware takes control, I might never realize that my watering system has been on for days.

The consequences of automating our lives and the incredible technology appearing in today’s market mean that we need to consider its effect on us if control or information is stolen from us.

Getting the latest 4K TV with an Internet connection will make us the coolest family on the block; setting the right parental controls will make us the safest; and securing our mobile phone so that no one else can control the TV remotely will make us the smartest.

Sony Xperia Z

Another smartphone I hear you say. Yes, but with some added features that make it stand out, the major one being that it’s waterproof. This is genius. Just watch, next time you are in a bar or coffee shop, or near a swimming pool, drowning your phone doesn’t have to be the menace it is today. Waterproof, 1080p graphics and just 7mm thick, the Xperia Z has to be one of my favorites. Of course when mentioning a smartphone, I should offer a gentle reminder that AVG Antivirus FREE for Android is a good choice to stay protected online.

iRobot Looj 330: The gutter cleaning robot

What a catchy name! In December I put up the lights around the outside of my house to impress the neighbors and persuade them that I am not Scrooge. This reminded me it was also time to clean the gutters, a disgusting job I do only once a year. So imagine my delight when I saw the Looj 330, no larger than the palm of my hand and shaped like propellers stacked onto each other. I decided I simply must have it. You just throw it in the gutter and it burrows through the mess. When will they make a robot to put up your holiday lights?

MyLink, for In-Car Entertainment

Maybe I’m biased, but the second generation of MyLink looks awesome. Back in the day I had a Jeep Grand Cherokee equipped with the first generation and I loved it. Making it simple to get the best audio entertainment while driving, whilst also providing satnav, phone and TV (not while driving), and is reward for sitting in all those traffic jams. However I am not really sure why anyone needs more choice than Elvis radio?

Windows 8

For Ultrabooks and Tablets, Windows 8 is here and making its mark on the industry. At CES there was a proliferation of new devices that are lighter, smaller and more powerful. It will be interesting to see if the combination tablet/ PC really goes mass-market, but the idea is very intuitive. For those of you out there using it, I’m curious to hear your experiences.

I have to admit, though, that the coolest thing I saw at CES was not an official demo at all. At one point in the rush of activity a journalist came whizzing by me on a hybrid scooter/suitcase. Yes, you read that correctly. Imagine your classic carry-on-sized rollerboard with a fold-down footboard on the back. Simply raise the handle, fold down the scooter and voila: city transportation. This was so awesome I had to take a photo. Anyone know where I can get one? And do airport terminals have speed limits?

Lastly I am going to mention 4K screen technology. Yes it’s cool and the resolution is awesome and I am sure someone will create programs that will use it. I am not sure about the rest of you but it’s not the resolution that needs to be improved, it’s the quality of the programs. On that note I will leave you all with the reminder that whatever flavor of technology you buy, always think about whether you need to add some security.

World of Warcraft, Eve Online, League of Legends, Team Fortress 2, and Diablo 3 are just some of the most popular online games at the moment and people pour hundreds of hours into the adventures that they provide.

Some of these games are subscription based, where users pay monthly but others are free to play with players able to buy in game items for cash to support the developers. But what all of these games share is the need for users’ bank details.

Whereas gamers don’t normally associate their gaming accounts with sensitive information, but instead the worry of losing a character or account into which they have invested months of their time. But it’s important to remember that as with any online shopping experience, you should take precautions anywhere where you are revealing financial data.

Here are my top three tips for keeping your account safe:

Beware of Phishing:

Gaming is just as susceptible to phishing as other online services, fake emails from games asking for you to log in or confirm a purchase. Some emails even offer in game prizes to lure recipients to interact.

Phishing can happen at any time but are most common around the launch of expansions such as Warcraft’s Mists of Pandaria or seasonal events such as DotA 2’s Diretide.

It’s important to remember that should you receive an email asking you to interact with your account for any reason, do it by visiting the official website rather than any links provided in the email. It goes without saying that you should not download any attachments or share your login details with anyone.

Most game developers make you publicly aware that even when you are talking to customer service staff, they will never ask you for your password.

As with any sort of phishing attack, security software like AVG will help keep you safe by alerting you to malicious URL’s and preventing your system from downloading any malware.

Don’t share accounts:

This may sound like a no brainer but you’d be surprised how often I’ve seen it done. I’m not just talking about housemates sharing a single account to avoid game subscription costs; I’ve known people to share their logins with other players whom they’ve never met.

Why would someone do this? Well maybe they’re going on holiday and don’t want to miss out on dailies (quests which you can complete daily) or maybe they are happy for a guild-mate to run an alt through a raid for them while they go to the movies.

I know these are people whom you trust with “life and death” decisions in a virtual world but leaving yourself vulnerable to identity theft, account violation and even your financial details falling into the wrong hands should be enough of a risk to stop you sharing your details with anyone.

If you can, authenticate:

A lot of us will be familiar with authentication devices for online banking services. An authentication device generates a unique code that you use to log in to your online banking services. It’s a really fantastic way to keep your online services secure.

Well some games developers have developed account authenticators for their games, (such as Blizzards World of Warcraft and Diablo 3). You can have them as handy keychain sized fobs or even as an app for your smartphone. These will ensure that your account is safe at all times and you sometimes you can even get special in game rewards for buying one.

What could be better than getting rewarded for keeping yourself safe?

What are your tips for keeping your online gaming accounts safe? What would you do if you lost your favorite character? Have you ever had your account hacked? Come and let me know on the AVG Facebook Community or on Twitter @charliesanchez