Consumer education key to cybercrime war
Is it better to try to chase down cybercriminals, or educate computer users? That’s the ongoing debate among security experts.
On one hand, there have been some huge victories recently in the battle against the bad guys. This week, three men were arrested in connection with a creating a “botnet” that infected an estimated 13 million computers from 190 countries and stole personal and financial information.
In 2008, the alleged mastermind of the largest cybercrimes in history was arrested. Albert Gonzalez is responsible for the greatest data breaches in history, including Heartland Payment Systems, TJX, Hannaford Brothers, 7-Eleven, Citibank, J.C. Penney, and Dave and Buster’s, according to his indictments.
Gonzalez also supervised an online forum in which more than 160 million credit cards, birth certificates, Social Security cards, PIN numbers and computer login information was exchanged.
So, the good guys must be winning the war, right? Probably not. (more…)
It’s impossible to write about the Red Flag Rules without an apologetic “stop me if you’ve heard this one before” preface. So don’t shoot the messenger, but the deadline for the Feds’ identity-protecting Red Flag Rules has been delayed. The newest deadline—the fifth—replaces the January 1 deadline with one of June 1, 2010.
I’ve decided to do most of my Christmas shopping from home this year, using only well-known sites to make sure I don’t become an ID theft or credit card fraud victim. The only thing that will get me to the mall or the big box stores is the Black Friday bargains. Other than that, I’m doing the rest of my shopping over the Internet from the comfort of my home office. Unfortunately, while this strategy will get me the best bargains, it also presents ID theft risks.
Unemployment topped 10% in October, and the holiday season is upon us. Combine the two and you have a lot of people trying to looking for jobs. Sad to say, there’s also a whole lot of ID theft going on.
It’s time to start your online holiday shopping, and what could be more convenient than sitting in your favorite Wi-Fi coffee shop while you work your way through your gift list? But if you aren’t careful you could end up an online identity theft victim instead of everyone’s favorite Santa.
The Better Business Bureau is alerting consumers about a new scam involving payday loans and phone calls from phony bill collectors.
We’ve been using shredders for about 15 years now. First there was the strip cutter, then the shredder that could chew up credit cards and CDs, then there was the crosscut shredder, and finally we have the shredder that totally pulverizes documents, leaving them looking much like the takings from the dryer’s lint filter.