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What’s the Anthem breach?
- More than 80 million patient records were stolen out of Anthem’s servers.
- If you are an Anthem, Blue Cross or Blue Shield customer, now or in the past, you are probably affected by the breach.
- The data stolen included at least Social Security numbers, birthdates, addresses, email addresses and employment information.
- Not included in the breach (or at least disclosed as being part) were credit card numbers or medical data.
Why is the Anthem breach so serious?
- When breach includes so much data on each victim, especially your Social Security number, it makes it fairly easy for cyber criminals and identity thieves to create new accounts in your name or takeover existing financial accounts. In other words, they can bank as you, borrow as you and pose as you in order to financially exploit you.
Posted in Cyber Data Security, Identity Theft Prevention by Identity Theft Speaker John Sileo.
Tags: Anthem Breach, Data Breach, Data Breach Expert, data security breach, John Sileo
Several major American banks saw hackers take over their websites recently. We’re not talking covert fraud or spying here, but an explicit data security breach disabling official websites. It’s debilitating, it’s devastating-and it’s becoming more prevalent.
American Express and JP Morgan have been the targets of sophisticated strikes that resulted in their websites being disastrously compromised. Even if the effects were only temporary, the fact that hackers were able to accomplish such a significant breach should serve as a major warning to corporations and government officials alike.
A data security breach is always an alarming state of affairs, but this current rash of criminal activity seems to focus more on aggressive tactics than is usually the case. And these data security breaches may be the result of nationally sponsored efforts. According to the New York Times, one group, known as “Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Cyber Fighters” seems to have come forward in relation to these attacks. The U.S. isn’t the only one to be the subject of such nasty attention: South Korea lost access to thousands of computers last month, and the European web protection group known as Spamhaus has been the target of an attack of staggering proportions.
Posted in Cyber Data Security by Identity Theft Speaker John Sileo.
Tags: Cyber Security, data security breach, Online Security
A hack doesn't always target your personal secrets or your bank account. If you're a celebrity, sometimes a rumor does enough damage on its own.
Ever since the naughty bestseller "Fifty Shades of Grey" arrived on the scene, the public has been wondering about the inevitable film adaptation. A recent announcement that former Harry Potter star Emma Watson would be the film's heroine must have come as a shock to many…including Watson herself. Because she hasn't actually been cast.
The news comes courtesy not of an official press release but a data security breach into German studio Constantin films that resulted in the leaking of documents, among them one confirming Watson's involvement. But the studio has denied that this is true, claiming that the compromised information is outdated.
Watson herself took to Twitter to address the incident, saying "Who here actually thinks I would do 50 Shades of Grey as a movie? Like really. For real. In real life." At least she's still got her social media reputation intact.
Posted in Cyber Data Security by Identity Theft Speaker John Sileo.
Tags: data security, data security breach, social media reputation
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
It took getting bit in public, but the President has finally taken a firm stance on online privacy protection with a brand new initiative.
Only weeks ago cyber hackers attacked the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and a bevy of massive corporate behemoths. Taking over their systems was a bit like taking candy from a candy factory (China manufacturers much of the security infrastructure that’s used to keep the bad guys out – so there are lots of back doors when they want to dip into the cookie jar).
In the past, certain pieces of proposed anti-piracy legislation like SOPA and CISPA have come under fire for being too restrictive and allowing private entities too much access to personal data. President Obama has expressed disapproval for those acts in the past, and in his State of the Union address Tuesday, he finally announced a cyber security executive order aimed at securing America’s infrastructure. Thank the gods of security that he is finally taking charge.
Posted in Online Privacy by Identity Theft Speaker John Sileo.
Tags: data security breach, digital identity theft, online privacy protection
