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Though businesses of all kinds have reasons to be concerned about their susceptibility to identity theft and fraud, contractors working for the government should be fine, right? Well, not when glitches lurk.
There are enough threats to private information floating out there without us accidentally opening the floodgates. If proper security is kept up at all times, it creates a higher standard that can allow for less laziness and more protection. Unfortunately, even the government can’t keep the possibility of dangerous security gaps at zero. Contractors working for the feds may have learned this the hard way last month, when a flaw in software used by the General Services Administration left valuable information vulnerable to identity theft and fraud, potentially including Social Security and bank account numbers.
Posted in Identity Theft Prevention by Identity Theft Speaker John Sileo.
Tags: identity theft and fraud, identity theft expert
Businesses may already be rushing to protect their financial information, but other kinds of personal data are at risk, too. Case in point: medical records.
Big companies with huge profit margins might seem like the most attractive targets for identity theft and fraud. After all, what more direct way to get at your money? But there are other ways an outsider could infiltrate your personal data. Right now, security around healthcare information is a big concern, and fraudsters are lying in wait to pounce on gaps in the system.
Recently, the Montgomery Advertiser reported the story of National Guardsman Zane Purdy, who fell victim to a particularly nasty bit of fraud that cost him his high-paying job. Now he's a waiter making fewer than eight dollars an hour, barely enough to support his wife and two kids. Purdy's story is heartbreaking, and he's only one of the more than 800 people taken advantage of by the same criminal.
Posted in Fraud Detection & Prevention by Identity Theft Speaker John Sileo.
Tags: Fraud Detection, Fraud Prevention, identity theft and fraud
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.
Posted in Identity Theft Prevention by Identity Theft Speaker John Sileo.
Tags: Data Breach, identity theft and fraud, Identity Theft Prevention, top keynote speakers, ways to avoid identity theft
Too often we hear about what steps people should take after they have been victims of identity theft and fraud. That’s like telling a batter to wear a helmet after he’s been hit in the head by a baseball.
In a recent news report from a local Fox affiliate in Florida, Jackson Hewitt tax preparer Jessica Douglas said she constantly sees instances of fraud when people come to her to file their returns. Many of these individuals don’t even realize that they have been victimized until months later when they’re sitting at her desk and are blindsided with the news. The Internal Revenue Service sends back a rejection notice, which signifies that someone else has already used your Social Security number to file a return.
Now, Douglas says the IRS will give you a personal identification number that supposedly makes it more difficult for villainous types to steal your identity. But, once again, the catch is that you have to have already been victimized once before you can get a PIN.
Posted in Identity Theft Prevention by Identity Theft Speaker John Sileo.
Tags: Identity Fraud, identity theft and fraud, Identity Theft Prevention, Identity Theft Victim
In "Mission: Impossible," messages would self-destruct five seconds after being viewed. But, in real life, any application that claims to do the same should be met with hearty laughter and a salt shaker full of skepticism.
According to a report from a local ABC affiliate in Los Angeles, the Snapchat mobile app has shared more than one billion "snaps" globally. These are text and picture messages, sent between friends via smartphone, that supposedly disappear from the sticky tendrils of the World Wide Web without a trace. However, I highly doubt any application can completely wipe a message from existence once it hits the internet, which means that your digital reputation grows, for better or worse, every time you share.
Posted in Digital Reputation & Trust by Identity Theft Speaker John Sileo.
Tags: Cyber Security, identity theft and fraud, online reputations
