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After a financial conference speech I gave this afternoon on controlling social media data exposure, an executive asked me how long I’d been giving motivational keynote speeches.
My jaw dropped at the reference… “Motivational keynote speeches?”, I asked. “I’ve never really thought of myself as a motivational speaker. I’m more of a content speaker who focuses your organization on playing information offense… using and protecting information to your profitable advantage.” Yeah, I know, sounds like an elevator speech. It was.
The executive then explained his remarks in a very thoughtful way. He said that his organization had stopped hiring traditional “fluffy motivational speakers” when the economy went south, and now only hires content-rich speakers who motivate the audience to take action in a very specific area of need. If he and the rest of the audience came out of the speech ready to take action and clear on what steps to take next, then they referred the speech as motivational. “Every speaker we hire had better be motivational,” he said, “but that’s a given. We bring in a keynoter for their content, and they’d better bring their inspirational A-game as part of the package.”
Posted in Cyber Data Security, Digital Reputation & Trust, Fraud Detection & Prevention, Identity Theft Prevention, Online Privacy by Identity Theft Speaker John Sileo.
Tags: Conference, Financial, John Sileo, Keynote, Keynote Speech, Motivational, Motivational Keynote Speech, Motivational Speech, Sileo, Speaker, Speakers, Speech, Speech Keynote, Speech Motivational, Speeches
We’ve all heard the standard tips about preventing identity theft and credit card fraud. But what would a real identity thief tell you if he had the chance? A recent interview with creditcards.com talks to a thief one on one and reveals the secrets
behind credit card theft.
Dan DeFelippi, who is 29 years old, was convicted of credit card fraud and ID theft in 2004. He tells consumers that: You can never be too careful.
DeFelippi, Learned at an early age how to create fake Id’s and he said it went down hill from there. He mostly made fake credit cards with real credit card information he bought online. He would then make fake Id’s to go with them and purchase big ticket items at Best Buy or Circuit City. He would turn around and sell them on Ebay for cash. DeFelippi says committing credit card fraud is still “ridiculously easy to do,” he says. “Anyone with a computer and $100 could start making money tomorrow.”
Posted in Cyber Data Security, Fraud Detection & Prevention, Identity Theft Prevention by Identity Theft Speaker John Sileo.
Tags: credit card fraud, credit card scam, Credit Card Thief, identity theft expert, Identity Theft Prevention, Identity Theft Speaker, John Sileo
According to a new survey, most online consumers are not taking the proper precautions when shopping online, putting them at a far higher risk of cyber-fraud. 75% of participants thought that a firewall alone could protect them while online. 62% of those polled thought that anti-virus software was enough protection to stop spy-ware. Are you part of these statistics?
While firewalls and anti-virus software are two important aspects of protecting yourself online, there is much more you need to do to keep yourself safe.
Here are additional statistics from the survey:
- While online, 45% of consumers are most concerned about identity theft, 41% about privacy, and 45% about computer viruses.
- While 28% of consumers thought that their identities were secure on mobile devices, most are more aware that their mobile devices are also vulnerable to malicious cyber-crime.
Posted in Cyber Data Security, Identity Theft Prevention by Identity Theft Speaker John Sileo.
Tags: Cyber Fraud, Fraud, identity theft expert, Identity Theft Prevention, Identity Theft Statistics, Internet, John Sileo, Online Fraud, Online Shopping, Sileo
Facebook is preparing to give away your phone number and address to app developers and advertisers.
The frog is officially beginning to boil. Just check out all of the articles swirling around on the internet about Facebook’s latest attempt to release more of your information without your consent. This time they want to give out your phone number and address. They were pretty clear that the reason they want this information is to pass it on to developers of apps such as Farmville and advertisers that want to bolster their profile on you. They released the post late Friday afternoon – so late in fact that many news outlets didn’t pick it up until Monday. Many are accusing Facebook of trying to bury the news.
Here is what was posted:
Posted in Cyber Data Security, Identity Theft Prevention, Online Privacy by Identity Theft Speaker John Sileo.
Tags: facbook, Facebook, Facebook Address, Facebook Changes, Facebook Phone Number, Facebook Safety, Identity Theft Prevention, John Sileo, Online/Social Media Privacy, Social Netoworking Expert, social networking, Social Networking Speaker
True. Unless you have chosen to Opt Out (see below), a picture of your home is only one search away on Spokeo.com, even if I don’t have your address.
