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So far, 2013 has been the Year of the Hack, as the past few weeks have proven positively lousy with big-name security breaches.
Social networks, news outlets, and now…jeeps and fast food? That’s right, recent events have seen two prominent businesses get their Twitter accounts hacked, and worse. Not only did identity pirates shanghai the feeds (and therefore the reputations) of Burger King and Jeep, they used this illegal access to send embarrassing and scandalous messages to their followers.
Last Monday, @BurgerKing began tweeting that it had been sold to McDonalds, changing its image to a golden arches logo and posting ridiculous, wildly provocative comments about rappers and mad cow disease. The same thing happened to Jeep the next day, when its account claimed it had been sold to Cadillac and that its CEO had been fired for doing drugs.
Posted in Digital Reputation & Trust by Identity Theft Speaker John Sileo.
Tags: data security breaches, digital reputation, social media reputation, social media risk management
Tax Time Identity Theft: Part 1 – Tax Preparers | Part 2 – Protecting Computers | Part 3 – IRS & Tax Scams
Secure your computers and copy machines from hackers.
Last year, more than 80 million Americans filed their tax returns electronically and even more stored tax-related information insecurely on their computers. To prevent electronic identity theft, implement the following security measures:
- Install anti-virus, anti-spam and anti-spyware software (generally referred to as a Security Suite) configured to download and install automatic updates. Failure to take this most basic and time-tested of steps allows malware attached to malicious emails, social media platforms and rogue websites to penetrate your entire system, giving thieves access to every computer on your network, not just one.
- Create strong alphanumeric passwords or utilize password protection software to protect the digital keys to your information.
- Encrypt hard drives or data-sensitive folders to keep out unwanted visitors.
Posted in Identity Theft Prevention by Identity Theft Speaker John Sileo.
Tags: "Tax Fraud Expert", “Choosing a Tax Advisor”, “Electronic identity theft”, “Fraudulent Tax Claims”, “Fraudulent Tax Returns”, “Tax Related Identity Theft”, Expert, Filing tax electronically, John Sileo, Sileo, Speaker, Tax Identity Theft
Cyber attacks are a danger we face on a grand scale, not just as individuals, but as a country.
The past few years, America has been quietly (and not-so quietly) hit by one wave after another of devastating hacks. Last week, as this blog discussed, the government gave a long-overdue response to the matter of cyber-security. During his State of the Union address, President Obama announced that he had signed an executive order taking action against digital security breaches.
The President went on to identify key areas of our infrastructure that might come under attack, saying, "our enemies are also seeking the ability to sabotage our power grid, our financial institutions, and our air traffic control systems."
If it still sounds far-fetched, consider that just this past year has seen an astounding number of attacks on oil, natural gas and electricity structures in the U.S. Hackers raided these systems for information, and the number of strikes was up more than 50 percent higher than what it was in 2011, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Posted in Cyber Data Security by Identity Theft Speaker John Sileo.
Tags: data security breach, digital security, online privacy
February 26-28 will mark the presentation of the National Association of Federal Credit Unions (NAFCU)'s Technology and Security Conference in Austin, Texas. A keynote speech at the event entitled "Thieves, Hackers, and Facebook Attackers: Credit Union Privacy Survival in a Social World," will be given by fraud expert John Sileo. The talk will present credit unions with the knowledge they need to help stop fraud before it starts.
Online security is more perilous and precious than ever. In times of constant attack, how will you keep your information safe?
Social media, data sharing and the wonders of the cloud all offer so many advantages to modern commerce that the myriad dangers often go unseen. Who has access to your data? What kind of habits are you enforcing? We live in a time where we are asked to scatter our personal information to the wind without a second thought – and we often do.
Posted in Cyber Data Security by Identity Theft Speaker John Sileo.
Tags: Cyber Crime, fraud awareness training
Myth: Mac users are armored against viruses, malware and identity theft.
