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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
There is a new wave of Hi-Tech Identity Theft that the average person has no idea is possible. Identity Thieves are able to steal your credit card information without even touching your wallet.
RFID, or radio-frequency identity technology was introduced to make paying for items faster and easier. What many probably didn’t expect is that the same technology can be used by thieves to get your payment information just as easily. All major credit cards that have this technology have a symbol (pictured to the right). It means that your card can communicate via electromagnetic waves to exchange data (your credit card number) between a terminal and an electronic tag attached to an object, for the purpose of identification. With a quick scan of the card, the same way you would scan it to pay for items, all of your payment information is directed towards a source or identity thief’s computer in this case.
Posted in Identity Theft Prevention by Identity Theft Speaker John Sileo.
Tags: "Identity Theft, Contactless, Credit Card, credit card fraud, Credit Card Theft, Electronic Pickpocket, identity theft expert, Identity Theft Speaker, John Sileo, Mastercard, Payment Fraud, RFID, Skimming, Video, Visa
There is a new wave of Hi-Tech Identity Theft that the average person has no idea is possible. Identity Thieves are able to steal your credit card information without even touching your wallet.
RFID, or radio-frequency identity technology was introduced to make paying for items faster and easier. What many probably didn’t expect is that the same technology can be used by thieves to get your payment information just as easily. All major credit cards that have this technology have a symbol (pictured to the right). It means that your card can communicate via electromagnetic waves to exchange data (your credit card number) between a terminal and an electronic tag attached to an object, for the purpose of identification. With a quick scan of the card, the same way you would scan it to pay for items, all of your payment information is directed towards a source or identity thief’s computer in this case.
Posted in Identity Theft Prevention, Sileo In the News by Identity Theft Speaker John Sileo.
Tags: "Identity Theft, Contactless, Credit Card, credit card fraud, Credit Card Theft, Electronic Pickpocket, identity theft expert, Identity Theft Speaker, John Sileo, Mastercard, Payment Fraud, RFID, Skimming, Video, Visa
The month between Thanksgiving and Christmas is the biggest shopping time of the year. As we enter the season of giving there is one thing we should be stingy with – protecting our Identities!
Holiday madness, crazed shoppers and packed malls. While we are bustling from store to store and internet site to internet site trying to complete everyone’s holiday list, thieves and scammers are taking our distraction as a signal to strike. According to the author of Privacy Means Profit and identity theft expert John Sileo, “This is the easiest time of year for thieves to steal wallets, break into houses and profit financially from the season of giving without victims detecting it for a long time.”
With just three weeks until Christmas, now is the time to protect yourself and make sure that your Identity is safe from potential thieves. Just last month, Sileo was hired to speak to the Department of Defense and included some of the most important Holiday Safety Prevention Tips:
Posted in Cyber Data Security, Identity Theft Prevention by Identity Theft Speaker John Sileo.
Tags: Christmas, CSIdentity, CSidentity Protector, CSIdentity SAFE, holiday, Holiday Scams, Holiday Shopping, holidays, Identity Theft Prevention, Identity Thieves, John Sileo, Risk, Safe Shopping, safety, Security
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
Some months ago, Google got caught sniffing the wireless connection in our homes as they photographed our houses to post on Google Street View. Although the case may be newsworthy, the settlement is only peanuts. Google has been found guilty of trespassing on Aaron and Christine Boring’s home and will have to pay them the astounding amount of $1 for punitive damages. The search engine giant admitted that they trespassed when they took a picture of the plaintiffs house for Google Street View and ended up settling the case. The couple were hoping to make a point, but also realized that they financially can’t take on the huge corporation.
Posted in Identity Theft Prevention by Identity Theft Speaker John Sileo.
Tags: Google, John Sileo, Privacy, Security, Sniffing, Spying, Street View, Wireless
According to the Wall Street Journal, profiling methods for Internet users are coming back and are more intrusive than ever. Advertisers may begin to use a technology known as “deep packet inspection,” which reads and analyzes the raw packets of your personal data that travel across the internet.
These packets contain all of your online activity – not just your web browsing – and therefore can be more dangerous than “cookies”. With the information they gather online, advertisers target ads directly to you based on your online history. Have you ever felt like all the advertisements on sites were for services you have used or would use? Well they often are, and with deep packet inspection, they will be even more specific! The use of this technology gives advertisers the ability to show you ads based on extremely detailed information. It is so specific that they could theoretically tell if you are online for work or for fun, though they don’t necessarily distinguish on this trait when serving up ads. They can also tell the difference between your usage style and that of your spouse or kids. Thanks to the WSJ for this simple graphic of how deep packet inspection can work:
Posted in Cyber Data Security, Identity Theft Prevention by Identity Theft Speaker John Sileo.
Tags: Deep Packet Inspection, Information Exposure, John Sileo, Kindsight, Phorm
Don’t let a Cyber Scrooge Spoil Your Holidays!
Although most shoppers gear up and focus on Black Friday, Cyber Monday offers tons of hot deals to online shoppers. It began in 2005 and quickly became one of the biggest online shopping days of the year. On average, online shopping increases by 16% (worth more than $760 million dollars) on this one day alone!
Shoppers find the appeal in avoiding parking lots at malls, bustling stores and frantic holiday crowds. While it is very convenient, you can also be putting yourself at greater risk for identity theft and credit card fraud if you are not careful. In any situation there are steps you can take to protect yourself and make it easier to detect fraud if you become a victim. If you protect yourself, I feel that you are safer shopping online than in person (where about 15% of identity theft takes place).
Posted in Cyber Data Security, Identity Theft Prevention by Identity Theft Speaker John Sileo.
Tags: Cyber Crime, Cyber Monday, Cyber Theft, identity theft expert, Identity Theft Prevention, Identity Theft Speaker, identity theft speakers, John Sileo, Online Safety, Online Shopping, Online Shopping Safety
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
