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Identity Theft Articles
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- Internet of Things and Home Security - by Submitted on Oct 23, 2015 from Robert SicilianoHah, that dual chamber deadbolt and the door jamb reinforcement! Yup, they’re good at keeping thieves from getting to your jewelry box and stash of $100 bills, but what about your bank accounts and identity? If you have any “smart” gadgets in your house, cybercriminals may ...
Views: 971(1 vote) - Home Door Kick-in Prevention - by Submitted on Feb 01, 2017 from Robert SicilianoBurglars love doors, because that’s their No. 1 way of gaining entry to a house. When thinking of ways to make your home safer, you should really home in on your doors. Solid wood door without a window (ideally with solid wood core) Top flight deadbolt (ideally two) Reinforced frame ...
Views: 970 - Beware of Amazon's scary Customer Service Hack - by Submitted on Mar 03, 2016 from Robert SicilianoDo you shop at Amazon.com? Are you aware they have a back door through which hackers can slip in? Let’s look at Eric’s experience with hackers and Amazon, as he recounts at medium.com/@espringe. He received an e-mail from Amazon and contacted them to see what it was about. ...
Views: 969 - Card Company's boosting Payment Security with Mobile - by Submitted on Dec 18, 2014 from Robert SicilianoWhoever thought that one day, paying with green paper would be viewed as primitive as a horse and buggy? We seem to be getting closer to that time, especially since the security of making payments via smartphone is always being improved. One way is with fingerprint scanning. Some smartphones ...
Views: 969 - Fear of Fraud trumps Terrorism - by Submitted on Dec 31, 2014 from Robert SicilianoOkay, what’s more likely? Getting bombed … or some punk racking up charges on your credit card? The yearly Crime Poll says that two-thirds of the respondents were edgy about data breaches involving their credit cards, as well as their computer and smartphones getting ...
Views: 967 - Russian Hackers getting rich from your Identity - by Submitted on Dec 10, 2014 from Robert SicilianoWhere’s the $$$ at? Selling credit card data. Have you heard of the Russian hacking ring that raked in two and a half billion dollars? Check it out: Phishing attacks are lucrative for these cybercriminals. ATM hacks continue to increase, in part due to targeted attacks and new ...
Views: 967 - What is a Potentially Unwanted Program (PUP)? - by Submitted on Apr 01, 2015 from Robert SicilianoWhether you’re an animal person or not, you have to admit that puppies are pretty darn cute. So cute that there are YouTube Channels, Facebook accounts, and Buzzfeed newsletters devoted to the subject. Unfortunately, there’s a not so cute PUP out in the world, and it wants access to ...
Views: 967 - Deadbolt, gotta gotta have It - by Submitted on Feb 14, 2015 from Robert SicilianoDeadbolts aren’t hyped up; they really are superior to regular knob locks. Though we keep shaking our head in amazement whenever yet another news story comes out about a burglar or rapist who waltzed through an unlocked door and committed mayhem, it remains a hard fact that many criminals ...
Views: 965 - Is the California Consumer Privacy Act the “American GDPR”? - by Submitted on Jul 12, 2018 from Michael PetersThe recent Exactis data leak, which could surpass Equifax in the sheer number and scope of records exposed, has data privacy advocates calling for an “American GDPR.” While it is unlikely that a federal data privacy law will come to pass anytime soon, some states have already taken matters into ...
Views: 964 - UL to launch Cybersecurity Cert - by Submitted on Aug 20, 2015 from Robert SicilianoUL in this case stands for Underwriters Laboratories. An article on darkreading.com notes that a UL official, Maarten Bron, says that they are taking part in the U.S. government’s plan to promote security certification standards. The U.S. government is interested in developing a UL-type ...
Views: 963 - Career Criminal goes down - by Submitted on Dec 11, 2015 from Robert SicilianoA sharp nine-year-old girl has a biting message to a 51-year-old man, according to an article on myfoxboston.com: “You deserve to stay in jail because you break into peoples houses. Stop breaking into peoples houses and do something with your life.” This advice was directed to ...
Views: 961 - Choosing a Home Security System - by Submitted on Oct 14, 2015 from Robert SicilianoChoosing a home security system may be dizzying, what with all the possibilities, but the good news is that there’s a system for every budget and personality. Gone are the days in which the only security systems available were the ones with all the clunky wires that had to be put ...