Apple has a reputation for building computers with strong cyber security and protection from online threats. Remember those commercials where PCs were mocked for being more likely to "get sick"? Over the years, devoted iFans may have developed the belief that nothing can touch them and they are always safe. But recent news reports show that the same attacks launched against Facebook recently were also made on the computers of Apple employees earlier this week. This underlines a key point: When it comes to online attacks, no one is bulletproof.
Sources say that, as with Facebook, the source of a breach was a dangerous piece of software that hijacked the Java plug-ins of various web browsers. It was also distributed through a seemingly secure website for mobile developers. Although once again no data has been reported as being compromised, this still represents a red flag for anyone with sensitive material on the net – and these days, that's almost everybody. If some of the biggest names in the business can be susceptible to breaches like this, what makes your business safe?
Posted in Cyber Data Security by Identity Theft Speaker John Sileo.
Tags: "prevention of identity theft", Cyber Security, identity theft prevention plan
Fraud prevention isn't just about building a wall: It's about making sure you have the right bricks.
During tax season, anyone who sees your pay stubs or tax forms could put them to nefarious use, and could do so without you being aware. As former clients and relatives of one California tax preparer were shocked to find out recently, the stability of their "brick walls" against fraud were filled with weak spots.
Imelda Sanchez of California confessed to using the names and personal data of other people to file fraudulent tax returns. She also used other falsified tax documents to apply for a loan worth more than $1.5 million. Her sentencing is scheduled for May, when she could be slapped with a prison sentence upwards of 30 years or more. As a tax preparer, she was in a unique position to set this plan in motion. Sanchez could also be given a fine around $1.25 million – just a touch under the amount of money she tried to steal.
Posted in Fraud Detection & Prevention by Identity Theft Speaker John Sileo.
Tags: anti-fraud training, Fraud Prevention, types of identity theft
Viruses are the biological weapons of the internet: once someone gets infected, it's only a matter of time before the contagion starts to spread. Even a social media giant like Facebook isn't immune to the kinds of digital "superbugs" that cause data security breaches.
You would think that corporate titans – with their advanced defenses – would be most immune to the effects of malware, but the reality is that the bigger the service provider, the more vulnerable it can be to hackers and cybercriminals. Recently, we saw Twitter get hit with a massive hack that targeted the data of a quarter-million people. Now, Facebook has been victimized by a vicious strain of software.
Last Friday, Facebook security posted a statement on its blog detailing what it called a "sophisticated attack" on its system that occurred in January.
Posted in Cyber Data Security, Online Privacy by Identity Theft Speaker John Sileo.
Tags: data security breaches, data security consultant, social media exposure
Your social media privacy, if ignored, could can leave your digital reputation on life support.
Everyone from CEOs and company founders to part-time employees leave their own digital footprints on social media platforms, and how they comport themselves doesn’t always stay as private as it might seem. That’s why it’s important to think carefully about exactly what information you’re putting out there. Even a popular site like OkCupid.com, which prides itself on its smart, statistic-driven design, temporarily made its users’ information public through a security glitch last month.
The glitch was in the company’s “Crazy Blind Date” app, which normally only reveals its members’ first names, locations, sexual preferences and a scrambled photo. Although it lasted less than a day and there were reportedly no instances of data being stolen, users found their information at risk and out of their control.
Posted in Online Privacy by Identity Theft Speaker John Sileo.
Tags: digital reputation, Online Reputation, Social Media Privacy, ways to avoid identity theft
Are we entering an age where one’s digital reputation is a form of career currency – or are we already there?
That is the subject of an article in Forbes last month that gets some things right and others wrong. It absolutely seems like online histories and reputations could become more important than resumes, portfolios and credit scores.
Our digital footprints are already considered by others when determining if they want to hire or do business with us. And many people don’t even have a traditional resume anymore, but have substituted it with a LinkedIn profile.
Forbes goes through a handful of questions and offers its own answers on the topic. Yes, everything we do on the Web, from Facebook to Twitter to LinkedIn, is becoming more and more connected, meaning that they influence one another as well as how others perceive us. But, there are a few things that the article misses the mark on.
Posted in Digital Reputation & Trust by Identity Theft Speaker John Sileo.
Tags: digital reputation, internet privacy, Online Reputation
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