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London, UK (PRWEB) October 16, 2011
The world of identity theft is changing rapidly. Earlier this week Experian UK, a unit of one of the world’s largest credit-reporting agencies, hosted the 2011 Identity Theft & Fraud Forum at The Grove, a prestigious five-star resort located on the outskirts of London. The purpose of the Forum was to assemble a cross-cultural collection of thought leaders on identity theft prevention and to focus attention on Britain’s increasing financial battle with identity theft. Keynote presenters included highly regarded American identity theft expert John Sileo, Jairam Sridharan, Head of Retail Assets, Axis Bank of India and Jonathan Walsh, Head of Consulting and Analytics, Identity & Fraud at Experian.
During his afternoon presentation, Mr. Walsh revealed the results of a newly released study commissioned by Experian UK. The study found that cases of identity fraud have doubled in Britain over just the past six months and that the trend is likely to continue unless addressed.
Posted in Cyber Data Security, Fraud Detection & Prevention, Identity Theft Prevention by Identity Theft Speaker John Sileo.
Tags: "Identity Theft, Experian, Expert, Fraud, Identity Theft Trends, Sileo, Speaker
If you missed the first part of this series, please visit Child Identity Theft (Part I).
Child Identity theft is the fastest growing sector of the identity theft “industry,” and the numbers are staggering. Although it’s difficult to estimate exactly how many children lose their identities since the crime can go undetected for years, the FTC states that 5% of identity theft cases target children, which translates into 500,000 kidnapped child identities per year, and growing. The Carnegie Mellon CyLab Report states that in 54% of the cases, the child was under the age of 14.
The identity thief is not always a stranger. In many cases, it’s a relative with bad credit who takes advantage of a child’s pristine credit. Conveniently, these family members generally have access to the information necessary to maximize the fraud with little attention. This seems absurd, but imagine a parent who is strapped for cash, has a bad credit score and needs to buy groceries. In this case, short-term thinking blinds the relative or friend to long-term consequences. In other instances, the child’s future is not taken into consideration at all.
Posted in Identity Theft Prevention by Identity Theft Speaker John Sileo.
Tags: "Identity Theft, Child ID Theft, child identity theft, Child Identity Theft Statistics, children, identity theft expert, Identity Theft Prevention, Identity Theft Statistics, John Sileo, kids
Freezing your credit is the number one way to protect against financial identity theft. If everyone in the country applied for a Credit Freeze, identity thieves would quickly be out of business. At least, a major part of their business. Take 30 minutes and lower your chances of identity theft drastically (see the online Freeze links at the bottom of this post).
To go directly to placing a security freeze on your 3 bureau accounts, page down to the bottom section.
Every time you establish new credit (e.g., open up a new credit card, store account or bank account, finance a car or home loan, etc.), an entry is created in your credit file which is maintained by companies like Experian, Equifax and TransUnion (listed below). The trouble is, with your name, address and social security number, an identity thief can pretend to be you and can establish credit (i.e., spend your net worth) in your name.
Posted in Identity Theft Prevention by Identity Theft Speaker John Sileo.
Tags: "Identity Theft, Credit Freeze, Equifax, Experian, Freeze Credit, Freeze Your Credit, Identity Theft Prevention, Identity Theft Protection, Identity Theft Speaker, Prevention Tips, Prevention Tools, TransUnion
A study produced by The Ponemon Institute and ThreatMetrix (Mobile Payments & Online Shopping – October 2011) states that only 29% of consumers use mobile banking apps on their smart phones and tablets. Of those that don’t participate, 51% cite security reasons for their lack of participation. In other words, consumers like you and I are not yet comfortable with mobile banking apps safety. And our instincts are correct! Why shouldn’t you be comfortable with mobile banking apps quite yet?
Top 7 Reasons Why Mobile Banking Apps Aren’t Safe (Yet)
- Because most app stores (e.g., Android Marketplace) don’t review apps for security, it is very easy for criminals to post malicious apps that steal information from your mobile device (like your bank account numbers).
- The average smartphone or tablet user has installed no security software on their mini-computer (that’s what smartphones and tablets are), meaning that they have only a fraction of the security of a laptop or desktop.
Posted in Cyber Data Security by Identity Theft Speaker John Sileo.
