online identity Archives - John Sileo, Cyber Security Training

Online identity nightmare: will Twitter meet the challenge? Will we?

The jaw-dropping attack on the Associated Press last week may finally cause Twitter to start safeguarding our online identity – and it may even jolt us out of our apathy.

We’ve seen serious Twitter breaches for months. Hackers have damaged the digital reputations of major corporations and cultural groups. But Tuesday, the whole world was jolted when hackers falsely sent an AP tweet reporting that there had been two explosions at the White House. Within seconds, investors unloaded $139 billion worth of stocks, as reported by AP. Not all those investors were human; many were computers on autopilot doing high-speed trading. But the consequences are just as real and far reaching.

eBay online fraud leaves you saddled with debt, junk you didn’t order

Sending unwanted orders to the innocent is an old, online fraud scam that most of us are aware of. But there’s a difference between an unwanted $13 pizza and an unwanted $13,000 purchase.

Online fraud can hit you in some truly surprising ways. Take the alarming case of Ars Technica writer Ken Fisher, who does not live in the UK or own an eBay account, yet received a notice from eBay UK out of the blue, congratulating him for successfully bidding $13,000 for 500 LED lights. In an article describing his experience, Fisher expresses his concern that this could happen, and his further frustration that his attempts to get in touch with tech support proved fruitless. Fisher was unsure of the origin of the message and whether or not it meant he was having online privacy issues. In the end, he just ignored eBay.

CEOs taking notice of online privacy threats?

Threats to online security have been coming thick and fast. But a new study shows that CEO's may finally be taking notice. Is that enough?

If there's an upside to the recent rash of hacks and digital subterfuge, it may be that businesses are beginning to see the ugly reality of online privacy exposure. According to the Wall Street Journal, a study by analysts at AIG recently showed that more executives are concerned about breaches than harm to their property. Eighty-five percent of executives polled placed more emphasis on their information and digital reputation than their physical holdings.

Awareness is one thing, but are these executives putting their money where their mouth is?

It appears so. Studies show that there has been a corresponding increase in the amount of money recently spent by retail companies on cyber security measures and experienced anti-fraud experts. It's remarkable what a little bad press (hacking of the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Twitter, Evernote) will do to motivate previously complacent companies.