Views: 961 - Hackers for Hire both Good and Bad - by Submitted on Mar 26, 2015 from Robert SicilianoEver see those public bulletin boards with all the business cards on them? Don’t be surprised if you spot one that says “Hacker•for•Hire.” These are hackers who will, for a nice juicy fee, hack into your wife’s Facebook account to see if she’s cheating on ...
Views: 960 - How Glass Break Sensors work - by Submitted on Feb 05, 2016 from Robert SicilianoYour home should have multiple layers of protection. You’ve certainly heard that before. Motion detection is a critical layer of protection, and this is comprised of the simple act of unauthorized movement sensed as the result of breaking and entry. Glass break is similar in concept. One ...
Views: 960 - The Six Worst Data Breaches of 2016 - by Submitted on Apr 18, 2017 from Michael PetersAs 2016 comes to an end, we look back at six of the year’s worst data breaches and what went wrong. It seems like not a day went by this year without reports of yet another major data breach, or two or three data breaches. From healthcare to fast food to adult entertainment, no industry was ...
Views: 959 - What is a Password Manager? - by Submitted on Oct 07, 2015 from Robert SicilianoMany people, including myself, make mistakes with their passwords and use them on site after site. To remain safe, it’s important to use a unique, strong password on every site you visit. How do you do this the easy way? Use a password manager. According to a recently concluded survey ...
Views: 959 - How to digitally detox on Vacation - by Submitted on Sep 15, 2016 from Robert SicilianoMany years ago when you were on vacation, before Facebook, Instagram and Twitter were invented (assuming you were an adult then), you had a great time, right? You weren’t “connected,” because there was no social media to be connected with. If today you can’t imagine ...
Views: 958 - What is private Information and what is not? - by Submitted on Feb 22, 2015 from Robert SicilianoData Privacy Day was Wednesday, January 28, and these days the concept of “privacy” can be ambiguous, generic or confusing. What you might think of as private actually isn’t. The definition of personal identifying information, by the U.S. privacy law and information security, ...
Views: 958 - Back to school Tech Security for College Students - by Submitted on Sep 09, 2015 from Robert SicilianoSome of us remember college dorm days, when students were envied if they had their own typewriter. These days, college students must have a personal laptop computer, and a smartphone, and their lives revolve around these connected devices. Such dependency should be proactively protected ...
Views: 957 - Network Security Doesn’t Have To Be A Burden - by Submitted on Jun 01, 2011 from Dovell BonnettWhenever I log onto my computer, visit a subscriber web sites or check my emails I always get the screen “Please enter your User Name and Password”. To manage this authentication barrage I might use the same logon information for all my sites, make the passwords simply to remember and keep the ...
Views: 956 - Think Your Door can't get Kicked in, Think Again - by Submitted on Nov 02, 2015 from Robert SicilianoPart of my role as security guy is to keep tabs on the crime climate around the globe. Recently I kept seeing article after article about burglaries with one common theme: “door kicked in”. Don’t believe me? See below. But before you do, probably all of these could have been ...
Views: 956 - Burglars Use Social to target Victims - by Submitted on Nov 05, 2015 from Robert SicilianoSo you think it’s really a far-out left-field idea: a burglar studying Facebook and other social media to select homes to rob. Well think again. A survey, conducted by home security expert Friedland, found: 78 percent of burglars use social media to select targets. 74 percent touted ...
Views: 954 - Check out Google's Password Alert - by Submitted on Jul 07, 2015 from Robert SicilianoCyber crooks have phony websites that masquerade as the legitimate site you want to log onto. They’ve spun their web and are just waiting for you to fly into it. Google now has Password Alert, which will tell you if you’ve landed into such a non-Google web. For the Chrome browser, ...
Views: 953 - Data Breach Aftermath - by Submitted on Feb 03, 2015 from Robert SicilianoHaste certainly doesn’t make waste if you’ve suffered from an entity getting hacked resulting in a data breach. Don’t waste a single minute delaying notifying affected accounts! In the case of a credit card company, they will investigate; you won’t have to pay the fraudulent charges. The ...
Views: 953 - These are the Bigtime Hackers - by Submitted on Sep 07, 2015 from Robert SicilianoHackers with big skills and a big ego will be drawn to Facebook and Twitter as their targets. But they’ll also target dozens of other companies, reports an article on arstechnica.com. One group in particular stands out as the attackers, using zero-day exploits. They are known as Wild ...