Tags: "Identity Theft, Keynote Speaker, Mobile, Mobile Banking App, Mobile Banking Apps, Sileo
Oh what your mobile phone carrier knows and tracks about you! A one-page document from the Justice Department‘s cybercrime division shows how cell phone companies record and retain your call and surfing activity (calls, text messages, web surfing and approximate location). Here’s a summary of how each company retains your information (full details in the image below):
- Verizon Wireless – rolling one-year records of cell tower usage & what phone accessed what web site
- AT&T / Cingular – ongoing records of cell tower usage since July of 2008
- T-Mobile USA – doesn’t keep any data on Web browsing activity
- Sprint Nextel’s Virgin Mobile – 3 month record of text content
- Other than Virgin Mobile and Verizon, none of the carriers keep texts but they keep records of who visited a particular web site.
- Verizon keeps some information for up to a year that can be used to ascertain if a particular phone visited a particular Web site
Posted in Fraud Detection & Prevention, Identity Theft Prevention by Identity Theft Speaker John Sileo.
Tags: "Identity Theft, AT&T, Cell, Identity Expert, John Sileo, Justice Department, Mobile, Privacy, Privacy Expert, Security, Security Expert, Sprint, Texts, Tmobile, Tracking, Verizon, Wireless
By Kevin Torres, 9News
AURORA – Five of Aurora’s most powerful politicians found out how vulnerable they truly are. They’ve joined a long list of people who have fallen victim to identity theft.
The city councilors thought they were alone, until they heard from their colleagues at a council meeting.
“It was kind of a relief when I found it was a council thing and not me personally,” said Councilor Molly Markert.
Markert and four other councilors received bills for items they never even purchased, including electronic devices.
If there was ever an expert on identity theft, John Sileo would certainly be high on the list.
He’s written a few books on the issue and even does work for the Department of Defense and Homeland Security.
Sileo says the thief or thieves likely cracked the councilors’ codes by one of two ways.
Posted in Identity Theft Prevention, Sileo In the News by Identity Theft Speaker John Sileo.
Tags: "Identity Theft, 9News, Aurora City Council, Denver, Expert, Identity, John Sileo, Keynote Speaker
I’ve got a neighbor who’s going back to college this week and reminds me that this is by far the highest risk group for identify theft and it’s for a couple of reasons. When these kids are going off to college, it’s the first time they are getting true financial independence, which might never have been trained to handle. They have access to credit cards, to new bank accounts, and they’re managing it themselves. That’s a huge red flag that there’s going to be trouble. Number two, they’re going into an environment where their stuff is not particularly protected. They’re in a dorm room, they’ve got roommates that may need extra cash; they know they can take advantage of them. So it’s kind of a high risk environment. The third reason is because they do so much online. There’s so much social media interaction and that’s where ton of information is stolen. So you need to take some of these steps that are in this blog post. Help your students take them. It will help them out not just this year in college but helping them build their financial future going forward. Your identity is pretty much everything in terms of your net worth. You got to take care of it now.
Posted in Identity Theft Prevention, Online Privacy, Video Tips by Identity Theft Speaker John Sileo.
Tags: "Identity Theft, College, Facebook, Fraud, Identity Theft Speaker, John Sileo, Privacy, Social Media Privacy, social networking, Student, Students, University
Everybody wants your data. Why? Because it’s profitable, it’s relatively easy to access and the resulting crime is almost impossible to trace. Take, for example, Sony PlayStation Network, Citigroup, Epsilon, RSA, Lockheed and several other businesses that have watched helplessly in the past months as more than 100 million customer records have been breached, ringing up billions in recovery costs and reputation damage. You have so much to lose.
To scammers, your employees’ Facebook profiles are like a user’s manual about how to manipulate their trust and steal your intellectual property. To competitors, your business is one poorly secured smartphone from handing over the recipe to your secret sauce. And to the data spies sitting near you at Starbucks, you are one unencrypted wireless connection away from wishing you had taken the steps in this two-part article.
Posted in Burning Questions (Video), Cyber Data Security, Fraud Detection & Prevention, Identity Theft Prevention, Online Privacy, Video Tips by Identity Theft Speaker John Sileo.
Tags: "Data Privacy", "Identity Theft, Business Security, data security, Fraud, information, John Sileo, Keynote, Prevention, Privacy, Protection, Security, social engineering, Speaker, Technology
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
