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Machine learning and privacy: what AI knows about you

iNinja Marketing Team — Thu, 05 Aug 2021 15:54:04 GMT

There is no doubt that the invention of machine learning was a breakthrough in the world of technologies. Those smart guys managed to create artificial intelligence that’s able to learn by itself and improve its ability of understanding humans and the world. This technology is rather useful and it is now implemented in almost everything we use today — from the autocorrect on the phone to your voice assistant.

But this convenience comes at a cost. As artificial intelligence gets better at understanding you, it learns more and more about you. It learns your interests, political views, details about your habits and health, and so on. And it definitely brings this data to someone. So while we don’t really want to say no to the benefits of machine learning, we should know at least what it knows about us.

Facial recognition

It’s not just about you unlocking your phone by holding it against your face. This technology is widely used by law enforcement and border control to detect criminals. Facial recognition powered by artificial intelligence is rather effective already and can identify you even if you’re covering your face somehow — with a face mask or sunglasses. There are special glasses that should prevent AI from recognizing you. But try wearing those to an airport and see how quickly the security will come to you and ask you some questions.

Clearview AI — a face recognition company based in the States — has gathered over 3 billion images from platforms like Facebook, Flickr, and Twitter to create a facial recognition app. The application was sold to more than 2.4 thousand law-enforcement companies in the United States.

Surely, the company received a lot of condemnations from the public. But the co-founder of Clearview AI replied to that with, “it was a fair game to help law enforcement to solve crimes.”

China is a great example with its Skynet — a mass surveillance program. We’re sure they’ve picked this grim name on purpose. It was created in 2005 and now the program is rather advanced. It uses real live videos captured by around half a billion cameras installed across the country. The accuracy rate of Skynet is 99.8%. And now China started using sunglasses with built-in facial recognition — this technology allows law enforcement to identify criminals in just 100 milliseconds.

Of course, all this success, as the government would call it, has a dark side. There are cases of false positives. And it’s unclear how can a falsely accused suspect protect themselves.

Voice recognition

The most obvious use case for voice recognition is virtual assistants that are rather handy in our day-to-day life. They help us to find out information by just asking them a question, make shopping lists, buy things without actually going to your device and opening an e-commerce website, control smart tech in our houses, and much more. But also, voice assistants gather what we say and send this info to marketers who then can improve their ad campaigns to raise profits. And there were cases when users figured out their voice assistant listened to them even when they weren’t saying the voice command like, “Ok, Google.”

This year, Spotify was going to launch a new voice recognition feature that would listen to the user and their surroundings and offer suitable songs based on the user’s mood, accent, gender, and age. The company was rather surprised when the public wasn’t too happy about this invasive and fairly creepy feature.

Besides voice assistants, this technology is also used in the military and by medical practitioners.

Autocorrect

We all have a love-hate relationship with this thing. It does help with typos and allows us to type faster. But it also has its setbacks when it autocorrects the word we want to write to a completely another. Still, it helps us to write correctly and even learn the right spelling for difficult worlds.

But did you notice how your phone doesn’t recognize some words you use at first and then it offers you them as you type? That’s machine learning in action. The autocorrect learns by what you write. That’s useful for us but also it might be useful for corporations that gather what we type. Did you even see an ad for something you’ve been texting about with your friend? Here you go.

Recommendations

E-commerce websites offer you new items to buy based on what you’ve already bought. Streaming services offer you new shows and movies to watch based on what you’ve already watched. That’s artificial intelligence predicting your desires by learning your current behavior and choices. And it’s not even a question of whether the corporations are using this data — they sure do. They use it to offer us more relevant ads and figure out what products to launch to have absolute success.

And it’s needless to say that often such correct predictions feel rather unsettling. They’re a visual representation of the fact that the system knows us. Knows what we want.

We know that streaming services and e-commerce sites use this technology. But who else does? In 2012, there was an AI-based algorithm that was able to predict the pregnancy of a high school student before her family found out about it. She received then coupons for baby-related products. Target used predictions to figure out both the likelihood of pregnancy and the due date for the birth by logging purchases and gathering some data from “other sources”. If that isn’t creepy, we don’t know what is.

Virtual assistants

We’ve mentioned them above but let’s pay them a bit more attention. The idea of an artificial assistant was present in our minds from the twentieth century as various smart robots appeared in literature and movies. So when such assistants were launched in our real world, most of us were rather excited about them.

Virtual assistants are based on artificial intelligence that allows them to become smarter and more human-like over time. They resemble the tone and intonation similar to human ones. They can display emotions — even if they don’t feel them — that sound rather natural to us. Try cursing at your AI assistant and see its reaction. The interaction becomes so natural that people start falling in love with their virtual assistants. It means that the technology evolved so much that it knows enough nuances to make a human have romantic feelings for it.

Yes, we all know about the invasiveness of social media platforms. It’s difficult to find a person who didn’t experience the creepiness of social media ads. Those moments when you see an ad for something you’ve been researching. Or of something you were talking about with your friends — and the conversation was held in real life, not within the social media platform.

This became so natural to us that the recent studies show that users already expect that their online activity is monitored and used to bring relevant ads. Some people even use this technology to simplify their search for certain goods — they google what they need, open a couple of websites, and then wait for social media to offer them exactly what they’re seeking.

While this does sound rather handy, we should remember that artificial intelligence is getting advanced all the time. It’s supposedly used for predicting hate speech, political views, fashion choices, and so on. And as augmented reality becomes a new part of our lives, gesture recognition gets involved, too. All this results in not just ads but offered posts as well that are tailored to our taste. This can slowly push us into so-called ideological echo chambers and even make us believe certain things.

Since these algorithms are not very advanced yet, they tend to have false positives. This often happens to the hate speech prediction technology. The algorithm would block users for what it thinks was hate speech while those people were just talking about chess using the phrase, “black versus white” — this happened to a Croatian chess player and Youtuber Antonio Radic.

Lip-reading

Medical practitioners use this technology to understand patients who experience difficulties when speaking. For example, it’s useful for patients after laryngectomies, tracheostomies, and after or during intubation. Law enforcement uses lip-reading to understand speech from videos without sound or with a lot of noise pollution.

The lip-reading technology becomes better and better — especially, as we started producing more valuable for machine learning content by having video conferences during the pandemic. The algorithm was advanced enough to understand speech by reading lips better than human professionals. Can you imagine its power now? Surely, it will be soon implemented in a mass surveillance system. So those face masks don’t seem that annoying now, right?
Artificial intelligence is a part of our lives now and we have to accept that. It will get advanced and we will have to figure out better ways to protect our privacy if we will have it in the future at all. For now, use the iNinja VPN app to hide your IP address and browse anonymously and try to avoid social media and virtual assistants. That will help you to safeguard your privacy.

How a VPN can be useful on a vacation?

iNinja Marketing Team — Fri, 30 Jul 2021 16:09:47 GMT

Finally! Our freedom is back! Well, partially. After over a year of being stuck in our homes, we now have an opportunity to travel at least somewhere farther than a shop nearby. We finally get to experience the rush of an airport again and all the beauties of a plane trip: blocked ears, the view from the window, disgusting plane food, those butterflies in the stomach when the plane flies up and down, crying infants…

We finally get to see other cities and even countries! Isn’t that exciting? But there is someone else who is excited, too. Hackers. Oh, they’re so excited to get new victims coming right into their traps they’ve carefully prepared to strip tourists of some money or data. And since our excitement about the travel mixed with an overall relaxation a vacation brings makes us more carefree and less attentive, we become easy targets for malefactors.

You might think that you can’t be of interest to hackers since you’re just an ordinary person. But that’s a mistake to think so. The data of an ordinary person is exactly what malefactors are looking for. Remember that a few grand you have saved in your bank account might amount to an annual income of an ordinary person in a country you go to. Why wouldn’t they want to steal this money? Especially, considering that as an ordinary person yourself you don’t have somehow reinforced bank accounts and personal assistants who could detect a theft attempt.

And we didn’t even mention governments yet. They might be hunting your data, too — movement, social media, etc. This information can be useful for statistics and other needs of a government. Also, this data will be interesting to marketers who can use it to target ads better. That’s why you shouldn’t underestimate the cybersecurity risks you’re facing during your trips.

Fortunately, we have the iNinja VPN app that will protect us while we’re enjoying our trips. This free VPN app reroutes your connection to VPN servers thus hiding your IP address and making you anonymous. Therefore, it will be impossible for hackers to get enough data to get into your device and steal whatever they’re aiming for.

Furthermore, we will explore all the ways iNinja VPN can protect us during a travel and even help us save a bit of money.

Once you’re connected to a WiFi

Public WiFi networks are seldom secure because to make them safe someone needs to take care of software — keep it updated and install some protection. And virtually no one does that. It’s a safe bet that that popular cafe near your hotel doesn’t protect its router used to provide clients with an internet connection. The same goes for WiFi networks in airports and hotels — really, no one takes proper care of their security. And once you’re connected to a compromised WiFi, your device is an open door to your data for hackers. They can easily enter it and steal whatever they want as well as see all the activities you perform. So data or money theft isn’t the only issue you might face. Malefactors can also blackmail you for something.

