November 28, 2011 - Mobile shopping isn’t something I ever thought I’d do. I mean, come on! Why in the world would I use a tiny screen to make big purchases that often require lots of research? But I have found that as I (continue reading...) Read more
November 26, 2011 - Your Social Security number was never meant to serve the various functions it is used for today. Over the past 70 years, the Social Security number has become our de facto national ID. The numbers were originally issued in the (continue reading...) Read more
November 23, 2011 - Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving and the busiest shopping day of the year, starts at midnight November 25th with mega-sales running throughout the weekend. Cyber Monday, the online (continue reading...) Read more
November 9, 2011 - Whether you like it or not, whether you’re ready or not, the Christmas machine has arrived—well before Thanksgiving—at least as far as stores and advertisers are concerned. And there’s no question that scammers, identity thieves, and criminal hackers have already (continue reading...) Read more
November 9, 2011 - Yes, it’s a glorious day with the birth of my new book. I’ve spent 15 years in the trenches, reporting on all issues of personal security. Now I’ve taken what I know about protecting your identity and avoiding fraud and (continue reading...) Read more
November 1, 2011 - Researchers have claimed that Facebook's inbuilt security systems are "not effective enough" at stopping automated identity theft, after running a large-scale infiltration of the network using Socialbots. Read more
October 21, 2011 - Following my previous blog on Francopol 2011, here are some data and slides from my own talk on the Anonymous Group. Anonymous circles are not the only component of hacktivism, merely a loose collection with the highest media profile. Other (continue reading...) Read more
October 17, 2011 - A survey released to tie in with National Identity Fraud Prevention Week reveals that 7% of UK residents, or 4 million of us, have been victims of identity fraud, with the average cost of this being just above £1000. (continue reading...) Read more
October 7, 2011 - “Operation Swiper” just busted the largest theft ring of its type in U.S. history. The $13 million dollar crime ring was exposed after a 2 year investigation by the New York City Police, primarily centering around selling Apple electronics overseas, (continue reading...) Read more
September 13, 2011 - Bad news if you have been on vacation at one of the Wilderness resorts in Tennessee and Wisconsin in the last couple of years (continue reading...) Read more
September 8, 2011 - Big companies and big government get big press when their data is breached. And when a big company is hit, those whose accounts have been compromised are often notified. With smaller businesses, however, victims are often left in the dark, (continue reading...) Read more
August 26, 2011 - Without question, 2011 is the year for hackers of all kinds to get their 15 minutes of fame. But it feels like it’s lasting a lot longer than 15 minutes. With so many different breeds of hackers, each with their (continue reading...) Read more
August 24, 2011 - News today, courtesy of Brendon Tavelli at Proskauer’s Privacy Law blog via the always excellent Office of Inadequate Security, of a new data breach notification bill just signed by Governor Pat Quinn of Illinois. Interesting to (continue reading...) Read more
August 15, 2011 - More than ten years ago, when I began speaking to organizations about personal security and identity theft, headlines often read “Utility Worker Steals Identities” or “Human Resource Officers Steal Identities” and even “Police Officer Steals Identities.” Back then the (continue reading...) Read more
August 10, 2011 - The most basic advice for protecting your own identity is to protect your Social Security number. The obvious solution is simply never to disclose your number, but this is silly, since, depending on your age, you have probably provided it (continue reading...) Read more
August 9, 2011 - Identity theft victims don’t need Jessica Van Vliet, an assistant professor in counseling psychology at the University of Alberta, to tell them that they no longer feel safe when conducting everyday financial transactions, which most of us take for granted. (continue reading...) Read more
August 5, 2011 - Cyber scams happen to the young and the old, the rich and the poor. It doesn’t matter how good or bad your credit is, or whether or not you have a credit card. Cybercriminals target everyone, regardless of how much (continue reading...) Read more
August 4, 2011 - The Sony Corporation has been providing consumers with stellar electronics since before the introduction of the Walkman. The past six months have been harsher for Sony, with attacks by hacktivists and numerous breaches of clients’ data. Many recent breaches involved usernames, (continue reading...) Read more
July 29, 2011 - Have you ever bitten into an apple and found a worm? I have, and it’s yummy! Anyway, how many times have you heard, or even said, “I won’t get that computer virus because I have a Mac”? While Mac users (continue reading...) Read more
July 25, 2011 - To all you security companies out there, listen up: “identity theft protection” has become an overused and abused marketing term, which is often used to sell a product or service that doesn’t actually protect users from identity theft. It’s like (continue reading...) Read more