Not only are businesses and the government finally taking measures to stop identity theft, consumers are waking up as well.
It doesn't matter if you're the Fortune 500 banker cashing a hefty check or the teller at the front desk: everyone's personal information is valuable. The risks to businesses and major companies, even giants like Apple and Google, are pretty well-known by now. But the threat of a breach looms over everybody, regardless of occupation.
The Federal Trade Commission recently revealed that identity theft was the number one consumer concern of 2012. There were more complaints over different types of identity theft than things like fraudulent lenders and fixed gas prices. That's no fluke: it's the sign of a major threat.
Evernote gets hacked, prompts us to look at the sensitive information we store in the program.
Evernote, the online note-taking service that gives you access to all of your notes on all of your devices through the cloud was hacked this week. In an attempt to keep the cyber hackers from stealing all of our notes, they quickly reset every user’s password. Here’s what you need to know:
If you use Evernote, you were hacked.
Your first step should be to visit Evernote.com and attempt to login. This will force a reset of your password.
Make sure that your password is 13+ characters and contains upper and lower case letters, numbers, symbols and isn’t a word a hacker could find in a dictionary, on your Facebook page or by easily guessing.
Here's a pop quiz: how many incidents of identity theft do you think happened in 2012? How often do you think they occurred?
Maybe you're aware of threats to your personal information. Maybe you've already taken steps toprevent identity theft. But do you really know how common it is?
Ok, I know I kind of gave it away in the title of this post, but take a guess anyway. A hundred thousand? Maybe a couple million?
The answer may shock you: there were 12.6 million cases last year, according to the 2012 Identity Theft Report by Javelin Strategy & Research. That breaks down to a new incident every three seconds, and it's higher than the year before. The total amount of money stolen through hacks and compromises was over $21 billion, and many victims of identity theft were targeted through their Social Security numbers.
Identity theft prevention is not a one-time solution. You must accumulate layers of privacy and security over time. The following identity theft prevention tips are among those I cover in one of my keynote speeches.
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.
How sure are you that your company’s computers aren’t being used against you for purposes of fraud and identity theft?
Recently, Bloomberg.com reported a case in which Microsoft and the antivirus company Symantec joined forces to take down a massive botnet group. Known as Bamital, this ill-intentioned family of bugs is believed to originate from somewhere in Eastern Europe, and operated by distributing malicious software to unsuspecting computers. Once the targets had been infected, the hackers on the other end could take control of Web browsers and drive them wherever they wanted, re-routing searches and addresses to dubious websites that could infect them further.
According to the article, at least a quarter of a million computers were hit in this most recent attack. Globally, Bamital’svictims are reckoned to number in the millions.
Earlier this week the Feds cracked down on one of the largest credit car theft rings ever. The ring created 7,000 false identities to obtain 25,000 credit cards. Then they ran the scam through real businesses in on the whole thing, in addition to 80 bogus companies using more than 1,800 addresses, according to the FBI.
Through a series of identity theft and fraudulent actions, they were swimming in the hard-earned cash of millions of other people and business owners like Scrooge McDuck did backstrokes in piles of gold.
“This is, as far as we can tell, one of the largest, if not the largest, credit card fraud cases ever prosecuted by the Department of Justice,” U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman said at a news conference earlier this week in Newark, New Jersey. “We have already documented losses of $200 million, and that number could quite well go higher.”
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.
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