You can’t trust even WiFi in your Airbnb despite that you’re supposedly the only one using it. You don’t know if a person next door is also connected to it and waiting for a victim. Finally, not all hotspots are real. Malefactors can establish already compromised WiFi networks and name them accordingly to some popular place nearby — say, Starbucks. Once you’re connected to it, you become a victim.

A good solution would be to stick to mobile data. But internet in roaming tends to be very expensive. And if you don’t want to buy a local SIM card, it’s not an option for you to keep using mobile internet everywhere. But there is another way out — a VPN.

The iNinja VPN app will keep you and your activity anonymous making it impossible for hackers to take any advantage of you. They will see that someone is connected to a WiFi network but they won’t be able to get into your device.

Protect your work data

If you’re taking a popular nowadays workation — the mix of having a vacation and still performing some work tasks — you definitely need a VPN app guarding you. Considering all the issues with public WiFi networks we’ve mentioned above, you simply can’t afford to have this threat hanging over your corporate data. Data leaks cost rather a lot of money, and a company will most likely lose its trustworthy reputation if any client information was stolen. So just use the iNinja VPN — it will protect your data while not cutting the connection speed.

Access geo-restricted content

When you arrive at another country, you might discover that the websites you’ve been freely browsing from home are now blocked for you because it’s not available in this country. The iNinja VPN solves this issue easily. Just connect to a server located in your home country and enjoy all the content as if you’re sitting on your own couch. Local laws regarding online privacy can be tricky — not every government allows the use of VPN apps. So make sure you download your free iNinja VPN at home.

Save some money

Airlines and flight tickets aggregators can play tricks with you changing prices displayed for you depending on your location. And since your IP address gives websites a clear understanding of where you are, changing prices is easy for them. So when you’re looking for tickets both at home and in the country you’re visiting, try switching between different servers the iNinja VPN app offers and see if the prices change. Sometimes, the difference is rather significant. That’s how our free VPN app for Windows, macOS, and mobile operating systems will save you money.

Stay relaxed during your vacation while the iNinja VPN has your back! This free app is compatible with all devices — so make sure you protect all your gadgets.

Cybersecurity challenges of remote work

iNinja Marketing Team — Tue, 27 Jul 2021 14:49:34 GMT

Once the pandemic started, most companies swiftly switched to working from home. At first, it was extremely uncomfortable for many people as they don’t have a decent home office, and family members trying to interrupt the workflow weren’t really helping, too. But we’ve adjusted, found our ways to comfortable and productive workdays at home, and lately, it was fine for most people.

Now as businesses massively get back to working from offices, it’s evident that a lot of employees are not very excited about the idea of getting back to their workplace. They’d rather keep working from their homes. And employers don’t seem to get upset by this — remote workers are way cheaper than ones that work in the office. A company doesn’t need to pay for the electricity or water they spend, snacks, and other benefits offices usually offer.

But while both sides get their benefits, both suffer from pitfalls, too. In this article, we will go through all the pros and cons of remote work and take a look at cybersecurity challenges and solutions to them.

Pros and cons of remote work

The pros for an employee are quite evident. First of all, you most likely will be able to set up your own work schedule. No more getting up at 6 am if you’re a night owl. No more sitting in the office until 6 pm even if you got all the work done three hours ago. Got tired? Take a walk or a nap. Hungry? Just eat — no one will tell you that you’re eating into your work time. No need for dressing up, commuting to the office and back home, interacting face-to-face with your coworkers. If these benefits sound appealing to you, it means you were made to work from home without the restrictions of offices.

But there are cons to these benefits, too. The lack of need to dress up and have a schedule will most likely result in you getting so disorganized and lazy that you will have a hard time actually getting the work done. So the best advice would be to establish some kind of routine and schedule that will be comfortable for you and let you stay productive. If you succeed at that, working from home will be a breeze for both you and your employer.

It’s best if you create your home office — a dedicated room or at least a zone that will help you get right into the productive mindset once you enter the “office”. It might sound counterintuitive since by moving your work from the actual office to home you want to escape the standard approach to the workplace. But first of all, you can create a workspace you like. And you still need a place where you can comfortably work without harming your health and productivity.

Employers are grateful for remote workers for financial reasons. Out-of-office employees mean that there are fewer expenses overall — no need for a bigger office, smaller electricity and water bills, fewer spendings on food and snacks, computers, furniture, and other stuff. But it is much harder to control the activity of employees when they’re not sitting in the office. Especially, if the management did a poor job. There are numerous ways to efficiently control the work of remote employees without interfering with their privacy. And if a company seems to fail at managing the remote team, the lack of motivation might be the reason. In this case, a business should look into this issue instead of blaming an employee.

Cybersecurity issues of remote work

For an employee, not having someone hanging over the shoulder is a great thing. But not having this nuisance also mean that you don’t have that handy IT guy who makes sure your computer is secure and the corporate data you’re working with is protected. Some companies do walk the extra mile by either setting up personal computers of remote workers in a safe way or providing them with a corporate computer that’s already secure they can take home. If this is not the case for your employer, you should take care of your protection by yourself.

The good news is that it’s not a hard task to perform. You need to take the following steps:

Update your operating system and all the programs. Keep them updated all the time. Outdated software is full of vulnerabilities that are known to hackers. And by skipping the updates that patch those vulnerabilities, you expose yourself to possible cyber threats. That’s why it’s vital to update your software.
Have a good antivirus running. Many popular antivirus providers offer quite a good free option for personal devices. Most likely, a free antivirus will protect you from all the threats without offering extra features that come with a paid subscription. So there is no reason for you to not protect your device from malware with an antivirus,
Use a VPN app. A VPN reroutes your connection to a VPN server thus covering your IP address. This makes it virtually impossible for hackers to intercept your connection and the data you’re transferring or receiving since you will be anonymous. A free iNinja VPN app will reliably protect you from prying eyes at no cost while not cutting your connection speed.
Set up a reliable password for your router. Make sure your home WiFi is protected with a strong combination of numbers and letters.
Use reliable passwords for all accounts. They should be strong and diverse. You can use a password manager that will remember all combinations for you keeping them protected.

Employers should also take care of the protection of their remoter workers’ devices because a data leak costs a lot of money and effort and can harm the reputation of the company. So it’s necessary to provide remote employees with either all the software they need (an antivirus, a VPN app) and help them learn how to protect corporate data or provide them with corporate computers that are reliably protected and controlled by the company’s IT team.

It’s not that hard to protect the data from cybercriminals. Yet, most employers and employees ignore the need for cyber protection suffering from consequences later. Don’t follow their example. Protect yourself and your corporate data to avoid any issues.

The most common online shopping scams and how to stay safe

iNinja Marketing Team — Tue, 13 Jul 2021 11:19:53 GMT

The e-commerce industry saw a huge rise during the pandemic as we were largely stuck at home. And since it’s so convenient to buy stuff without even lifting ourselves off the couch, we can assume that we will keep doing that despite shops being open. There is just one issue — the more popular and widely-used something gets, the more malefactors start using this thing to fool people. This is what happens to online shopping — more and more scams emerge, and new ones are way trickier and harder to detect.

Scammers are now going after not just buyer’s money but information, too. Data allows hackers to impersonate the victim to then reach other malicious goals. So today, we should protect not just money but information as well.

The good news is that we can protect ourselves. However, it can be hard, especially for not very tech-savvy people. But we will do our best to help you in this journey.

To quickly give you some guidelines, here are measures you can take to protect yourself:

Use a VPN app. iNinja is a free VPN app that will hide your IP address and encrypt your data
Create strong passwords for your accounts
Use Google or Apple Pay, or another service that allows you to not enter your bank card details to make a purchase
Evaluate a new e-commerce site critically and attentively read the shipping and return rules. It’s best to also find any testimonials about this online shop

Why it’s so easy to trick people with shopping scams?

Mostly it’s simple to do because when we’re excited to treat ourselves or our close people with something, we tend to forget about all the safety rules as we rush to the checkout process. Also, modern scams are more subtle and thus hard to detect, especially if we’re not aware of these methods.

Lately, scammers aim for luxury and expensive items more than for cheaper things. There is logic in it — we’re less likely to think that we will get scammed when we’re buying something that’s not an everyday thing to buy. Also, since for quite a while we all are so focused on our health, malefactors aim for supplements and over-the-counter meds. Mostly, they either bump up the prices or sell “empty” pills while advertising them as some super magical supplement that will solve all our health and life issues.

Finally, scammers still go the old and tested way of selling cheap knock-offs of famous brands. But only experienced buyers will know that this is a fake product — others will believe they got a great deal.

How to detect scams?

