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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
Financial Speaker John Sileo Appears on Fox & Friends
John recently appeared on Fox & Friends to debunk myths about electronic pickpocketing. After the show, Fox host Steve Doocy asked John to stick around to talk about his personal experiences with identity theft, data breach and fraud. Having experienced these crimes first hand, John became a professional financial speaker with clients including the Department of Defense, Homeland Security, Pfizer, Blue Cross Blue Shield and the Federal Trade Commission. To see John in action, visit his Financial Speaker page.
Posted in Fraud Detection & Prevention, Identity Theft Prevention, Sileo In the News by Identity Theft Speaker John Sileo.
Tags: Electronic Picpocketing, Financial Seminar, Financial Speaker, Financial Speech, Financial Workshop, Fox and Friends, identity theft expert, Identity Theft Speaker, John Sileo
Huzzah! The holiday party season has officially begun! It is my favorite time of year because I try to take a few weeks off of the professional speaking circuit to slow down to a normal pace. Over the coming weeks, all of the Whos in Whoville gather to celebrate the communities to which we all belong. Whether it is a neighborhood party, a work celebration or an association shindig (okay, I’m starting to use words that my parents use), it is a great time to honor our friendships, colleagues and causes.
Unfortunately, the abundance of the season attracts malcontents who try to take advantage of our happiness and busy-ness. I call this the Grinch Effect: stealing from others while they are lost in a brief moment of joy. Like the Grinch pilfering the last stocking from the fireplace, identity thieves use our distraction to pluck pieces of private data from our festive homes. Enough already! If you are hosting a holiday party (either at your home or in your office), here are some tips on protecting your identity to foster holiday serenity:
Posted in Fraud Detection & Prevention, Identity Theft Prevention by Identity Theft Speaker John Sileo.
Tags: "Identity Theft, Holiday Identity Theft, holiday parties, Holiday Prties, identity theft expert, Identity Theft Speaker, John Sileo, safety during holidays, Workplace ID Theft
If you need a world class example of the adage that INFORMATION IS POWER, look at the recent kerfuffle WikiLeaks has caused. Since threatening to release more than 250,000 U.S. diplomatic cables, WikeLeaks has experience a rash of cyber problems (none attributable to the U.S. Government, but it does make you wonder…):
“The site’s efforts to publish 250,000 diplomatic cables has been hampered by denial-of-service attacks, ejection from its server host and cancellation of its name by its American domain name provider. Each time WikiLeaks has worked out other arrangements to bring the site back online.” – By Charley Keyes and Laurie Ure, CNN
Posted in Cyber Data Security, Fraud Detection & Prevention, Identity Theft Prevention by Identity Theft Speaker John Sileo.
Tags: American Diplomats, Cables, Clinton, Control, Diplomacy, information, Iraq War Logs, John Sileo, WikiLeaks
Facebook wants a piece of every social interaction you have, which is why they are poised to offer you a free email account, just like Gmail or Hotmail.
Facebook’s newest features (email and eventually a built-in search engine) are aimed at making their website your one-stop shop for all things internet. Rumor has it that at 10:30am PT, Facebook will offer their existing users email addresses. And millions of existing users will take them up on their offer because it will be cool to have a Facebook email account and because we are all in short supply of email accounts to check 24/7. Other sources are saying that Facebook will soon be offering a search engine as well.
Posted in Fraud Detection & Prevention, Identity Theft Prevention, Online Privacy by Identity Theft Speaker John Sileo.
Tags: Facebook, Facebook Announcement, Facebook Email, Facebook Email Accounts, facebook privacy, Gmail, John Sileo, Privacy Expert, Safe Social Networking, Webmail
During a recent 60 Minutes interview, I was asked off camera to name the Achilles’ heel of an entire country’s data security perspective; what exactly were the country’s greatest weaknesses. The country happened to be New Zealand, a forward-thinking nation smart enough to take preventative steps to avoid the identity theft problems we face in the States. The question was revealing, as was the metaphor they applied to the discussion.
