The Cocoon Blog
The Internet as it should be: private, secure and virus free

How many apps have access to your information on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google+ or LinkedIn? How many social media apps do your children use?

Not all app developers are created equal! There are developers that create apps that can access too much profile information and also post malicious links to your Facebook wall and spam friends and family. Some of these bad apps go viral and can compromise your Internet privacy and security too.

According to ZDNet, malicious hackers recently began selling $25.00 do-it-yourself  toolkits to anyone interested in creating and distributing dangerous Facebook applications.

The do-it-yourself toolkit offers a template for spreading malware, directing users to click-fraud accounts and for pushing Facebook users to bogus surveys to hijack personal information.--ZDNet

MyPermissions.org is a service that will help you get a grip on app permissions and assist you in pulling the plug on the bad ones. Take control of your social media apps before they take control of you…

Society has an obligation to protect our children and online safety for children should be a priority. We need a three-pronged approach to address this issue: policy changes; industry self-regulation; and more parental tools, monitoring and education. –Vernon Irvin, President and COO, Virtual World Computing | Huffington Post

The following Infographic from FrugalDad gives timely advice on web safety. Taking the time to read site privacy policies prior to signing up for a web service and using strong passwords top the list of precautions that everyone should take when surfing the web.

Commonsensemedia.org

February 7, 2012 is “call to action day” to protect our children’s online privacy.  Our kids should have a fundamental right to online privacy, they should not be targeted by behavioral marketing and the standard should be opt-in.

 Society has an obligation to protect our children and online safety for children should be a priority. We need a three-pronged approach to address this issue: policy changes; industry self-regulation; and more parental tools, monitoring and education. –Vernon Irvin | President & COO of Virtual World Computing

Take Action on February 7, 2012 
Join Common Sense Media today as they advocate for kids rights to online privacy in a digital world. They will be hosting a non-profit chat about kid’s issues in the presidential election on Twitter today at 11:00 am PST #kidsprez. For more information about this issue, read “Protecting Our Kids’ Privacy in a Digital World.”

Most kids today live their lives online, immersed in a mobile and digital landscape. This brave new world has revolutionized childhood. Kids and teens now create and consume enormous amounts of online and mobile content. Their access to people and information presents both possibilities and problems. While the Internet is a platform for innovation and economic growth and brings rich resources for entertainment and learning, the very nature of digital interaction creates deep concerns about kids’ privacy. –Common Sense Media

For more information about how you can help to protect kids digital privacy be sure to visit Common Sense Media today!

Cocoon Beta is now available for Internet Explorer exclusively from CNET downloads today!

Cocoon Internet Explorer offers the same protection that our Firefox version offers:

1- Antivirus scanning of downloads
2- Encrypted browsing history
3-IP address anonymising
4-Malware blocking
5-On-the-fly disposable e-mail addresses
6-Secure public Wi-Fi

Internet Explorer users can easily download the free plug-in, which instantly provides users with greater privacy protection, security and convenience when surfing the Web. Cocoon works by securely connecting over any network to Cocoon’s servers, providing enterprise-grade virus protection and encrypting all interactions preventing “man in the middle attacks.”

Your privacy is protected because websites and advertisers only see Cocoon servers, hiding your unique IP address and preventing your online activity from being tracked by cookies. Unlike traditional anti-virus software, Cocoon prevents malicious software and virus downloads by instantly scanning files for viruses before they reach your computer.

Download Cocoon IE from CNET Downloads Today!

The Cocoon Team

by Brian J. Fox, Co-founder & CTO, Cocoon

On International Data Privacy Day it’s appropriate to ask ourselves, are we too connected? I used to own just my laptop and my cell phone, and that was good enough. Now, I’ve got a plethora of devices, and every one of them is connected to the Internet. I’ve got Facebook on my TV and phone, I’ve got Google Voice on my laptop and tablet, I have photo stream and GPS on my camera and my iPod. I even have Internet radio on my desktop and in my car.