There are different approaches, as you’ve noticed. Let’s see the details now.

The offer is too good

If what you see seems too good to be true, most likely, your gut feeling is right. Sure, online stores offer appealing deals to attract buyers. But no sane seller will give you a discount of more than, say, 70%. Especially, if we’re talking about some popular or new product.

So each time you stumble upon a great deal that seems to be unrealistic — stop and think if it’s a scam. Because most likely it is. You can google the name of this store or try calling them — the chances are high that you’ll find something weird about it.

Phishing is always here

Phishing has different faces. It can be a fake website — if you look closely, you’ll see that the URL has some mistakes in it or just isn’t written the way a URL of a real website is. Also, you might get a fake email right after making a purchase. The email will ask you either for payment or for some additional personal info — so always look at the sender’s email and the link attached to the email. And don’t download any files. Such fake messages can arrive through SMS and messengers, too. So be attentive about that.

Sure, social media is a powerful tool for e-commerce. And many small brands don’t even have a website — they sell directly through social media. But there are many scammers, too. So always read comments and look for reviews to determine if it’s a real seller. Also, it’s helpful to google the pictures of products to see if the images are stolen from real websites.

It’s not only your money that’s at risk

We’ve said it before and we want to repeat this thought. You risk not just your money, but your data, too. And while losing money is not pleasant, losing information will bring you way more issues. As we order something, we provide the seller with our address and often — credit card data to pay for goods. If this data gets stolen, we can lose way more money and our physical safety will be threatened as well.

That’s why we strongly advise using a VPN app for Android, iOS, and desktop devices to hide as much data as possible. Also, be careful when buying from a new site, and try to give the seller as little information as you can. For example, if you can pay with Google or Apple Pay or some other service so that you don’t share your bank card data — do that. If you can ask for a delivery to the closest post office instead of your home — do that for first-time orders to make sure you’re safe.

Our safety is in our hands. With the iNinja VPN app and our tips, you will reliably protect yourself from scammers.

Cyberbullying 2021: statistics and how to protect your child

iNinja Marketing Team — Thu, 08 Jul 2021 07:45:10 GMT

Cyberbullying might sound not too serious to some people because it’s doesn’t seem to happen in the real life. However, for a victim there is almost no difference between being bullied online and offline — the psychological impact is the same. And if we remember that it’s possible to track down a user’s location, the thoughts about cyberbullying begin getting a hint of anxiety.

The statistics show that almost half of young people were victims of cyberbullying. And since the beginning of the pandemic, as we all were forced to stay home, more and more users found much-needed release in bullying others online.

In this article, we will go through some statistics and things we can do to protect ourselves and our children from cyberbullies.

Statistics show that 70% of cyberbullying takes place on soal media platforms with Instagram being the favorite one for cyberbullies — 47% of cases happen there. Facebook takes up 37% of all cases, and Snapchat — 31%.

Almost all users that bully others — around 80% of cyberbullies — think that they’re not doing anything wrong because it’s fun to them. And just 20% of perpetrators have particular malicious intentions. But despite the goals a cyberbully has or hasn’t in mind, results can be serious.

The Journal of Health Economics studied this subject and found out that cyberbullying results in the increase of suicidal thoughts by 14.5% and suicide attempts by 8.7%.

While social media platforms are the primary field, 25% of cyberbullying takes place in online games. The competitive atmosphere and ardor make it easy for players to lash out at their teammates. In the gaming community, it’s called “flaming”. And while most users understand that this flaming comes from a player being upset, sometimes people overstep all boundaries one could imagine. They begin threatening a player who allegedly makes the team lose with discovering the user’s address by the IP address and other things.

Even though such threats might never come to life, it’s very distressing to hear them, especially for young children and teenagers who might not realize the whole ridiculousness of the threat.

Cyberbullying can become a cyberattack

Bullies can go quite far with their threats and hack a victim’s social media account to then do more harm. Tracking down a victim’s location by their IP address is also a type of cyberattack.

That’s why it’s important to use complex passwords and a VPN app. iNinja is a free VPN app that will keep you and your kids safe by covering the IP address. Then it will be impossible for cyberbullies to uncover the real address by using your IP.

People are very concerned about cyberbullying

Considering the scale of this issue and the consequences it can bring, it’s natural that people are worried about cyberbullying regardless of whether they have kids or not. Recent studies show that people are way more worried about cyberbullying and its rise in the times of Covid than about the virus itself.

Who takes the responsibility?

The opinions differ. In the UK, 65% of adults are sure that platforms must prevent bullying. However, even more believe — 70% of all adults — that families need to protect their children from cyberbullying, too.

The thing is that platforms can’t really control the whole situation — for example, they can’t watch over what users tell each other in private messages. All that’s possible to do is to check comments and posts and delete ones that are offensive. And platforms try to do that already. But the most effective measure against cyberbullying is to just block a bully and have a non-caring reaction to that. This is why so many people think that families are responsible if their children become cyberbullies — parents can teach their kids the correct behavior.

How to stay safe from cyberbullying?

There are effective things we can do to protect ourselves and our kids from bullies online. Of course, it’s impossible to protect children from everything. But there are some things we can do.

Use strong passwords

Strong combinations of letters, numbers, and special symbols protect accounts and devices from bullies quite well. Reliable passwords reduce the risk that a bully will get into an account or a device and cause any harm.

Use a VPN app

iNinja is a free VPN app that’s very easy to use and doesn’t slow down the connection speed. Establish a habit of turning it on whenever you’re performing any sensitive actions such as logging into your bank accounts — iNinja will cover your IP address safeguarding it from malefactors. Also, teach your child to use the VPN app for Windows and macOS during online gaming so that bullies can’t see the IP address.

Adjust privacy settings

Adjust your and your child’s account settings so that only people you know can see your online activity. Make sure strangers can’t send your kid private messages or friend requests. Also, those who aren’t friends shouldn’t see posted pictures, videos, and other content. Check privacy settings for all social media accounts.

Suggest that your child uses nicknames

It’s better if kids use nicknames instead of their real names online so that their identity is protected.

Be your kid’s support

Parents should be the ones their child comes for guidance, support, and venting. Then the chances that this kid becomes a bully or quietly suffers cyberbullying without parents knowing are very low.

Depending on your country and local laws, you can take legal action against some kinds of cyberbullying. For example, stalking and revenge porn are covered by the law in many countries. The same goes for harassment. Since it’s easy to gather proof against an online bully, it will be effortless to make sure they get proper punishment. Even if a bully is underage, they and their parents will suffer from consequences.

How to avoid scams if you use PayPal, Venmo, and Cash App

iNinja Marketing Team — Wed, 30 Jun 2021 10:04:59 GMT

We all know this tendency — if some app gets popular, hackers quickly figure out how to fool its users. So it was only a question of time when malefactors get their hands on peer-to-peer mobile payment services. We had PayPal for quite a while, and there were some scams connected to it. But when Venmo became so popular, we saw a spike of malicious activity aimed at its users.

The good news is that you can protect yourself rather easily. All you need to do is to stay attentive to the details. In this article, we will talk about the most common scams and things you can do to stay safe.

Hackers can reverse-charge your card

That’s right, they can charge your card when you’re selling something online — for example, on Craigslist. A malefactor pretends to be a person that wants to buy whatever you’re selling. They offer a Venmo payment, and you agree to it. You receive a payment, you send them the sold item. Everything seems fine, but a couple of days later your bank card gets charged for the same amount a buyer paid you for that item — the credit card company has reversed the transaction because it was made with a stolen card.

When selling things online, we should remember that Venmo is an app tailored for friends and families that want to send money to each other. It’s better to use Paypal in this case because this service has an established procedure for such a situation and usually helps the seller to get their money back.

Another solution would be to sell items online either for cash or a wire transfer. Such an approach will be safer despite being less convenient.

Not all charities are genuine

Charities are quite an easy way for malefactors to scam people since most of us are eager to help those who are less fortunate. And we’re talking big money here — in 2019, individuals and organizations in the United States donated almost half a trillion dollars. So it doesn’t come as a surprise that hackers want to bite something off this pie.

Another thing that’s so attractive to scammers when it comes to charities is that it’s easy to pretend to be a real organization that gathers donations. Especially during some crises such as a war, a natural disaster, and so on. That’s why there is a spike in fake charities when something bad happens. All malefactors need to do is to establish a website where they will tell what they’re gathering money for — they just need to put work into the site to make it informative and genuine-looking. And then they can advertise it through Google or social media to get attention. Even if you make a one-time donation, hackers still will get a profit.

If you receive a message or an email or see an advertisement about some charity, check it before actually donating. You can use Charity Navigator or Charity Watch to check the credentials of a charity. These services test if a certain non-profit organization is valid. Also, if you google the name of that charity and nothing or almost nothing comes up — most likely you’re dealing with scammers.