Achilles, an ancient Greek superhero — half human, half god — was in the business of war. His only human quality (and therefore his only exploitable weakness) was his heel, which when pierced by a Trojan arrow brought Achilles to the ground, defeated. From this Greek myth, the Achilles’ Heel has come to symbolize a deadly weakness in spite of overall strength; a weakness that can potentially lead to downfall. As I formulated my thoughts in regard to New Zealand, I realized that the same weaknesses are almost universal — applying equally well to nations, corporations and individuals.
Posted in Fraud Detection & Prevention, Identity Theft Prevention, Online Privacy, Sileo In the News by Identity Theft Speaker John Sileo.
Tags: "New Zealand", 60 Minutes, data, Facebook, financial crime, Financial Speaker, Fraud Training, Identity, identity theft expert, Identity Theft Speaker, information, John Sileo, Privacy, Security, Sileo, social engineering, Social Media Privacy, social networking, Theft
According to TIME Newsfeed, Facebook is taking on a new marketing giant – Groupon. Groupon.com has gained popularity extremely fast due to the huge discounts they offer users on a daily basis. Their average discount ranges from 50% to 80% off of food, services, shops and entertainment. They boast over 18 million subscribers and have sold over 12 million deals. It is no wonder that Facebook would want a piece of the action — when Groupon featured clothing giant GAP on their site, they sold 400,000 deals, making them $11 million.
But there is a catch: Facebook Deals only goes hand in hand with Facebook Places. In order to receive the promotions, you have to use their location sharing app and “check in” to get the deal. In other words, to gain the benefits offered by Facebook Deals, you have to sacrifice more privacy. Groupon only asks users for their city location in order to tailor deals to their area. To take advantage of a deal, you must share your address and billing information, and that is done on their secure checkout site.
Posted in Fraud Detection & Prevention, Identity Theft Prevention, Online Privacy by Identity Theft Speaker John Sileo.
Tags: Facebook Deals, Facebook Places, Groupon, Privacy, Sileo
Thanks to SmallBusinessComputing.com and Jennifer Schiff for this article!
In August 2010, the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse published its latest Chronology of Data Breaches, which showed that since 2005 more than a half-billion sensitive records have been breached. Of those breached records — which contained such sensitive data as customer credit card or social security numbers — approximately one-fifth came from retailers, merchants and other types of non-financial, non-insurance-related businesses, the majority of which were small to midsized.
An equally scary statistic: approximately 80 percent of small businesses that experience a data breach go bankrupt or suffer severe financial losses within two years of a security breach, according to John Sileo, a professional identity theft consultant and speaker, who knows firsthand about the havoc a security breach can wreak on a small business.
Posted in Fraud Detection & Prevention by Identity Theft Speaker John Sileo.
Tags: Business Identity Theft, Data Breach, Data Breach Expert, Data Breach Statistics, Identity Theft Speaker, Identity Theft Statistics, John Sileo, small business, Small Business Computing
You and your business are worth a lot of money, whether your bank accounts show it or not. The goldmine lies in your data, and everyone wants it. Competitors want to hire the employee you just fired for the thumb drive full of confidential files they smuggled out. Data thieves salivate over your Facebook profile, which provides as a “how to” guide for exploiting your trust. Cyber criminals are digitally sniffing the wireless connection you use at Starbucks to make bank transfers and send “confidential” emails.
Every business is under assault by forces that want access to your valuable data: identity records, customer databases, employee files, intellectual property, and ultimately, your net worth. Research is screaming at us—more than 80% of businesses surveyed have already experienced at least one breach (average recovery cost: $6.75 million) and have no idea of how to stop a repeat performance. These are clear, profit-driven reasons to care about who controls your data.
Posted in Burning Questions (Video), Fraud Detection & Prevention, Identity Theft Prevention, Video Tips by Identity Theft Speaker John Sileo.
Tags: “business fraud”, data theft, Expert, Fraud, Hot Spots, Identity Theft Prevention, Information Hot Spots, Information Security, Inside Spies, mobile data, Prevention, Privacy, Protection, Sileo, social engineering, Speaker
