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10 reasons you should care about identity theft more than you do PDF Print E-mail

Wednesday July 15 2009

1. Don't you ever just get mad that the bad guys keep winning? While so many are struggling to keep their heads above water, crooks are raking in millions every day from their scams.

2. If you're not already a victim, you probably will be. Some estimates suggest that one in every four Americans has already been a victim of identity theft or fraud, so it's only a matter of time.

3. Even if you're not a victim yet, you're still paying for it. The thousands of businesses and government agencies that lose billions of dollars to scams every year or spend billions of dollars (an estimated $50 billion annually) fighting them, have to recoup that money somewhere. And guess where?

4. Identity theft funds terrorism, a resurgence in organized crime, drug trafficking, and numerous petty crimes. Need any more reasons?

5. Don't rely on zero liability. I've heard too many stories of financial institutions fighting tooth and nail to avoid having to make good on this promise to cover consumer losses.

6. Your data is already out there. The personal records of more than 200 million Americans have already been exposed in data breaches over the last few years, so chances are your personal information is already out there. Did I mention it's only a matter of time?

7. Identity theft is a truly heartless and life changing crime, and thieves don't discriminate. I know of identity theft victims as young as 3 months and north of 90-years-old. And I know personally of an elderly man in the bay area who has lost his life savings of $1.5 million to Nigerian 419 scammers who now taunt him over his willingness to trust them.

8. Law enforcement can't help. Most police departments have given up on identity theft, and won't investigate any id theft crimes because they don't have the manpower, skills, or resources.

9. The businesses that keep exposing your data to thieves are actually cutting back on security, so expect your most sensitive data to keep on leaking.

10. Identity theft has utterly changed the way we trust, do business, communicate etc. When was the last time you felt safe leaving your mail at the curbside to be collected?
 
New security coming from Microsoft? PDF Print E-mail

Thursday June 11 2009

Remember OneCare, the security suite that Microsoft launched in a fanfare and then quickly announced that it would be pulled off the market? Microsoft is coming back with a new version of the product, albeit in a slightly different format and the new name of Morro.

While security observers can’t wait to see how well the new security offering performs, I have to applaud Microsoft for their commitment to free security. Time will tell whether Morro compares well to conventional security products - Morro will be an online service as opposed to security on your desktop - and promises to filter out threats before they even reach your computer.

That’s a great idea and certainly the future of security. Let’s hope Morro is a winner. Read the full story on PC World.
 
A higher credit score could mean greater ID theft risk PDF Print E-mail

Wednesday June 10 2009

According to a recent study by Experian, having a good credit score isn't just good for you and your lenders, it's also good for identity thieves. The report, published on June 8th, analyzed more than 800,000 records from 2007 and 2008, including data provided by bank card issuers, retail card issuers, retail banks and other organizations.

The report found that the higher your credit score, the higher the risk of identity theft. Apparently the reason for the correlation is the simple fact that if a better score makes it easier for you to get credit, it also makes it easier for anyone pretending to be you.

According to the report "the occurrence rate of identity fraud rises dramatically as credit scores increase" but while the report doesn't suggest that identity thieves deliberately target those with high scores, we know they do.

Spear phishing is a common form of phishing that deliberately targets high net worth individuals, and we've known for years that identity thieves target the elderly in part because they usually have high credit scores and low credit balances.

Here's an article on the study.
 
9 out of 10 work PCs fail basic security PDF Print E-mail

Monday June 08 2009

Just read the latest research from security firm Sophos that suggests 9 out of 10 work PCs fail on basic security. Not much surprising here, except that if this is the state of PC security in a corporate environment, where there are "people" to take care of these unsecured PCs, what must things be like in the consumer environment?

Whenever I do presentations to Chambers of Commerce and other local groups, one of the first questions I ask the audience is how many of them can tell me right then, for certain, that the firewall on their personal or work computer is actually switched on.

Only around five to ten percent of hands go up and most of those very slowly and cautiously. Just more evidence that the message of individual awareness and personal responsibility are not getting through.