Phishing is here, too

Phishing is a to-go method for malefactors as victims usually fall easily for it. With mobile payment apps, it works like this — you receive an SMS with a link and an offer to receive some financial benefit. If you click a link, you will see a page that’s very similar to what a page of your payment app would look like. On that page, you’ll have to enter personal information to get that financial benefit mentioned in the message. Usually, it’s a credit card number or some other data that can be used for impersonating you to make transactions.

Such spam can arrive through your email, too. The approach would be the same. Malefactors will either impersonate a person you know or your payment service.

If you receive an offer that sounds too good, most likely it’s a scam. Remember to check an email address of a sender if you received a fake email and to check the URL included in the message — phishing websites usually imitate real ones. For example, malefactors would write “vvebsite” instead of “website”. That’s a detail one can notice only after looking closely at the URL.

You got paid more than needed

Using this approach, malefactors send you way more money than needed “by accident”. For example, you were selling something online for $300 and the buyer sent you $3000. It’s easy to believe that a person made a mistake by adding another zero. So they will ask you to send back the difference.

You surely do that because you believe that a person made a mistake. Then you ship the item and everything seems to be okay. But in a couple of days, just like in the case with reverse payments, you realize that the money is gone — a malefactor used a fraudulent payment method. So now you don’t have both your sold item and a large sum of money.

While such a mistake — adding a zero — seems easy to make, in reality, people tend to be very careful when they send money to someone they don’t know. So if you received a huge payment “by mistake”, just cancel it and don’t make any transfers to or from your bank account for this person.

More tips that will protect you from scammers

Besides being careful you can also:

Use multi-factor authentication for better protection
Use the iNinja VPN app to hide your IP address thus safeguarding yourself even better. The iNinja free VPN for Android and iOS will keep your activity secure without interfering with your internet speed
Make sure your passwords are strong. You can use a password manager so that it can remember all the complex combinations for you.

Does an SSL certificate mean you’re really safe?

iNinja Marketing Team — Fri, 25 Jun 2021 11:32:51 GMT

Every cybersecurity specialist will tell us to use websites only if there is a green padlock displayed before the URL of the site. This padlock means that a website has an SSL certificate — a technology that encrypts the transferred data thus making it virtually impossible to intercept for malefactors. So that’s a huge bonus for our online security. And we definitely should prefer websites with a padlock to ones without it.

However, with a dose of healthy scepticism, we can point out that even though almost every website has an SSL certificate today and Google tries to keep us away from ones without it, the amount of cybercrime didn’t really go down. In fact, it increases steadily meaning that more and more of us fall victims to the malicious activity of hackers. Why does it happen? Because intercepting data is not the only instrument they use to make a profit off innocent users.

Why doesn’t an SSL certificate save us?

When SSL certificates were just launched, website owners were slow to get them for themselves because they costed money and not everyone understood the necessity. Today, one can get such a certificate as a bonus to a hosting they rent or a domain they buy. So getting an SSL certificate is not an issue at all. It’s great for website owners who want to protect their users — and comply with the rules of Google that demand all sites to have a certificate.

But also, it means that anyone — even hackers — can get an SSL certificate easily. This fact creates issues for us since it means that malefactors can create an innocently looking website that will even have that green padlock that gives us greater peace of mind. The only thing that will make this site differ from any other — it will jeopardise our cyber and maybe even physical safety.

While we’re basically conditioned to feel safe once we see that green padlock, it doesn’t indicate we’re in a safe zone. We still need to stay cautious.

What can happen?

We will go through a couple of scenarios that could happen.

Scenario #1 — phishing with the goal of stealing your data

So, let’s imagine that we enter a website with an SSL certificate. It looks like a nice and safe online store but actually it’s owned by hackers.

We start looking for goods on this site and we find what we need. We put these items in the cart and proceed to the checkout — we’ve swallowed the bait malefactors prepared for us. As we complete our order, we have to provide the site with a lot of sensitive information such as our full name, email and home addresses, and even credit card data. Even though an SSL certificate encrypts your data, it doesn’t hide it from website owners.

Now all these details are in the hands of hackers. And even if our payment won’t be successful for some reason, they still have our data.

Scenario #2 — phishing with the goal of getting money from you

Same as in the previous scenario, we enter an online store to look for things. It has an SSL certificate and we feel safe browsing through it, putting items in a cart, and proceeding to the checkout. At the checkout we pay for the order online — the method doesn’t matter. And that’s it — the order is supposed to be getting processed now. But it isn’t. Because there is no online store, and our money went directly to a hacker’s pocket.

Moreover, malefactors have our address and email now, along with a phone number maybe. And if we entered credit card details instead of using Google or Apple Pay, or Paypal, they have our bank card info, too, now.

Scenario #3 — your IP address gets used

Our IP addresses are rather public. Each server — read, website — we access can see it. And it’s fine until it’s not. Imagine now that the website we access is owned by malefactors who can track our location using our IP address. Doesn’t sound nice, right? They can then use our address to blackmail us or even put our physical safety under a threat.

Scenario #4 — the website is hacked

While it’s unlikely that a site with an SSL certificate will get hacked, it’s not impossible. A certificate does offer protection but there might be other vulnerabilities on that website hackers have exploited. So now the information we share with this site is under threat.

What can we do to protect ourselves?

It’s hard to not disclose any information during online shopping. But what can we do then?

Here are a couple of tips that will let you stay safer from malicious websites:

• Always double-check the URL. If malefactors created a site to mimic some famous online store, the URL will have something written incorrectly in it.

• Be careful about new e-commerce websites. If you never purchased from this site, try looking up some reviews or maybe articles that mention it.

• Use Google or Apple Pay, or another payment method that doesn’t need you to enter your credit card data. When you’re using one of such methods, you hide your bank card information even from a seller this lowering the risk of it getting stolen.

• Use the iNinja VPN app. iNinja is a free VPN for Windows, macOS, and portable devices that will hide your IP address and encrypt the data you send and receive. It’s easy to use and lightweight — iNinja won’t even cut your internet speed while keeping you safe online.

While cybersecurity specialists do their best to protect us, we still need to take care of our safety online by ourselves because professionals only try to keep up with hackers. Malefactors come up with new ways to scam people all the time and it’s almost impossible to predict their next rule. So stay alert and use the iNinja VPN app!

How is a VPN app useful for business and personal needs?

iNinja Marketing Team — Thu, 17 Jun 2021 12:00:50 GMT

Our online security is in our hands. Even the best antivirus won’t protect us if we keep our data exposed and neglect the basic rules of cyber hygiene such as:

Avoid suspicious websites
Look out for phishing emails
Always double-check website addresses and senders’ names
Share as little information as possible
Use trustworthy apps and keep them updated

In addition to that, you should use a VPN app. But when do you use it and how exactly will it help? In this article, we will answer these questions both for employers and employees, and users who want to reinforce their private online activities.

A VPN app for businesses

The pandemic made businesses around the globe switch to remote work. Some managed to build processes so that employees didn’t lose their efficiency despite being stuck at home, others had less success in this journey. But security remains the biggest concern. While it was somewhat easier to protect the network when everyone is working at the office, it’s harder to control things when the staff is scattered and every person is using their own device managing it the way they can.

A VPN app is necessary for companies even when everyone is gathered at the office. This tool adds another layer of protection to the corporate network. And, as a bonus, it provides users with access to geo-restricted data if they need it. Usually, an administrator applies a VPN connection to the whole network — they install a VPN router which by default spreads an encrypted wireless network. But this approach is impossible to execute when employees are working from home. That’s when a personal VPN app becomes useful, even if just a couple of workers are remote.

Encrypt individual connections

The iNinja VPN app is entirely free and easy to use. It will protect your employees’ connections when they’re working from home and especially from public places such as cafes. You never can be sure that the home network of your worker is secure since not everyone is tech-savvy enough to understand the risks and protect themselves from them. And public WiFis are almost never safe — rarely routers in public places run on updated and secure software.

Therefore, when employees are working remotely, you can’t be sure that your corporate information is protected. If a device of one of your workers gets compromised, the safety of all the sensitive data a company owns is jeopardized. And if you think that your company is small enough for hackers to not care about it, think again. Small businesses are most targeted by malefactors specifically because their owners think no one will aim at their tiny company. So since they lack protection, it’s a piece of cake for hackers to steal data from such a business. And data leaks cost rather a lot of money, effort, and time. Additionally, in most cases, they ruin the reputation of the company making customers stop trusting it.

That’s why it’s better to just implement a VPN app into work-related processes by supplying each employee with one so that they use it when working remotely.

Educate your staff

It’s not enough to just give people some app and tell them that it’s necessary to use it. You need to explain all the whys and hows so that your employees are aware of potential risks and protective measures. The easiest way is to provide them with a cybersecurity course — you can find plenty of those online. Or you could hire a cybersecurity specialist to hold a lecture on how to protect one’s device from hackers.

When a person knows about all the risks, they understand the necessity of any protective measures you might want to implement. Therefore, the chances that your staff will actually use a VPN app when working remotely rise significantly. Which is an important thing because you can’t really control employees when they’re performing work tasks from home or elsewhere.

