Online security is becoming a bigger issue than ever, as 2016 seemingly brought one of the worst years ever when it comes to staying secure and private online. 2017 is not promising to be any better, considering increasingly restrictive surveillance laws are being passed around the world and authoritarian regimes are increasingly censoring the Internet.
When it comes to using public Wi-Fi, and especially managing financial transactions, it’s known that it’s not safe to use one’s credit card or to disclose any other personal information. For example, it has been shown that a Visa credit card can be hacked online in 6 seconds. Using cryptocurrency helps users stay anonymous to some extent– but what are the other ways to remain completely invisible online?
NordVPN, a Virtual Private Network service provider, identifies five key services that could significantly enhance your online anonymity and security.
Bitcoin. Bitcoin is a decentralized currency that does not belong to any country – just its user. And when it comes to security, it’s hard to beat it. Bitcoin online transactions are conducted without disclosing any personal financial information. When it comes to privacy, it’s certainly reassuring that no one can trace who is the owner of a certain bitcoin account. However, not all merchants accept bitcoin. In those cases when using a credit/debit card is the only option – extra security steps should be taken. Using strong passwords and updating them often, ensuring the websites are trusted (double check for https), being wary of any suspicious redirects and using trusted encryption services (i.e. VPN service) to protect one’s Internet traffic are bare minimum.
Encrypted Email. While bitcoin is great for financial transactions online, it’s advisable to stay private while conducting any other activities – such as emailing. Emails might also contain some private and sensitive information, which could be easily intercepted by hackers or any unwanted snoopers. The solution is to use one of the encrypted email services. There are a few good examples, including Tutanota, or the Gmail-like ProtonMail that offer an automatic end-to-end encryption, and no personal information is required to create a secure email account.
Encrypted Messaging. Everybody uses their mobile devices for instant messaging – but how safe are regular communication apps? For example, WhatsApp has received some harsh criticism for tracing user chats even after their deletion. Signal, on the other hand, is an encrypted messaging and voice calling app that provides end-to-end encryption by default to secure all communications. The app can also verify the identity of people one is messaging with and the integrity of the channel they are using. When texting with non-Signal users, one has an option to invite them to an encrypted conversation via Signal.
PGP (Pretty Good Privacy). If a user is looking for an advanced option to secure their communication and personal files, it might be wise to turn to PGP, which is actually one of the most popular encryption softwares used worldwide. OpenPGP is used to encrypt data and create digital signatures and could be used to encrypt your personal files or to exchange encrypted communication. It protects all communication with a digital signature and is available for all operating platforms.
VPN (Virtual Private Network). Anyone who is taking their online security and privacy seriously, will use a VPN – a Virtual Private Network. A VPN encrypts all user’s Internet data into a secure tunnel and creates a secure connection between one’s device and a VPN server. All the information traveling between the user’s Internet-enabled device and the secure server remains invisible to any third party. Those who want a guaranteed protection, will be disappointed that not all VPNs accept bitcoin as method of payment – but there are a few that do. NordVPN, for example, allows to pay by bitcoin and, most importantly, does not store any logs. It also offers an option to encrypt all the data twice for extra safety, which is a rare feature for a VPN. A helpful kill-switch feature allows a user to select Internet programs that would be terminated if the Internet connection dropped for any reason, to make sure that no unprotected Internet activity was exposed. Privacy issues have taken another shape completely over the past year. 31% of Internet users used a VPN in 2016, and VPNs will be increasingly popular in 2017 as online security issues grow to monumental proportions.
In addition to these super tough security measures, anonymity-minded Internet users should be more vigilant, use extra caution when sharing information or opening messages from unknown recipients, while making sure that their device’s Firewall is turned on and a reliable anti-virus program is installed and kept up to date.
Rogers Botches A Customer Service Interaction, Then Rescues It In The Nick Of Time
Posted in Commentary with tags Rogers on January 16, 2017 by itnerdI have been covering Rogers for years, and I am sometimes amazed at the sort of things that Rogers does to upset their customer base. But this one truly has me picking my jaw off the ground. I was pointed towards a post on DSLReports.com where a Rogers customer wanted to give the telco more of his money by upgrading his Internet package. So he phoned to do so. But things went sideways when the telco insisted on a PIN number that he had and had never had.