As these new devices allow us to become ever more connected to the world, the opportunity for access to personal information is also increased. 

The demand for (and availability of) all these devices has made Internet privacy and security one of the most pressing issues facing us this year. While several bills have been introduced to address the issue – Do Not Track Kids and Do Not Track, for instance – this is baseline legislation that cannot keep up with the technologies that allow for more and more sophisticated tracking. It is the private sector that is coming up with the solutions that allow consumers to control how much information they share and how to keep their devices and networks secure.

I don’t think we need to choose between the convenience of these devices and privacy…consumers just need to know about the tools such as Cocoon now available in the marketplace that can keep their data secure and their personal information private.

Mikko Hypponen, Chief Research Officer of F-Secure is a leading global cybercrime expert. In this video Mikko briefly discusses three types of online attack:

1. Cybercriminals
2. Hacktivists
3. Governments

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is also gathering information on what printers may be revealing and exploring privacy implications of this technology.

“In a purported effort to identify counterfeiters the US government has succeeded in persuading some color laser printer manufacturers to encode each page with identifying information. That means that without your knowledge or consent an act you assume is private could become public. A communication tool you’re using in everyday life could become a tool for government surveillance. And what’s worse there are no laws to prevent abuse.”  -EFF

 

At Cocoon, we appreciate and support all efforts against SOPA. Thousands of Cocoon’s users rely on the Cocoon Service to contend with some of the most brutal dictatorships on Earth to exercise their freedom of speech. We encourage everyone to speak out against SOPA to protect free speech and privacy online. Below are links you can forward to friends with educational info as well as opportunities to send messages to Congress.

More info about SOPA/PIPA and how you can help stop the bills:

• Learn more about SOPA – watch this video
• Change your profile picture to protest SOPA
• Write to Congress to kill these bills

Our free web-service is doing some very cool stuff…

You can now be totally safe on open WiFi networks, you will no longer be tracked by every website you go to, AND you don’t have to worry about getting viruses online no matter where you browse.

And you get unlimited email addresses for anything you have to sign up for. That means that you can put an end to spam just by throwing away your inbox.

It’s gotten some great reviews: 

Lifehacker: “Cocoon wraps up all those privacy features into one simple add-on”

CNET: “Cocoon looks like a serious contender for one of the best add-ons of the year”

–The Cocoon Team

Airports, restaurants, coffee shops, businesses, dentists, libraries and even public parks offer public access to Wi-Fi for free. Surfing unsecured hotspots can open your data pipeline to some very unsavory characters.  Whether you use it for convenience or because there is no other Internet connection available — the bad guys still have all kinds of tools to gather and steal information from you.

In a recent Cyber-scary contest that we featured in mid November one of our entrants realized that the hotel that they stayed at in Las Vegas did not even have a public Wi-Fi connection available! But her husband was able to easily connect to a rogue Wi-Fi hotspot to enter his credit card information:

“Haven’t been on vacation in 20 years…… We get to our hotel in Vegas. First thing my husband does is, to try to go online, to check his work email. He gets a wireless signal called Luxorhotel_guest. Clicks on it, and enters in our credit card information. We then find out that the LUXOR only offers wired internet service! GREAT!”

At Virtual World Computing, we offer free cloud-based “Cocoon” security software that automatically encrypts unsecured Wi-Fi communications. While logged into Cocoon, all your online activities beccome routed through our “secure tunnel” to a safe server that blocks the bad guys from getting to your data. You won’t have to spend your time worrying about online banking or stolen credit card information, because we keep the bad guys away.

Cocoon Features:

• Creates a virtual firewall that keeps the bad guys away from your computer.
• Provides antivirus protection; Cocoon will alert you and stop harmful or malicious files from downloading to your computer.
• Protects your personal information and activity by preventing cookie tracking.
• Prevents malware and drive-by downloads.
• Gives you the option to remotely store history and bookmarks in the cloud.
• Encrypts all your data.
• Shields your personal identity and protects your privacy.
• Provides ad hoc email addresses via mailslots that stops spam in its tracks