Also, remember that you’re the one who should provide the staff with a VPN app — don’t hope that they will get one by themselves.

A VPN app for personal use

While businesses need to protect their corporate data, regular users need to keep their personal information safe. Usually, hackers aim for private addresses, bank card information, logins and passwords, and other bits of personal data that would let them scam you. Malefactors can even spy on your activity to then send you personalized phishing emails to get some profit off you.

Use a VPN app in public places

Wireless networks in public spaces are rarely safe. Moreover, that hotspot you wanted to connect to might be fake — hackers create WiFi networks and name them after popular places that are located nearby. So once you connect to a fake or compromised hotspot, your device is exposed to malefactors. They can either steal data right away or place some malware to get profit later. If you use a VPN app, your IP remains hidden and data encrypted. It means, that even if hackers are waiting for a victim, they will see that someone is connected to a compromised network but they will lack information to do something to you.

So every time you want to use a public WiFi network, turn on your VPN first. And generally, stick to mobile data, especially if you need to perform some vulnerable activity such as log into your bank account or pay for something online.

Additional benefits

Besides keeping you safe, the iNinja VPN app will give you access to geo-restricted data as the website you access will think that you’re located wherever the VPN server you’re connected to is placed. Also, a VPN app can help speed up your internet connection if your internet service provider is throttling you. And finally, you generally remain more anonymous when you use a VPN. But remember that it won’t make you fully anonymous because your browser still shares cookies and fingerprints with websites you access.

5 reasons why your internet is slow and how to fix it

iNinja Marketing Team — Tue, 08 Jun 2021 15:13:37 GMT

Remember the times when we could make ourselves a nice cup of tea while a web page was loading? Ah, that familiar sound… But the days of dial-up are long gone, and we became very impatient since then. A web page that loads for longer than a couple of seconds? No, thanks. Easier to find what we are looking for elsewhere — on a site that loads quickly.

We’re used to a speedy internet connection, and we get annoyed with even a slight delay. Especially, when we’re streaming or playing online games. Did you ever lose because of high ping? Yeah, we feel your pain.

Sure, we could handle occasional speed drops. But when the internet connection is mostly slow — it becomes nearly impossible for us to perform work tasks (especially, since nowadays a lot of us work at home), play favorite games and watch shows, and even browse. The good news is that, in most cases, you can fix the issue. However, it might take some effort.

In this article, we will take a look at the most widely-spread reasons for slow speeds and interruptions and find solutions to them.

Reason #1 — Your provider doesn’t do a good job

Unfortunately, quite a lot of internet service providers don’t deliver the quality and speeds they promise in their ads. Trying to get as many clients as possible, they also try to save money on the hardware, software, and workforce. The results are expectable — servers can’t handle the load, and staff lacks resources to improve the performance of the hardware.

If that’s your case, you really can’t do anything about it. Try looking up what other clients of your provider say about the quality. And if many of them complain about speeds and interruptions — your ISP is to blame.

The only way to deal with this situation is to switch to another provider and hope that this one will be better.

Reason #2 — The cable matters

So, the internet is basically a net of cables that serve as highways for data. Continents are connected by large cables, and we get our piece of online goodness through smaller cables. The latter impact the quality of connection we have quite a bit. The fastest type is fiber optic cabling — it can deliver smooth connection and high speeds. Unfortunately, you can’t get this type of cable everywhere.

Find out what cable your internet service provider is using and upgrade to the fiber optic one if there is such an option. You will feel the difference once you do that. However, if your provider doesn’t offer fiber optic cabling, ask the tech support to just check the cable you have already for any issues — physical damage impacts the quality of your internet connection a lot.

Reason #3 — Your provider is throttling you

Are you playing online games, streaming, or performing some other traffic-heavy tasks a lot? Then your provider might be throttling you. It means that your ISP detects that you’re using an abnormally high amount of bandwidth and limits it for you so that you don’t eat into resources that are meant to be left for other users. Some would say that the provider is doing the right thing — there are other users. But it’s also isn’t fair to you, is it?

There are two solutions for this issue. The first one is to check if there are more advanced plans that would satisfy your needs for the internet connection. For example, you could get a higher speed if your internet service provider offers such an option. If it doesn’t or you’re already using a more expensive plan — the solution is to trick the provider since it tricks you.

To do that, you can use a VPN app to hide your activity from the internet service provider. The iNinja VPN app comes for all operating systems and is completely free. It will help you deal with your greedy ISP. If you can see that the speed goes up when you have the VPN on — your provider is definitely throttling you.

Reason #4 — Your router isn’t that good

Maybe it’s that your router simply doesn’t cover that much of a territory — therefore, you have a worse connection in that part of your home where you’re trying to enjoy your online activity. If that’s the case, you can try either moving the router closer to you or getting one of those wireless range extenders to quickly increase the coverage of your WiFi network.

Or maybe your router is outdated and it doesn’t support the speed your provider offers. As technology improves, ISPs can offer higher bandwidth. But if your router is years old and it was released when the slower speed was considered fast, it might just not be able to provide you the speed you’re supposed to have according to your pricing plan. In this case, you need to retire your loyal router and get a newer one.

Reason #5 — You’re using a VPN app

We always tell that our iNinja VPN doesn’t impact the speed much and it’s true. To some extent. As you might already know, VPNs offer several servers to connect to. They’re usually located in different countries so that users can choose the location they need. The farther away from you the VPN server is, the longer it will take for data to travel from your device to the VPN server and then to the destination server, and back. So if you don’t need to access geo-restricted content, and you don’t really care for the location of a VPN server, opt for the closest one. If your goal is to become more anonymous online, even connecting to the server that’s located in your country will do the job without messing with your speeds.

These are the simplest and most popular issues that cause delays during your online activities. If you went through all these reasons and none seems to be your case, check your device for malware and try updating drivers for your wireless adapter.

A look at post-Covid traveling: privacy concerns

iNinja Marketing Team — Fri, 28 May 2021 20:52:20 GMT

Fatigued by the pandemic and lockdowns, we hope for traveling to become a part of our life again. And despite that some countries are still dealing with lots of new cases and the vaccine is rolled out terribly unevenly, governments try to ease the restrictions.

Tourism hotspots are especially eager to speed up this process — Greece and Spain, for example, have already lifted quarantine requirements for travelers with a negative Covid test. And some countries that rely on tourists — Turkey and Egypt, for instance — didn’t implement many restrictions at all.

The United Kingdom along with Europe and some other countries mull vaccination documents — so-called Green Passports. These documents are supposed to simplify traveling and in most cases eliminate the need for a quarantine upon arrival. The United States already sees lots of new bookings for flights and hotels.

So overall, the vibe is way more positive now than it was a year ago. Everything that was happening back then feels now like a horrible nightmare — countries closing their borders, rescuing citizens stuck in other locations, limiting the movement of people, and so on. The fear and uncertainty made everyone accept these restrictions and questionable practices such as movement-tracking apps. But now, as people got tired of this situation, and the fear went away, we can take a clearer look at what’s going on. And the view we get is quite unsettling because it seems that traveling became more invasive.

That’s something we could expect as everything is digitized and interconnected. While digitization takes away the hassle and makes some things easier, it also negatively affects our privacy in most cases.

Health documents are digital

Most countries still want travelers to have negative Covid tests on their hands, even if they’re vaccinated. In the beginning, those few countries that allowed tourists accepted paper copies of test results. But as many travelers faked these documents, governments largely began requesting either test copies with a QR code or a digital version of the results.

Some countries now require tourists to fill in a form online and attach Covid test results to it before traveling. The test needs to be performed by an approved lab. This is done to speed up the check-up on the border and eliminate the risk that a person has a fake result.

The next level would be an app that contains all the info about the person’s vaccination and test results. A few countries and airlines already have their own version of such an app, and the European government is working on a digital health passport that would be suitable and accepted worldwide.

The ultimate goal of governments is to create technology that would track the whole process from the moment of the vaccine production to the moment of inoculation itself. Thus, they would be able to confirm that a person truly is vaccinated by a recognized vaccine.

Why is this situation dangerous to our privacy?

Yes, these measures will allow us to travel. But the issue is that there is no global standard when it comes to privacy, especially in the case of health passports. Each country and company work on their own apps which means different protocols and frameworks. Researchers and developers don’t have any standard they need to follow, and it’s unclear how such a messy process will result in a centralized and secure app people all around the world can use.

Most likely, there won’t be a single app. Instead, travelers will need to install different apps for different countries sharing personal data with each of them. Let alone the fact that it’s inconvenient. Since each app has its vulnerabilities that will be sooner or later discovered by malefactors, the more apps we have installed, the more prone to attacks we become. And we’re not even talking about the way sensitive data will be stored — which is a crucial detail, especially considering that this sensitive information will be duplicated across several storages because of multiple apps.

