So you’ve had a rough day at the office. You plop down on your couch with a cold beverage nearby, ready to let the day go. You have twenty minutes until your chicken pot pie dings, and the thought of chicken reminds you of, well… Angry Birds. Harmless fun. NOT!
While you may be enjoying a mindless game, somewhere far off in cyber land others are just beginning to work very hard. WHO THEY ARE: advertising companies and intelligence agencies alike. WHAT THEY ARE DOING TO YOU: gathering all of the most personal data off of your mobile device: everything from your name, age, sex, location, and perhaps even your political alignment or sexual orientation—and lots more!
Click the Photo to Watch the Video on the Rachael Ray Site
We wanted to share some good news! John will be appearing on CBS’s The Rachael Ray Show this Wednesday, January 29 to talk about the latest identity theft trends and threats. Watch a trailer of the show or find out when and where it airs in your area.
Rachael asked John to go into one of their audience members homes and pick it apart from a privacy standpoint. John took a look at everything, from items hidden under the mattress to filing cabinets, trash cans, computers, mobile devices and more. If you want to learn how to bulletproof your home and self against identity theft, tune in tomorrow morning to The Rachael Ray Show (CBS).
Watch Tech Geek Curtis Nasalbaum’s Response from the Leonard Nimoy Cruise
Every year, several of my keynote speeches are to ultra-high-wealth audiences. Because they have a lot of net worth to protect, their incentive to prevent identity theft and online fraud is on steroids. But for the average family with a normal amount of wealth, the incentive is just as important, because their wealth (albeit smaller), is just as vital to their lifestyle as it is to the wealthy.
And this isn’t just about wealth. All of us want to be able to keep hackers out of our private and often valuable online accounts, including: Gmail, Facebook, Dropbox, Twitter, Hotmail, Yahoo, banks, investment companies and all types of sensitive communications.
I got my start as an identity theft speaker. I write and speak on the importance of being vigilant about protecting yourself from identity theft and online fraud from many angles: the stress of trying to reestablish your credibility, rebuilding relationships, regaining control of your personal information, perhaps even fighting to stay out of jail as I had to do. So while I’m an identity theft speaker, my motivation is always completely human. We as humans make flawed decisions about how we fail to prepare for things like identity theft. We as humans are the ones that make the difference in fighting this crime. As it turns out, our wealth is at risk.
Because we are distracted during tax season, we are primed to be socially engineered or manipulated by tax scams and can end up becoming the victim of tax ID theft. Here’s how to combat the problem:
When someone asks for your SSN, TIN or other ID, refuse until you verify their legitimacy.
If someone promises to drastically reduce your tax bill or speed up your tax return, suspect fraud and tax ID theft.
If anyone asks you for information in order to send you your check, they are scamming for your identity. The IRS already knows where you live (and where to send your refund).
Is your health and fitness app sharing your health score with your insurance company? Do health apps pose privacy risks?
I recently had the opportunity to attend a very informative webinar presented by the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse entitled “Mobile Health and Fitness Apps: What Are the Privacy Risks?”
It was based on a nine-month study on privacy apps that many individuals use to monitor their health, learn about specific medical conditions, and help them achieve personal fitness goals. Such apps may include those that support diet and exercise programs; pregnancy trackers; behavioral and mental health coaches; symptom checkers that can link users to local health services; sleep and relaxation aids; and personal disease or chronic condition managers.
These apps appeal to a wide range of consumers because they can be beneficial, convenient, and are often free to use. However, it is clear that there are considerable privacy risks for users – and that the privacy policies (for those apps that have policies) do not describe those risks.
Dictionary.com has chosen its “word of the year”. Thank the etymological gods it’s not selfie, twerk or hashtag. No, this year’s most relevant, most searched word is:
Privacy.
Call me geeky, but this is happy news to privacy experts, because it raises consciousness that this stuff (your right to keep certain information to your self) actually matters.
And consciousness has definitely been raised in 2013:
Data security and privacy experts everywhere should thank Edward Snowden for exposing the NSA surveillance programs that monitor every American’s phone calls, Facebook posts and emails for signs of terrorism (and any other data they care to intercept).
Thanks to SnapChat for making deleted photos recoverable (despite claims they disappear).
Additional kudos to Google Glass for raising awareness on how easy it is to capture intellectual property as criminals videotape their way through Fortune 500 offices, record ATM PIN numbers of the bank customer in front of them and deploy instant facial recognition software in a variety of social engineering schemes.
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NSA Angry Birds are Stalking You
I got my start as an identity theft speaker. I write and speak on the importance of being vigilant about protecting yourself from identity theft and online fraud from many angles: the stress of trying to reestablish your credibility, rebuilding relationships, regaining control of your personal information, perhaps even fighting to stay out of jail as I had to do. So while I’m an identity theft speaker, my motivation is always completely human. We as humans make flawed decisions about how we fail to prepare for things like identity theft. We as humans are the ones that make the difference in fighting this crime. As it turns out, our wealth is at risk.
Is your health and fitness app sharing your health score with your insurance company? Do health apps pose privacy risks?