Check it out for yourself at www.spokeo.com. On most profiles, if Spokeo has your current address, they also have a picture of your home. It is the same as Google Street View, almost. The difference is that on Google Street View or Google Maps, you can’t easily look up someone’s address based on their name and find the corresponding picture of their home.
In other words, Spokeo aggregates your personal data in a more sophisticated way, ultimately giving users the ability to search on your name and peel back layers of your personal information. This has caused a recent web buzz on the subject and is pushing people to go on their site to remove information you don’t want to share with the world. A few months ago I posted a video about removing your information from Spokeo. Here are the steps.
Posted in Cyber Data Security, Identity Theft Prevention by Identity Theft Speaker John Sileo.
Tags: Google Maps, identity theft expert, Identity Theft Prevention, John Sileo, Online Safety, opt out, Picture of My Home, Remove Name, Spokeo, spokeo.com, Street View, white pages
Statistics say 1 in 2 Americans will have a smart-phone by December 2011. Many people keep their address, bank account numbers, passwords, PIN numbers and more stored in their phone. The mounds of information kept in smart-phones is more than enough to steal one’s identity with ease.
What most people don’t consider are the applications that they are using on a daily basis. What information is stored there? According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, more than you think.
After examining over 100 popular apps, they found that 56 transmit the phone’s unique device ID to companies without the user’s knowledge. Forty-seven of the applications transmitted the phone’s actual location, while five sent other personal information such as age and gender. This shows how many times your privacy is potentially compromised without your knowledge, just by playing music on Pandora.
Here are a few of the culprits:
Posted in Cyber Data Security, Identity Theft Prevention by Identity Theft Speaker John Sileo.
Tags: Applications, cell phone, cell phone safety, identity theft expert, Identity Theft Speaker, Information Security, iphone Apps, John Sileo, Security, Smatphones
I am a huge fan and frequent user of Pandora, the internet radio station that plays songs based on learned music preferences (if you like the Avett Brothers, it knows you will probably also like Dave Matthews, etc.). Pandora is an overwhelmingly popular online radio network app for computers, smart phones and the iTouch. It provides listeners with an informed collection of songs and play-lists based on a comprehensive analysis of over 400 qualities of a song that make it specifically appealing to you. While the financial cost to users appears at first site to be nothing (if you don’t mind the occasional ad), the privacy cost can be exponentially high with Pandora selling your web-surfing habits to advertisers.
Pandora clearly states in its FAQ that they are sharing information such as your age and gender with advertisers.
Posted in Cyber Data Security, Identity Theft Prevention by Identity Theft Speaker John Sileo.
Tags: Identity Teft Expert, Identity Theft Speaker, Information Security, Information Sharing, John Sileo, Keynote Speaker, Pandora, Pandora Sharing
The many changes that Facebook has been making recently have users nervous. Nervous because they are lacking the control that they once had over their privacy on the social networking site. While Facebook has never been the mecca of privacy, the recent and swift changes they are making has created more of an issue for users. One by one they are voicing their concerns with the new features and why they feel Facebook is slowly revealing the end of your privacy.
Facebook and privacy issues go hand in hand.
Here are a few of the new features; although they are snazzy, they have many users concerned.
Posted in Cyber Data Security, Identity Theft Prevention, Online Privacy by Identity Theft Speaker John Sileo.
Tags: Facebook, identity theft expert, Identity Theft Prevention, John Sileo, Online Safety, Privacy, social networking
According to a recent New York Times article, the government may be creating a department solely dedicated to strenghthening privacy policies within the United States and other countries. A recent report details why such a force is necessary. Although this new office would lack enforcement authority, they would work directly with the administration and necessary agencies to attack and solve privacy issues.
“America needs a robust privacy framework that preserves consumer trust in the evolving Internet economy while ensuring the Web remains a platform for innovation, jobs and economic growth,” the Secretary of the Commerce, Gary F. Locke, said in a statement. “Self-regulation without stronger enforcement is not enough. Consumers must trust the Internet in order for businesses to succeed online.”
The policy task force already suggested we make visible exactly what information is collected online through a “Privacy Bill of Rights.” Companies that collect this information will then have increased accountability and limits on what they can do with information collected.
Posted in Cyber Data Security, Fraud Detection & Prevention, Identity Theft Prevention by Identity Theft Speaker John Sileo.
Tags: "Identity Theft, Expert, Federal Office, FTC, Identity Theft Speaker, John Sileo, New York Times, Online, online privacy, Online Privacy Office, Online Safety, Privacy, Security