These issues leave personal data vulnerable to theft and violation.

We are left with merely a hope for someone to create a global standard and convince the whole world into following it. But so far, there are no guidelines for developers to stick to.

It doesn’t stop at traveling

Now countries and even airlines have different apps. But the proof of immunization and negative test results will most likely be required in other situations, too. For example, countries that lift restrictions allow large gatherings only for those who are fully vaccinated. The same requirement exists for those who want to go to a restaurant.

So what is waiting for us in the future? Separate apps for cinemas, sports events, concerts, and so on? The vast majority of those apps will be developed by some private company and not approved by any government. And will there be a need for approval? It means that we can’t be sure we can trust those apps our sensitive data.

The desire to return to our routines and normal lives shouldn’t make us forget about the safety of our personal data. Apps that work with such sensitive information as our health details should at least be open-source so that they can be reviewed by independent professionals. But unfortunately, we don’t have any understanding of how it all will work.
The biggest problem is that even the best VPN app and rigorous adherence to privacy-oriented rules won’t protect our data once we share it with an unreliable service. And all we can do is to be very picky about those future health proof applications. Hopefully, at some point health passports become centralized, and we won’t need to deal with a fear of our data getting stolen or mistreated. But so far, many people refuse to travel solely because of privacy and, of course, health concerns as the virus didn’t go away yet.

How to protect your online privacy in 2021 without much effort

iNinja Marketing Team — Wed, 19 May 2021 07:59:38 GMT

Often, users give up even the thought of doing something to stay safe because it seems to be a very difficult thing to do. But actually, it’s about several simple rules anyone can easily follow. One doesn’t need any hacker’s skills to protect themselves from malicious activity.

In this guide, we will go through very easy-to-do things you can do to reinforce your online security. If you implement even a few of them, you will drastically improve your safety.

Regularly update your software

Outdated operating systems and apps host quite a lot of known vulnerabilities. It’s not that developers create programs that are vulnerable on purpose. Any app will have something malefactors can use to hack it. So it’s only a matter of time when hackers figure out those weak points. Once they do, vulnerabilities become known, and developers fix them and release an update.

It’s a never-ending cycle and there is really no other way around. Yet, we hope. Until tech guys figure out a better way to deal with hackers, we need to keep our software updated to stay safe from malefactors.

You can either allow your device to update apps automatically or check for updates and install them manually at least once a week. And when your operating system tells you there is an update for it — make sure to install it as soon as possible.

Use a VPN app

A VPN app changes your IP address by rerouting your connection through VPN servers and encrypts the data you send and receive during your online session. Thus, it basically hides you from any prying eyes protecting your private information. The iNinja VPN app covers all devices and operating systems, and it’s free — so there is no reason for you to not use it. At no cost and a couple of clicks, iNinja will protect you online.

It’s especially important to use a VPN app when you’re connected to a public WiFi. Wireless networks in public spaces are seldom safe as no one cares about protecting them. Routers usually run on outdated — therefore, vulnerable — software and lack security measures. Moreover, hackers can create faux WiFi spots and name networks after nearby popular places. Once you’re connected to a compromised hotspot, malefactors can access your online activity and even get into your device to place malware and steal your data.

By using the iNinja VPN app, you will hide essential information hackers require to harm you. Then they will see that someone is connected but they won’t be able to mess with your activity and device.

Avoid working with sensitive information in public places

It’s better to not enter your credit card data and log into banking apps when you’re connected to a public WiFi for the reasons we’ve listed above. Even if you use a VPN app — the connection to a VPN server might get interrupted for a second. So just be a bit extra cautious here and either use mobile data to perform sensitive activities or just do it later when you’re home.

Use your GPS and Bluetooth only when necessary

Also, avoid sharing your location with apps and websites when it’s not really required. Your location can provide a lot of valuable information to hackers and marketers. And while the latter will just annoy you with ads, malefactors can use your location data to harm you in some way. Create a habit of turning off your GPS once you don’t need it anymore.

The same goes for Bluetooth. This feature allows other devices to connect to yours, which means hackers can do that to mess with your privacy. Either hide your device from others or keep Bluetooth off when you don’t use it.

Use strong and different passwords

This mantra stays in all security guides for years. Yet, the majority of users disregard this rule creating very simple passwords and using the same combination for all accounts. It’s fairly easy to brute-force a password, especially with artificial intelligence. And if you use the same combination for different services, all of them will get compromised if hackers find out a password to just one of your accounts.

Today there are numerous cheap password managers that will reliably protect your combinations allowing you to create different ones as you won’t have to remember them. Get such an app and have greater peace of mind at zero effort.

Be attentive to emails, messages, and website addresses

Phishing doesn’t go away. In fact, it becomes more advanced thanks to big data. Hackers can now create more personalized malicious messages and send them at the perfect time so that you have zero doubts about them.

For example, they could compromise one of the online stores you use. And once you make a purchase there, you will receive an email with a confirmation of your order and, maybe, a request for some of your details such as an address or credit card information. You will think that everything is okay because you just placed that order, and maybe something went wrong at that online store and they need additional information now. So you will share the requested data. But what you won’t notice is that the sender’s email and any included links have a slight typo in them. Let’s say, the shop’s name is “Hammer”, and you received an email from “Harnrner”. Will you actually pay attention to this?

So always double-check the sender’s names and links you’re about to click. Also, don’t download files sent to you by unknown users via email or in messengers.

Don’t be so eager to participate in online contests and surveys

Sure, brands use contests to attract more people. But if you’re not confident about the host of the contest, or the prize isn’t that valuable — better stay away from it. Even if all you need to share is your email address or you just need to leave a comment under a post, in the best-case scenario, marketers will use this information to send you ads. And you never know who actually hosts that contest or who is watching over the comments to find a victim.

The same goes for surveys, especially if they request some personal data. The rule here is simple — the less information you share online, the fewer chances you have to become a victim of some fraud.

Maybe you shouldn’t accept all cookies

Cookies make the browsing experience smoother, but they also give away your data to the website you’re attending. This helps marketers show you more personalized ads. But also, hackers can use cookies to stuff your browser with trackers that will then pass data about your activity to them.

If you’re not sure that you will ever attend this website again, don’t accept cookies. Also, wipe your cookies from time to time.

Use secure messaging apps

Facebook has proven itself unreliable multiple times. So quite obviously, we can’t trust Messenger. WhatsApp belongs to Facebooks, as well as Instagram — it means, these apps are out, too. Telegram allows you to encrypt your chats which is a very useful feature. And Viber can be somewhat safe if you stay careful in group chats that aren’t encrypted.

Stick to HTTPS sites

HTTPS indicates that a website has an SSL certificate, thus, the data you share with it and your activity is encrypted. You can notice that there is a lock icon near the URL in your browser. When it’s locked, it means a website is secure. When it’s not — the site isn’t safe. Additionally, Google will usually warn you about an unprotected website as you try accessing one. Stay away from such sites, especially if you need to enter any of your data on them.

Don’t overshare

It’s fun to share your life with people on social media. But unless your account is closed for anyone who isn’t following you, anyone can see your activity. Photos and thoughts you share can become a rather rich source of private information to hackers. There are cases when people shared their vacation photos while being away from home, and that told thieves that the house is left unattended. So those people returned back home to discover that they were robbed.

The less information you share online, the safer you stay — remember this rule.

Log out of accounts if you use someone’s device

If you had to use someone else’s computer or phone to log into any of your accounts, make sure you log out before returning the device. While you could trust this person, you never really know their habits. It’s safer to do this extra step.
As you can see, these tips are very easy to implement in life even if you’re not very tech-savvy. By following them and using the free iNinja VPN app, you will reinforce your online security and protect your privacy while not really doing much.

Guide: how to reliably protect your phone from all digital threats

iNinja Marketing Team — Tue, 11 May 2021 11:04:57 GMT

We usually pay a lot of attention to the security of our computers merely because we’re used to having an antivirus installed and performing scans. But that’s not something we’re used to doing when it comes to our phones. And that’s quite a strange thing considering that we carry our mobile devices around thus exposing them to more potential threats.

That’s why we’ve decided to compose a complete guide that would provide you with the list of all actions you should take to protect your phone from any digital threats out there.

Starting with the simplest things

In this section, we’re taking a look at the most effortless and important things you can do.

Always have your device locked

Sure, you turn off your screen when you put your phone in the pocket or the bag. But that’s not enough. The screen needs to be locked with a specific passcode, pattern, or any other thing your phone offers. For example, you could unlock your phone with your fingerprint or your face scan. By adding a requirement for unlocking you will secure all the sensitive data you have on your phone just a little bit.

Set the lowest possible time duration for your screen to turn off when the phone is idle. And have a habit of locking your device manually when you put it away. It’s a very simple thing to do but it will significantly improve the safety of your phone.