-Fast-forward to November 2016 and I called Rogers on the phone to upgrade my internet to “Ignite 100”. After 17 years they asked me for a “pin number”. What pin number? Nobody has ever called me from Rogers to tell me to create one and for all these years I have never been asked for a pin number. The Rogers CSR on the phone told me he could not do anything about it if I didn’t have my pin and basically told me to take a hike.
-I called Rogers again and they gave me the same story “Can’t do anything if you don’t have a pin”, when I asked them when did they told me to create a pin they did not have an answer, they just told me that “everybody had one”. No incompetent Rogers CSR on the phone knew when this pin idea had been enacted nor how did customers gave them their created pins.
-I called Rogers a 3rd time and this time the CSR on the phone told me that the account was not under my name but under my mother’s name!! And that he could not proceed any further because it was someone else’s account. God knows how in hell Rogers mixed my mother with my account (My Mom has had rogers cellphones in the past and we both live in the same address). The CSR told us to go to a Rogers store with our ID’s and to straighten things out.
No problem he thought after trying to resolve this over the phone. He figured that he would go into a store and get this sorted. Here’s what happened next:
-I arrived at a Rogers store with my Mom with both our ID’s on hand and the gentlemen there (named Ben) called Rogers headquaters from the store phone. The CSR on the phone again asked for a “pin”. Ben told him that we didn’t have a pin but that we were both there with our ID’s to resolve the matter. The CSR told Ben that without a pin he “could not go any further”. Can you guys grasp the amount of stupidity by Rogers here?? Ben again informed the CSR that we were there to resolve exactly that matter in person with our driver’s licences in our hands. The CSR on the phone then asked what was my birthdate. Told him and he said “Sorry the birthdate on the account does not match with the birthdate you are giving me”. He then talked to Ben and basically told him that he could not verify nor go any further with me because I was unable to give him my correct birthdate. You idiot, I’m standing there in person with my driver’s licence and health card but you cannot verify me because you have a wrong birthdate on your computer?
-At this point I just gave up and told Ben to tell the CSR to cancel my service and that I would go with Teksavvy. The CSR told Ben that he could not cancel my service until I told him the pin number and the correct birthdate.
-You guys are NOT going to believe this. This moron CSR told Ben that he could not do anything for me because he could not personally see me to match the pic on the driver’s licence with my face. Even the Rogers store employee Ben was shocked at this and told him “But I’m looking at him, he is in front of me and I have his licence in my hands” and gave the CSR the store number ID. The CSR told Ben that even though he could verify me, he himself could not and basically just said goodbye and hanged up.
-At this point I turned my phone camera “on” and started recording so I would have proof that Rogers had refused to cancel my service because I planned on blocking my credit card and filmed just in case they would send me to collections.
-Then out of thin air an excellent Rogers employee by the name of “Luca” came over and asked what was happening and I told him that Rogers would not cancel my service nor acknowledge me even though I had 2 ID’s with me. This guy said “Okay I will fix this, don’t know what Rogers problem is” and with a few clicks of the keyboard gave me what I wanted, he told me “Don’t know what the problem was, you have ID, so there should had not been a problem to begin with”. And that was that, Luca gave me another modem for my Ignite 100 and sent me out the door very happy.
I’ll let you watch the video:
Now I am guessing that some of this whole episode is a side effect of that infamous Rogers lawsuit from a few years ago. And I completely understand that they have to protect their customer’s personal info. But this really does scream of incompetence when someone walks into a store with ID to work with a Rogers employee and they still get this treatment. Clearly Rogers yet again has some work to do on the customer service front as this seriously went sideways.
UPDATE: It only took ten minutes, but I have received e-mails from Rogers customers who have had similar experiences with being asked for a PIN that they never set up. Clearly Rogers has an issue here that they need to get sorted as it is clearly ticking off their customer base.
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