Insider fraud struck again yesterday, this time resulting in charges being filed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
According to the SEC, a former executive in the Stamford, Connecticut offices of a New York-based broker-dealer deceived clients when selling them mortgage-backed securities (MBS). He allegedly told them that his firm paid more for the MBS than it actually did, or made up a fictional seller and arranged supposed trades, when in reality he was selling out of his company’s own inventory at higher prices to bank a better profit.
In the SEC filing, the former exec was said to have swindled his clients and brought in nearly $3 million in additional profits. While the duplicitous activity went unnoticed for a time, his star rose within the company and so did his bonuses.
Do you know what’s behind the masks your employees may wear? A staggering number of businesses falter and even fail because someone on the inside – an employee, vendor or even a partner – steals money, goods, data or intellectual property from the organization. Will yours be one of them? Not if you learn about the warning signs of fraudsters and the weaknesses in your current hiring procedures.
The strongest indicator that your business is at risk? Denial. If you have ever said to yourself, “My people would never do that,” or “were too small to be worth a fraudster’s time”, you are caught in a cycle of self-delusional naiveté. Most inside theft happens at the hands of a “trusted” team member. In fact, insider theft and fraud aren’t generally committed by experienced criminals.
The havoc wrought by insider fraud can have far-reaching consequences for both your company and clientele. Several recent examples have proven how damaging fraud can be in the financial sector. But, in truth, there isn’t a single industry today that can afford to forego implementing safeguards.
According to an article at online news source Bank Info Security, one such incident in Ohio earlier this month lead to the collapse of a credit union and a man being sentenced to 37 months in prison for loan fraud and money laundering. About a week prior, two former employees of Chemung Canal Trust Company Bank pleaded guilty to masterminding a seven-year embezzlement scam that cost the bank roughly $325,000.
Insider fraud, also known as friendly fraud, is a difficult topic for many businesses to tackle because it involves trusted employees betraying the companies they are supposed to be – and often appear to be – loyal to. However, the dangers are far too real to be ignored, and fraud detection must be a top priority.
Your old web accounts are like digital zombies, stalking you from the shadows. Take a second to think back to all the websites, online services, social media platforms and other accounts you have signed up for over the years.
How many of the ones you no longer bother with have you completely deactivated rather than just ignored like muscles slowly atrophying? Here’s a scary lesson in online reputation management.
A recent PC World article explores the topic of “zombie accounts” and how we so often just stop using them and forget they are there, never actually shutting them down for good. Which means they are still out there.The article even cites one of the head honchos at Symantec Security Response who claims that while these zombie accounts can be hacked, they don’t necessarily present any greater risk than your active ones do. Survey says … wrong.
You should take five minutes to understand Java browser threat before it undermines your security. The internet has become much like the Wild Wild West, where individuals play by their own rules and do as they please. Think of hackers as being malicious like Mongo from “Blazing Saddles,” but as smart and cunning as the most nefarious of Bond villains. It all reads like a bad Hollywood script until you get hit.
These outlaws of the digital age have turned their attention to your browser, and specifically to Oracle Corp’s Java software, continuing their efforts to victimize unsuspecting individuals who think they’re surfing the net safely. According to a recent Reuters report, the company is hard at work on a software update meant to address a critical security flaw that would allow hackers to infect your computer, possibly even taking control of it and using it in an attack on another server.
Watch the entire Browser Spies Online Privacy series. To view the entire series, wait until the end of each video and click on the Next Video button in the lower right-hand corner of your screen. As you watch each short video in your browser, make the necessary changes based on each simple video tip on protecting your online identity and privacy.
Internet privacy expert John Sileo and Fox & Friends have joined up to educate you on how your data is being tracked, recorded and sold as you surf the Internet. These tips give you greater control over your online privacy in short, easy to implement steps. Web privacy, browser tracking and constant Internet surveillance are a reality of modern browsing. It’s important for you to protect your privacy before you have totally lost control.
Over the weekend, Instagram’s new terms of service went into effect. If your head wasn’t buried in the sand in recent weeks, you may have heard that the company instigated quite a brouhaha over its updated legalese. The proposed changes included what most saw as an assertion that it had the right to sell users’ pictures at will, without consent or compensation. “How dare they?!” shouted the interwebs.
Instagram officials responded to the outcry by saying this was a miscommunication and reverted that section back to the original language. As we pointed out at the time, the previous wording was far more vague and gave Instagram greater leeway over its access to and use of your images.
But, once again, a full grasp of online privacy eludes so many. Because, while there was significant backlash over this singular aspect of the updated terms of service, very little attention was paid to the rest of the changes. For example, Instagram can now freely share user data with Facebook.
Facebook’s Graph Search launch this week sent every online privacy expert to new levels of alarm, and with good reason. Although Facebook has tried to address these concerns, if you read the fine print, there’s still reason to worry about online privacy protection. Let’s debunk three falsehoods that are currently circulating about Graph Search:
Myth 1: You can’t be found if parts of your profile are set to private
Facebook says that any other user can find you through Graph Search, with the exception of those who you have blocked. They don’t even have to be friends with you. So much for social media privacy. More than 160 million active Facebook users in the United States alone could find you. Unless you’ve blocked a good portion Facebook (why not just delete your profile at that point?), you’ll still appear in a search, even if you’ve limited the specific aspects of your profile that can be seen.
Take a moment to think about the last time you “checked in” somewhere on a social media site or were tagged in someone else’s status update. People often do this to share the cool things they see or do on vacation or their day off work.
In that moment you just took, did the term “geolocation data” spring to mind? If not, it should have – along with data security. Geolocation data includes all these tags and check-ins, where you are announcing to the world where you are and what you’re doing. Companies use this information to tailor advertisements and other marketing materials to target specific audiences.
Now, we can debate the ethical practices used by these organizations to gather our personal information until the chickens come home to roost, but there are others out there who clearly have nefarious machinations in mind. That check-in at a concert you’re having a blast at tells the online world that you are not home and now might be a good time to break into your house and steal everything you own.
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