Use a VPN app

iNinja VPN will encrypt your data protecting it from malefactors when you’re connected to public WiFi. The thing is that public wireless networks are rarely safe as no one secures routers and updates the software. Therefore, routers in public places have a lot of vulnerabilities hackers exploit to get into devices connected to the WiFi.
By using a VPN app, you will basically hide your phone from prying eyes. If any hackers are waiting for their victim, they will see that someone is connected to the public router but they will lack data to get into your device. So install a free iNinja VPN app to reinforce your security without much hassle.

Check data apps want to access

Ideally, all your apps should have access to as little data as possible. So always be attentive when installing a new application and allowing it to access features it requests. Also, download apps from official stores since they’re verified and there are fewer chances that you’ll install a malicious program. And stick to widely-used apps that are approved by users.

When a new app is installed and it begins its setup process, carefully think over all the features it wants to have access to. Often, at this point, you can understand whether an application is malicious. For example, if a photo editor asks for access to your microphone — that’s quite a red flag.

If you think that you didn’t pay app permissions enough attention before, take your time to go to your phone settings. Find a section with installed apps and review all the permissions your installed programs have.

It’s also useful to review installed apps aiming to find unnecessary ones. Generally, the fewer apps you install, the fewer vulnerabilities your phone has. So don’t hesitate to delete unused programs.

Use an antivirus

All the widely-known antivirus providers offer apps for mobile devices, too. You can just stick to the same program you have installed on your computer.

It’s necessary to have your phone protected by an antivirus because there is a lot of malicious software for portable devices. And regardless of the operating system your gadget uses, there will be malware for it.

Malicious software can steal your sensitive data, create a gateway to your device for hackers, or lock it demanding a ransom. If you’re not sure whether your phone is clean from malware or not, perform a factory reset to eliminate possible threats.

Keep your bluetooth off

Malefactors can use your bluetooth to gain access to your device and track you. So it’s better to leave it off when you’re not using it. And if you need bluetooth for your wireless earbuds or other devices, hide your phone from other users in the bluetooth settings.

Don’t allow automatic WiFi connections

By default, your phone looks for available hotspots and connects to ones that either have no password or you’ve used before and the password is already saved. While it can be convenient, it’s better to turn off this feature because it might make you connect to a compromised or malicious network.

Avoid rooting or jailbreaking

It can be a useful and fun thing to do but rooting and jailbreaking removes security features that were there by default. Then your phone won’t be able to prevent apps from accessing sensitive data.

Be mindful about backups

Remember that backups are stored in the cloud which can be hacked. So when you’re backing up your sensitive data such as messages or private media, you expose them to a potential threat. Only back up sensitive information if you’re sure that this data will be encrypted and safe in the storage.

Use two-factor authentication

If there is multi-factor authentication — use it. Passwords are fairly easy to compromise and let’s be honest, most of us don’t follow the rules of a good password: create complex combinations, create different combinations for each service, and so on. So two-factor authentication is a very useful thing as it minimizes the chances that someone can break into your accounts.

Charge with your own cable in public places

And in general, just avoid charging your phone in public places. The thing is that the charging cable is basically the same cable used to transfer data from and to your device. While a regular electrical outlet is most likely fine, the USB one could connect your phone to some computer exposing it to hackers while you charge it. So it’s better to use a power bank or, in the worst-case scenario, a regular outlet if you need to charge your phone in a public place.

All you need to know about public WiFis

We’ve already mentioned that public wireless networks are rarely safe. But since we all tend to connect to them rather often, we should pay more attention to public WiFis and your safety when using them.

How do hackers identify devices?

They usually use MAC addresses devices share with a router when they’re connected to it. Each gadget has a unique MAC address, and a WiFi network uses it to identify returning users. Obviously, this feature can be used by hackers to identify your device and compromise your safety.

All mobile operating systems are vulnerable to this thread. Even though beginning with iOS 8, iOS-based devices broadcast fake random MAC addresses, they do this only when looking for new WiFi spots. Once the gadget is connected to a network, it shares a real MAC address.

Routers see your transferred data

It means that they can see which websites you access and the information you share. Obviously, if routers receive this data, hackers can access it, too. That’s why we advise using the iNinja VPN app — it will encrypt your data and hide your activity from prying eyes. It will protect traffic that’s incoming and outcoming from all your apps.

WiFi networks can be fake

Malefactors tend to create fake WiFi spots and name them after popular places located nearby. For example, that “McDonalds_Guests” network you found near a Mcdonald's might be not the one actually owned by this fast-food restaurant but placed there by hackers. And once you connect to it, you expose yourself to malefactors. That’s why we advise either using iNinja VPN every time you connect to a public WiFi or avoiding using public wireless networks at all. The least you can do is to ask staff to tell you the exact name of their network so that you don’t connect to a malicious one.

WiFi in public spaces helps marketers

Not something one would think of, right? We are mainly focused on our protection against malefactors in our articles. But we also shouldn’t forget that businesses can tap into our data, too, so that they could use it for their profit.

Did you ever receive ads for shops that you just passed by and never were interested in? That might’ve happened because you were connected to a mall’s WiFi network, for example. Administrators of this network can track your location and even source your social media data such as your name. While they won’t use it to harm you in some way, you will most likely get bombarded by various ads of shops and goods found in that mall.

The bottom line

Sure, we can’t really stay anonymous if we own SIM cards and use the internet. Well, we could, but it would require a lot of effort and take up a huge part of our daily routines. It’s way more viable to set the goals of staying safe from malefactors and reducing the amount of data marketers can source from you. Both things can be achieved with the help of the tips we’ve provided in this guide.
In addition to everything we’ve said, we want to remind you to stay away from malicious sites and watch out for phishing emails, messages, SMS, websites, and links. Always double-check the name of a sender, the address of the website, and don’t accept files from unknown users. And remember to use the free iNinja VPN app for Android and iOS to improve your anonymity.

Check how your country gathers biometric data

iNinja Marketing Team — Mon, 03 May 2021 15:40:43 GMT

Biometric data, by all means, can make our lives easier in some way. For example, it already simplifies and speeds up the security check-up in airports. Also, governments can protect us better by using this data since it makes detecting criminals and suspects much more straightforward.

However, it is unsettling for many people to know that their government has their biometric data such as fingerprints, retina scans, and even voice samples. Moreover, there already have been cases when the use of biometric data had negative results. For instance, a couple of years ago a wrong person was arrested because of the use of biometrics.

So it doesn’t come as a surprise that the discontent is rising. Especially considering that some countries start to violate biometrics by establishing extensive surveillance that is rather questionable in terms of human rights. And the fact that civilians can gather biometrics, too, doesn’t make the situation better — it gets even worse when the data of underage children get collected without the consent of parents.

Now, knowing all those issues, let’s take a look at how countries around the world use biometric data.

The United States

Starting with the USA, we can already see how biometrics are extensively used.

The use cases for biometric data

Passports
ID cards
Voter registration
Bank accounts

The biometrics of US citizens are used already for a few years. Even banks use voiceprints to confirm the identity of a client during authentication. Visitors to the States also must submit biometric data such as fingerprints and a digital photo.

Are there any regulations?

Well, not really. There isn’t any federal law that would’ve covered all the details regarding the use and collection of biometric data in the USA. Some states are introducing biometrics privacy laws that regulate the depth and necessity of data gathering. And tech giants such as Apple, Facebook, Google, and Microsoft regulate themselves when it comes to this matter.

In the light of all that, the fact that the Department of Homeland Security plans to collect more types of biometrics of people that submit applications to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services becomes even more disturbing. It will be a must to submit DNA for the proof of a genetic relationship, palm prints, voiceprints, and iris scans.

Australia

The use cases for biometric data

Passports
ID cards
Bank accounts

Visitors and returning citizens of Australia can prove their identities with biometrics since 2007 thanks to SmartGate — a border control self-service system. They need to have biometric passports and go through a face-recognition scan.

The new system, introduced in 2020, will now use facial images and fingerprints to process applications for visas and speed up border control.

Are there any regulations?

The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner regulates biometrics as sensitive information that must be used for identification needs and national security only. Citizens that feel violated by the use of this data can turn to OAIC to make a complaint.

China

Moving to the most controversial country when it comes to surveillance.

The use cases for biometric data

Passports
ID cards
Bank accounts

China is not shy of using biometrics. People that visit this country must submit their photos and fingerprints. And the biometric data of Chinese citizens are already in use.

Popular payment systems — Alipay and WeChat Pay — are widely used in this country as around 75% of Chinese citizens use digital payments. These systems require biometric authentication to process payments.

In general, China’s biometric database is one of the largest in the world.

What are the consequences?

Have you noticed how we didn’t even mention regulations? Yeah, that’s a bold hint. The mass surveillance system of China is called Skynet — quite an unsettling name for The Terminator fans. It uses more than 200 million cameras that track people and vehicles through biometric data such as facial recognition and physical traits. Skynet can track and identify individuals at all times.

And since early 2020, citizens that want to get a new mobile phone number must submit facial scans.