Views: 952 - Beware of Apple ID Phishing Scams - by Submitted on Oct 08, 2015 from Robert SicilianoYou may have been scammed after you responded to an e-mail that appears it came from Apple. When hackers send e-mails that appear to come from a legitimate company like Apple (or Google, Microsoft, PayPal, etc.), with the objective of tricking the recipient into typing in passwords, usernames, ...
Views: 951 - Credit Card Fraud isn’t the same as Identity Theft - by Submitted on Jan 06, 2015 from Robert SicilianoJust as important as taking down the decorations, throwing out all the debris from opened gifts and getting the house back in order after the holiday activities, is that of scrutinizing your credit card statements. Why? To make sure that all the purchases on there were made by you and only ...
Views: 951 - Tips to destroy and shred - by Submitted on May 30, 2015 from Robert SicilianoYou can’t be too neurotic about shredding sensitive documents to smithereens. For example, some people make a career out of “dumpster diving,” digging through trash in search of bank account information, credit card preapprovals, medical bills, mortgage statements, etc., and ...
Views: 951 - What's the difference between VPNs and Proxies and which is secure? - by Submitted on Aug 26, 2015 from Robert SicilianoIf you are overseas somewhere and want to access your Facebook page…don’t be surprised if you can’t do this. In fact, you won’t even be able to get onto the Facebook site (or YouTube, for that matter), depending on what country that you are visiting. This is because some ...
Views: 951 - Along with Sales Leads, Obtaining the Information is almost everything - by Submitted on Jul 27, 2011 from martin lightWith Auto Sales Leads, Getting the information is everything Not so long ago, it used to be that individuals resided in pretty much one area for all of their lives. Travelling included utilizing one's feet, above all else. Far away areas actually were far away, with regards to the capability of ...
Views: 950 - Bank Account depleted, Company sues - by Submitted on Apr 12, 2015 from Robert SicilianoIs it Bank of America’s fault that a hospital was hacked and lost over a million dollars? Chelan County Hospital No. 1 certainly thinks so, reports an article on krebsonsecurity.com. In 2013, the payroll accounts of the Washington hospital were broken into via cyberspace. Bank of ...
Views: 950 - Covert Camera Apps to be aware of - by Submitted on Dec 30, 2015 from Robert SicilianoHave you ever tried to take a picture or video of someone with your phone without them knowing? Sometimes it’s possible, but sometimes it’s not. Well, maybe you knew it was coming: “Ghost apps” are available that let you take images and videos without the target’s ...
Views: 948 - Protect your Packages from Theft - by Submitted on Jan 08, 2015 from Robert SicilianoYes, many thieves don’t have anything better to do than to follow delivery trucks around town to see what kind of bountiful packages they’ll be leaving at the doorsteps of homes. This means even more crooks simply drive around residential areas looking for boxes sitting outside of ...
Views: 947 - Business Email Compromise Losses Top $12 Billion Globally, Says FBI - by Submitted on Jul 20, 2018 from Michael PetersGlobal losses from business email compromise scams, a highly sophisticated form of phishing, grew by 136% between December 2016 and May 2018 and now exceed $12 billion, according to a public service announcement released by the FBI. What Is a Business Email Compromise Scam? A business ...
Views: 946 - Big Bad Hackers taken down - by Submitted on Sep 11, 2015 from Robert SicilianoDarkode anyone? Not anymore. This underground bad hackers’ forum was recently demolished by the FBI, says a report on www.justice.gov. The dozen hackers associated with Darkode are facing criminal charges. Though there are about 800 of such forums, Darkode was among the worst (or shall ...
Views: 944 - Busted!: Large Identity Fraud Rings Fall Apart - by Submitted on Jan 07, 2016 from Robert SicilianoA group of people who are actively collaborating to commit identity fraud is known as an identity fraud ring. These rings are generally made up of two or more career criminals, often including family members or close friends. These rings work by members either stealing a victim’s identity ...
Views: 943 - Hacker for hire a rising Trend - by Submitted on May 25, 2016 from Robert SicilianoHackers and wannabe hackers can easily purchase cheap tools of the trade online. The security firm Dell SecureWorks Inc. confirms this in their latest report and adds that underground markets for hackers, including those from Russia, is thriving. The “Dark Web” is the go-to place ...
