June 24, 2011 - Once criminal hackers get a person’s username and email address, they can begin to launch a targeted spear phish scam. Scammers copy the design of each breached entities outgoing email campaign and blast the breached list with “account update” or (continue reading...) Read more
June 18, 2011 - According to a recent report from Verizon, data breaches are on the rise. There were 760 data breaches recorded in 2010, compared to 140 breaches in 2009. However, there were approximately four million records stolen in 2010, as opposed (continue reading...) Read more
June 17, 2011 - McAfee’s most unwanted criminals have included pickpockets, Trojan viruses, and ATM skimmers, dumpster divers, spies, and wireless hackers and now phishers, shoulder surfers, and keyloggers. Identity theft can happen online or on the ground to anyone with a pulse, (continue reading...) Read more
May 11, 2011 - When a major corporation like Sony gets hit then you know we are all vulnerable. Sony is a great company and like many great corporations is under constant attack. The landscape of information security is changing every day and criminals (continue reading...) Read more
May 4, 2011 - There is no shortage of bad guys, identity thieves, and hackers trying to separate you from your money. They range from previously discussed pickpockets, Trojan viruses, and ATM skimmers to dumpster divers, spies, and wireless hackers. Dumpster Diver Dan is (continue reading...) Read more
April 13, 2011 - How low can you go? In Virginia, a man has been accused of identity theft, forgery, and obtaining money by false pretenses. The 25-year-old accused claims, “I know I’m not guilty of any of theses charges…The day that it aired (continue reading...) Read more
April 6, 2011 - The Federal Trade Commission recently released the list of the most common consumer complaints in 2010. Identity theft topped the list for the eleventh year in a row. The FTC received 1,339,265 in 2010, and 250,854, or 19%, involved (continue reading...) Read more
April 4, 2011 - When you compare the cost of various services, you begin to see how much your time is worth. For example, it would take most homeowners a significant chunk of nights and weekends to paint a house themselves, but a professional (continue reading...) Read more
March 30, 2011 - Spyware is sold legally in the United States. This software records chats, emails, browsing history, usernames, passwords, and basically everything a person does on that PC. Some spyware programs can record everything in a video file, which can then be (continue reading...) Read more
March 29, 2011 - A thief hacked into a woman’s checking account and used her daughter’s name on an electronic check to pay for an online porn subscription. The FBI believes this is a relatively new scam, with reports coming in from across (continue reading...) Read more
March 25, 2011 - This mess Joseph Kidd stole Larry Smith’s identity 17 years ago, when Smith was 50 years old. While operating under Smith’s identity, Kidd “spent time in jail, as sent to prison, paroled, obtained welfare and Medicare benefits, and got (continue reading...) Read more
March 23, 2011 - For nearly a year, a prisoner at Fort Dix Federal Correctional Institution operated an identity theft ring from his jail cell. “Federal prosecutors say the man was able to get personal information communicated to him while in the prison, including (continue reading...) Read more
March 21, 2011 - While criminal hackers are cracking databases and stealing millions of electronic records every year, street level identity thieves are a more insidious element of the identity theft epidemic. Thieves of this nature live in your neighborhood. In some parts of (continue reading...) Read more
March 21, 2011 - The Huffington Post reports, “The Identity Theft Resource Center says Ty Powell is a victim of identity theft. Freddie Mac says he hasn’t paid his mortgage in two years. The local paper says he’s dead. Powell says, ‘I don’t (continue reading...) Read more
March 17, 2011 - The Securities and Exchange Commission defines a Ponzi scheme as “an investment fraud that involves the payment of purported returns to existing investors from funds contributed by new investors. Ponzi scheme organizers often solicit new investors by promising to (continue reading...) Read more
March 16, 2011 - There are good and bad hackers. Here is a window into what they do and why: White Hat Hackers: These are the good guys, computer security experts who specialize in penetration testing and other methodologies to ensure that a company’s information (continue reading...) Read more
March 11, 2011 - While we often hear about international criminal hackers compromising databases and stealing credit card information, identity theft is often committed locally, by someone with access to sensitive paperwork. In one such case, a suspected identity thief was recently arrested in (continue reading...) Read more
March 9, 2011 - Our culture deemphasizes individual responsibility. In my mind, life begins when you begin taking responsibility for everything in your life. Personal security is fundamentally your own responsibility and, while you may not be responsible for a crime happening to you, (continue reading...) Read more
February 24, 2011 - It is easier than ever to guess or predict an individual’s Social Security number, which puts us all at a greater risk for identity theft. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have developed a reliable method for predicting Social Security (continue reading...) Read more
February 17, 2011 - According to the Identity Theft Resource Center, there were at least 662 data breaches in 2010, which exposed more than 16 million records. Nearly two-thirds of breaches exposed Social Security numbers, and 26% involved credit or debit card data. The (continue reading...) Read more