Stealing your identity is so easy, even when you are careful..

Krebs on Security recently revealed that identity thieves have gained access to the databases of three of the biggest data mining companies on the planet.

LexisNexis, Dunn & Bradstreet, and Kroll Background America Inc. have been systematically plundered by hackers, most likely from Eastern Europe, who have stolen millions of personal and business records and are selling them on the Internet black market.

A site called SSNDOB has been selling names, social security numbers, birthdates, and more culled from these sites via a botnet attack last spring. According to Brian Krebs, you could buy a credit report from the site on anyone for just $15. A background check would run you $12; a drivers license record $4, and assorted other bits of highly personal info costs 50 cents to $1.50 per. For more on the story, click here.

7 Tips for the truly paranoid PC user - Tip #6

Enable automatic software updates

It isn’t the coolest counterintelligence technique, but good security starts with the basics, and nothing is more basic than making sure that your operating system is up-to-date. So it’s no surprise that the NSA recommends enabling automatic updates in Windows.

Doing so is easy enough: First, simply navigate to System and Security from the Windows Control Panel. Click Turn automatic update on and off, and select Install updates automatically.

Microsoft will buy your iPhone... Good luck finding a store though

Microsoft on Friday launched yet another trade-in program to convince consumers to switch to a Windows device, this time aimed at iPhone owners.

On its Microsoft Store website, Microsoft outlined the new deal: It will accept "gently used" iPhone 4S and iPhone 5 smartphones -- the 2011 and 2012 editions, respectively -- and pay a minimum of $200 for each. The Redmond, Wash. technology company will issue the funds as a gift card good for purchases at the Microsoft Store.

As in the iPad buyback program that debuted two weeks ago, customers must bring their used iPhones to a retail outlet in the U.S., Canada or Puerto Rico -- trade-ins are not supported online -- where a sales representative will evaluate the device and decide on the dollar amount. Microsoft has 77 stores in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico.

"Microsoft Store gift-card value ... is subject to Microsoft's discretion and manager approval," the website said. "All trade-ins are final. Cannot be redeemed for cash. Limit 1 per customer."

Now if you are interested and you live in the Pittsburgh Area, your closest store is either Cincinnati or King of Prussia.  Good luck with that Microsoft!

7 Tips for the truly paranoid PC user - Tip #5

Encrypt your hard drive

Recommended in the NSA’s rundown of security highlights in Windows 7 (PDF), BitLocker encryption is built into the Enterprise and Ultimate versions of Windows 7, as well as the Pro and Enterprise versions of Windows 8. When enabled, BitLocker encrypts all of the data kept on a storage volume, and it continues working in the background to protect the contents of a Windows PC from unauthorized access.

BitLocker is an excellent first line of defense that takes just a few clicks to enable. However, if you’re concerned that the full-disk encryption technology may have been compromised by a backdoor deal with the NSA (there is no evidence of that, so far), you can find plenty of alternative methods to encrypt your data.

Microsoft Designed the Xbox One Console to Lay Flat

Go vertical at your own risk

Here's a heads up for any of you who may have pre-ordered or otherwise plan on purchasing an Xbox One game console. Depending on how adventurous you're feeling, you may need to rearrange your AV cabinet if you've already made room for the console and assumed it would be okay place it vertically. Turns out it's not okay and you could actually damage the console if you don't lay it flat.

So says Albert Panello, senior director of product management and planning at Xbox, who spoke with GameSpot at the Tokyo Game Show this week.

"We don't support vertical orientation; do it at your own risk," Panello said. "It wouldn't be a cooling problem, we just didn't design the drive for vertical. Because it's a slot loading drive, we just didn't design it for both."

To us, that seems like a major oversight, especially since the Xbox One is the most expensive of all three next generation consoles (it also comes with a Kinect motion controller, so it's not an arbitrary price difference). And it's not like Microsoft is breaking new ground here. Both the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 sport similar designs with slot-loading optical drives, but you're free to orient them vertically or horizontally.

Panello reasons that through Microsoft's own research, the company found that 80 percent of people situate their Xbox console horizontally anyway. Even if true, 20 percent is a big chunk to flip the finger at.

Finally, we won’t have to power off during takeoff and landing

After months of cajoling, prodding, and pushing, the Federal Aviation Administration is expected to finally remove the requirement that electronic devices be turned off and put away during the takeoff and landing phases of commercial flights.

The New York Times reported on Monday that an FAA advisory panel is expected to recommend pulling back these electronic restrictions in a meeting this week. That board is expected to pass along its recommendation to the full FAA later in the month, with implementation in the skies happening sometime in 2014.

The new rules will almost certainly not permit mobile phone calls, in-flight texting, or mobile data use that would require communication with ground-based towers.

For almost a year now, Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) has been the voice of angry members of the public who want to be able to continue listening to a podcast, reading an e-book, or gaming on a plane without interruption.

"The public is growing increasingly skeptical of prohibitions on the use of many electronic devices during the full duration of a flight, while at the same time using such devices in increasing numbers," McCaskill wrote in a letter to the FAA last year. "For example, a traveler can read a paper copy of a newspaper throughout a flight, but is prohibited from reading the same newspaper for major portions of the flight when reading it on an e-reader."

It’s likely that the new regulation will cover all airlines and all kinds of aircraft, as airlines will have to certify that their fleets can withstand a certain level of interference. Airline companies already have to do that when they install onboard Wi-Fi and digital entertainment systems.