Views: 941 - Promote Child Home Safety - by Submitted on Mar 13, 2015 from Robert SicilianoA recent controversial SuperBowl commercial from a major insurance company depicted a young boy who died as the result of numerous preventable household accidents such as poising and falls. The commercial got lots of traction via social media. Although it was presented tactfully, many people ...
Views: 941 - Teen pleads to SWATTING - by Submitted on Aug 19, 2015 from Robert SicilianoJust what kind of punishment should a 17-year-old get for making fraudulent 911 calls (a crime known as swatting)? This happens more than you think. What’s outright astounding is how these teens could think they won’t be discovered. Have they been living in a cave all their lives, ...
Views: 939 - Black Hat 2017 was an Amazing Event - by Submitted on Jul 29, 2017 from Robert SicilianoIn July, more than 15,000 security pros, hackers, hobbyists, and researchers met in Las Vegas for the Black Hat Conference 2017 at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. This was the 20th year that the security conference was held, and both black and white hat hackers joined together to discuss ...
Views: 938 - Fixing a Credit Report after being hacked - by Submitted on Feb 04, 2015 from Robert SicilianoFirst off, how NOT to fix a hacked credit report: signing on with a service that promises to correct the problem in a jiffy—a “sounds too good to be true” advertisement. A company that claims they will 100% fix your bad credit by removing negative information from your credit ...
Views: 938 - Even Hackers get hacked - by Submitted on Aug 13, 2015 from Robert SicilianoBurglars get burgled, muggers get mugged, and hackers get hacked. This includes a sophisticated ring of hackers: Hacking Team, hailing from Italy, specializing in selling hacking software to major governments. An article on wired.com describes how a “400 gigabyte trove” went ...
Views: 936 - How to pwn Anyone - by Submitted on Nov 28, 2015 from Robert SicilianoDefine Pwn: Pwn is a slang term derived from the verb own, as meaning to appropriate or to conquer to gain ownership. The term implies domination or humiliation of a rival. And when it’s done by hacking email, the person is effectively pwned. No matter how “private” you ...
Views: 935 - How to Remove Fraudulent Lines of Credit - by Submitted on Jan 22, 2016 from Robert SicilianoYou just learned you have a new credit card account by checking your credit or because a bill collector called you. Problem is that you don’t remember ever applying for it. You must find out what’s behind this new account and how it got there. Call the corresponding phone number ...
Views: 935 - Survival is about being Persistent - by Submitted on Jan 28, 2015 from Robert Siciliano“Survivor.” What comes to mind when you see or hear this word? A victim of a disease or of a perverted crime? A TV show? We’re all survivors in that every day, we do something to stay alive—life-saving things we don’t even think about as life-saving, such as eating ...
Views: 935 - This is what Spy Software looks like - by Submitted on Mar 11, 2015 from Robert SicilianoIf you’ve ever watched virtually any spy flick or James Bond movie you’re familiar with “bugs” – those little dime-sized metallic things that the bad guys would secretly stick under someone’s desk to record any conversation in the room—picked up by a ...
Views: 935 - A new kind of home security. Smart, voice controlled and autonomous - by Submitted on Sep 26, 2015 from Robert SicilianoOne of the reasons you—and many others—don’t have your alarm on during the day is because you know you’ll keep forgetting to turn it off every time you want to step into the garage or go outside. So you just keep it off. And that’s not smart because many home ...
Views: 934 - How to shop securely with a Mobile Phone - by Submitted on Jan 15, 2016 from Robert Siciliano“You can buy things with your phone!” No kidding! But imagine what the response would have been had you made this statement in 1984: “Off your meds, eh?” Purchasing via the smartphone may very well eclipse the popularity of shopping via laptop. And cyber thieves ...
Views: 934 - Fake IDs are everywhere - by Submitted on Oct 29, 2015 from Robert SicilianoOkay, so you’re 18 or 19 and in college, and are stressed because you have to be 21 in order to gain entry to a night club or bar where you’d like to drink up a storm and mingle with a “more mature” crowd. Or really, you just want to meet someone. Life sure is tough, ...
Views: 933 - Idiot Burglar takes Selfie - by Submitted on Sep 06, 2015 from Robert SicilianoAbout 7 a.m. on a Saturday a burglar entered a home through an unlocked side door (how anyone can sleep overnight while a door stays unlocked is a whole new article). The dumb criminal saw an iPhone and unknowingly triggered a video selfie—showing him standing in the living room during ...
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