Zero Fraud Liability

Posted on Wednesday, 18th January 2012 by Archie Norton

Q: I’m afraid that if I were to loose my hard drive completely, I wouldn’t be able to find and load all the programs I use. I’d like to know what service to purchase so that my backup includes a “mirror image” of my hard drive?

A: Online Backup services work hard to save all of your important files, making sure that you will never lose them permanently. In the event of a data loss catastrophe such as a computer crash, these services will help you restore all of your files with ease.

Though all of the online backup services we review keep your files safe and can restore everything back to normal, we  recommend the Carbonite HomePlus plan and HomePremier plan if you specifically want a “mirror image” taken of your hard drive. This feature creates a mirror image of your PC every 24 hours, which includes your operating system, settings, programs, files, and folders as of a specific date.  Th

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Tags: Drive, Hard Drive
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Posted on Tuesday, 17th January 2012 by Archie Norton

By the AllClearID Team

Jamie here, Chief Investigator at AllClear ID. Recently, I had the opportunity to speak at the Jump$tart National Educator Conference in Washington, DC. Jump$tart is a national organization “dedicated to improving the financial literacy of pre-kindergarten through college-age youth by providing advocacy, research, standards, and educational resources.”

In the presentation I discussed our research on Child Identity Theft alongside the FTC who issued some tips on limiting the risks of Identity Theft. These pointers revolved around sharing information with an entity you likely regard as safe: your child’s school. Here’s an overview of the FTC’s tips:

• Contact the school: Find out who has access to your child’s personal information, and ensure that the records are stored safely.
• Think twice before filling out forms with personal information: Before you fill forms out consider how the information will be used, whether or not it will be shared, and who will have access. Then decide

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Posted on Monday, 9th January 2012 by Archie Norton

When it comes to data breaches, how does 2011 compare with previous years? A new report from the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse (PRC) notes 535 breaches during 2011, involving 30.4 million sensitive records. But thats just a conservative estimate, since not all data breaches see the light of day. Because many states do not require companies to report data breaches to a central clearinghouse, data breaches occur that we never hear about, said PRC director Beth Givens in the report.

Even so, 2011 saw some of the biggest or most significant breaches in history, PRC says:

1. Sony. Sony suffered over a dozen data breaches, stemming from attacks that compromised Sony PlayStation Network, Sony Online Entertainment, and Sony Pictures, among other Sony-owned websites.

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Tags: 2011, Data Breaches
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Posted on Thursday, 29th December 2011 by Archie Norton

Information from ScamBusters:

1. Phishing and Identity Theft. As we said earlier, our biggest concern is the amount of information hackers have shown themselves capable of stealing by breaking into the networks of firms that hold our personal records. We think this will continue to grow, along with persistent attempts to capture our confidential information through phishing tricks via spoof sites, emails and cell phone text messages.
2. Malware. Law enforcement agencies and software companies have been moderately successful in shutting down botnets, used for spamming, and fake anti-virus alerts that trick victims into paying to supposedly secure their PCs. But the scale of the malware industry is phenomenal.

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Tags: Scam, Top 10
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Posted on Saturday, 17th December 2011 by Archie Norton

Tax time has long been a popular time for identity theft, with forms filled with personal information flying through the U.S. postal system. Some of them come from legitimate taxpayers and some of them come from individuals pretending to be legitimate taxpayers and looking to cash in on ill-begotten refunds. To help individuals who have been victims of this type of identity theft, and to help prevent future crimes, the IRS has instated some new rules for tax year 2011.

Tax returns from past identity theft victims will be red flagged, and extra checks will be put in place automatically to insure that the return is legitimate before it is filed.

Most tax returns will have to be filed electronically so that the computer system can pass them through electronic filters for manual review if anything appears to be suspicious.

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Tags: Identity Theft, Tax
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Posted on Sunday, 11th December 2011 by Archie Norton

Q: On Norton’s customer support, if I am having problems is there a charge or is this part of the service?

A: Norton Internet Security 2012 offers customer service as part of their security suite package. And not only do they offer the service, they customize it to your particular software, so that you don’t spend precious time searching their site for an answer.

After you select the software that you need help with, they first offer you personalized assistance via an online chat with their online customer service rep, Nathan. If Nathan can’t help you, there are other features that include common FAQs, a copy of the product manual, customer service forums and other specific categories to help you narrow down your search. In addition, they also have paid professional service that will fix the problem for you, so you don’t have to do any of the work. The

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Tags: Internet Security, Norton Internet, Norton Internet Security, Security
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