Finland

The use cases for biometric data

Passports
ID cards
Bank accounts

Quite a lot of Finnish citizens have their biometrics such as DNA and fingerprints stored in databases. In 2020, one of the largest banks in Finland — OP Financial Group — introduces a biometric bank card that allows authorizing payments with fingerprints.

When it comes to visiting Finland, it depends on what country you’re coming from. Some visitors will have to submit a photo and fingerprints.

Are there any regulations?

So far, the allowance for the use of biometrics in Finland is limited to stopping crime and banking-related matters described above. Finnish police and customs can use facial recognition to identify criminals and suspects.

Sri Lanka

The use cases for biometric data

Passports
ID cards
Bank accounts

Biometrics is a quite recent technology for Sri Lanka. It started being in use with the introduction of an e-National Identity Card that must replace the current identity card.

Some visitors must submit their photos and fingerprints when entering Sri Lanka. The need for this data is determined by the country a person is coming from.

Are there any regulations?

For now, there is a law to create a national digital database to release new identity cards. There are no regulations regarding the privacy of individuals. Data required for identity cards include fingerprints and will be used to issue passports and licenses, control and pay tax, and vote.

Costa Rica

The use cases for biometric data

Passports
ID cards

The use of biometrics for passports and ID cards is still just being implemented as Costa Rica only recently started issuing ePassports.

Depending on the country you come from to visit Costa Rica, you might be required to submit your photo and fingerprints.

Are there any regulations?

The use of biometrics in Costa Rica is a very new practice. The country was working for years to develop its Supreme Electoral Tribunal that includes building a national biometric database and the introduction of biometric-based ID cards. The facial recognition system also was proposed.

These actions are aimed at protecting citizens and reducing crime. Soon, Costa Rica is supposed to use biometrics rather extensively.

Pakistan

The use cases for biometric data

Passports
ID cards
Bank accounts

Depending on the country you come from to visit Pakistan, you might be required to submit your photo and fingerprints.

Are there any regulations?

Since late 2020, Pakistani customs use biometrics to identify visitors and retuning citizens for security reasons. So far, this technology is very new for this country, and its use is not regulated much. But there already have been issues with authentication as thousands of Pakistani citizens couldn’t identify themselves correctly with the National Database and Registration Authority. Then needed to authenticate to receive relief funding during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Estonia

The use cases for biometric data

Passports
ID cards
Bank accounts

Being one of the most digitized countries in the world, Estonia has most of its governmental services available online. Therefore, the vast majority of citizens of this country have their sensitive data stored by the government. There isn’t any central database, and all the data is reliably protected.

Depending on the country you come from to visit Estonia, you might be required to submit your photo and fingerprints.

Are there any regulations?

Estonian government fiercely safeguards all the gathered information, and that’s already not bad. Especially considering the vast use of biometrics. The identity card of Estonia allows citizens to use it for banking, filing taxes, traveling to other countries and on public transport, and voting. There have been issues with it as a previous version was vulnerable to cyberattacks.

And since 2014, Estonia offers an e-Residency program that allows citizens from other countries to start businesses in Estonia. Foreigners can establish and grow an online company remotely from any country. They must submit their photos and fingerprints to be eligible for this program.

Uruguay

The use cases for biometric data

Passports
ID cards
Bank accounts

Uruguay began issuing biometric eID cards just in 2014, so it’s a rather new technology for this country. Additionally, the biometrics of citizens are gathered during voting at polling stations.

Visitors from some countries must submit their fingerprints and photos.

What are the benefits?

Since 2019, bank customers can authenticate their identities through facial recognition. They can access their account with a mobile or desktop device using their selfie.

Malta

The use cases for biometric data

Passports
ID cards
Bank accounts

Visitors from some countries must submit their fingerprints and photos.

Biometrics are new to Malta

Just in August of 2020, the government of Malta announced a biometric identity card. It will be issued for citizens that have applied for it, and there won’t be a national rollout. The new ID card is supposed to protect citizens from identity theft and forgery.

Malta has a biometric database that contains just fingerprints of criminals, suspects, and those found on crime scenes. The data is available only to the Maltese Police Force.

The outtakesAs you can see, countries around the world start quite extensively using biometrics. And the lack of regulations is rather concerning. While you can’t really protect your data once it’s gathered — only a government can take care of it — you still can strengthen your security against malefactors. You can use a VPN app to hide your online activity and reduce the risk of your sensitive data getting stolen through unprotected WiFi networks and other vulnerabilities. The iNinja VPN app will protect your Android, iOS, and desktop devices without limiting your bandwidth.

Why should you use VPN when connected to a public WiFi?

iNinja Marketing Team — Wed, 28 Apr 2021 11:17:39 GMT

You must’ve heard about the importance of a VPN app and that you should use it when your device is connected to a public WiFi network. But why exactly should you do that? And how can you suffer from staying unprotected while using a public wireless network? In this article, we will shed some light on these questions.

Why aren’t public WiFis safe?

Routers in public places are rarely safeguarded from hacker attacks. They lack updated software, and often, they lack additional protection required for routers that are available for lots of strangers. Why doesn’t anyone take care of it? Simply because it’s just another thing to worry about, and the priority is to provide people in this public place with access to the internet. So once that done, usually no one can be bothered with anything related to the router and the network — unless something happens.

Therefore, public networks are highly vulnerable to attacks. And once hackers have access to the router, they also have access to all the devices that are connected to it. It’s a piece of cake to get into a device that is using a hijacked router. Then malefactors can basically do whatever they want with the gadget and the information stored on it.

It means hackers can inject malware to get some profit later or steal your data right away. Usually, they aim for emails, bank card details, passwords, addresses, and personal media they could use to blackmail people.

Additionally, malefactors can monitor the online activity of all users connected to a vulnerable router. By doing so, they might sniff out more information that could be valuable to them. Also, they can infect all the devices at once with malware for continuous access to gadgets.

So, as you can see, it’s quite dangerous to connect to public WiFis. Another thing that makes them potentially threatening is that you never know if it’s really a network owned by a public place. For example, hackers can intentionally set up networks called, for example, “Starbucks_free_wifi” near a Starbucks. Can you guess if that’s a WiFi established by malefactors? We doubt that.

Finally, don’t forget that the owner of a public WiFi can see your online activity — from the websites you used to people you talked to via messages or calls.

Therefore, the best thing to do would be to avoid connecting to public networks altogether. You can use mobile data to browse from your phone and turn your smartphone into an access point if you need to access the Internet from your laptop. However, sometimes we have no other choice than to connect to a public WiFi. Then we need to protect ourselves.

How does a VPN app protect you from all this?

A VPN app acts as an additional layer between you and any malefactors that are waiting for their victims by encrypting and rerouting your traffic through VPN servers. iNinja is a free VPN app that will protect you from snooping and hijacks without you even noticing any difference. Here are the reasons to trust iNinja your security:

iNinja doesn’t record details about your activity. This VPN app is compliant with all privacy regulations and gathers only the information required for the service to work properly and to comply with the law.

It’s easy to install and use. The iNinja VPN is extremely straightforward. There are no complex settings. Just choose the country you want and connect to a server located there. That’s it!

Strong encryption. We use 128-bit SSL to protect your data.

Unlimited server switches. Switch between countries as much as you like.

No speed limits. iNinja doesn’t impact the bandwidth much, so you won’t notice any difference when the VPN app is on.

Different countries. Choose between 8 locations to pick the country you want.

Covers all devices. iNinja is a free VPN for Android, iOS, Windows, and iMac devices.

No costs. All these benefits come for free!

24/7 support. We’re there when you need help.

We’ve started this article with the intention to outline reasons for you to use a VPN app when connected to public WiFis. And at this point, we honestly can’t find any reasons not to use it. Can you?

Additional tips to stay safe in public places

You can do more to protect yourself besides using a VPN. These simple tips will help you shield your data and device.

Don’t allow automatic connections

Usually, portable devices connect to available WiFi networks by default. Disable this feature because otherwise, your gadget might connect to a dangerous network without you even realizing it.

Think before connecting

Before you connect to a public network, think if you really need it. Could you use your mobile data instead? If not, it’s better to ask staff for the name of a network to be sure you’ll not connect to the WiFi that belongs to hackers.

Mind your activity

If you had to connect to a public network, avoid performing any sensitive actions. For example, don’t do online shopping as it could expose your bank card details. Avoid signing into your personal accounts so that login details remain intact. And don’t share sensitive information via messages or calls while you’re connected to a public WiFi.

Turn off file sharing and use an antivirus

If you have file sharing enabled because you use it at home, turn this feature off in public places. Also, keep your firewall on and use an antivirus program to protect your device from getting infected.
As you can see, it’s fairly easy to protect your gadget and data from malefactors in public places. Use our tips and our iNinja VPN app to always be safeguarded from any threats that might be waiting for you online.

Ininja.org free VPN for any device

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