Preventing Identity Theft Cases

Massive Leak of Personal Information on Facebook

Posted on Tuesday, 10th May 2011 by Nathan Thorpe

Most of us naively operate under the assumption that certain things we do (i.e. Facebook messages) are totally private and nobody can access this information. Safe assumption, right? Well unfortunately, Symantec just announced that that third-party Facebook applications had access to users’ accounts and profiles “for years meaning they could see your profile, photographs, chat messages and collect your personal information. Im sure many of you are saying oh I am not worried I have everything on Facebook set to private. Sorryeven the most savvy Facebook users were exposed as well.

The good news is that these applications may not have known that they could access this data. And, Facebook has confirmed that it plugged the leak. Howev

Identity Theft Risk Increases Dramatically if Data Breach Letter Received

Posted on Monday, 9th May 2011 by Nate Sawers

If you get a letter from your financial institution or another company you do business with saying that your account was compromised due to a data breach, first call the company to ensure the letter is legitimate. Then, watch your back if it is. According to a study by Javelin Strategy and Research, if you receive one of these letters your chances of becoming an identity theft victim increase by 400% over persons who did not receive one.

Javelin’s survey of about 5,000 American consumers found that 19.5% of those who got a letter were later victimized, compared to 4.3% who were victimized but did not get such a letter. Robert Vamosi, an analyst at Javelin, told SCMagazineUS.com that it was not a fluke. The company has seen similar numbers in 2006 and 2007.

One of the reasons why this could be the case is because companies may only send letters to persons most severely impacted by data breaches, such as people whose ATM card personal identification numbers or Social Security numbers got out. P

Tags: Data Breach, Letter
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Top 5 Business Security Risks

Posted on Saturday, 7th May 2011 by Archie Norton

Published: May 07, 2011Tags: data breaches, Defcon, smartphone, Social Engineering

1. Data Breaches: Businesses suffer most often from data breaches, making up 35% of total breaches. Medical and healthcare services are also frequent targets, accounting for 29.1% of breaches. Government and military make up 16.2%, banking, credit, and financial services account for 10.5%, and 9.2% of breaches occur in educational institutes.

Even if you protect your PC and keep your critical security patches and antivirus definitions updated, there is always the possibility that your bank or credit card company may be hacked, and your sensitive data sold for the purposes of identity theft.

2. Social Engineering: This is the act of manipulating people into taking certain actions or disclosing sensitive information.

All details about debt settlement

Posted on Thursday, 5th May 2011 by Admin

Debt settlement is a legally binding between two parties: a debtor and its creditors. Comparing with personal bankruptcy, debt settlement is a viable option of debt relief as both the debtor and the creditor will receive a better deal. The main purpose of this is to allow a borrower or a company to reach a compromise with creditors and avoid filing for bankruptcy.

Often, debtors to facilitate a certain amount of money income of creditors over a fixed period or a third party contribution or other sources. This income is returned to the party. Between debtors and creditors, debt settlement is an agreement and is an alternative for people who have looked into bankruptcy. In radio and television, free debt management products are sold informally. Debt settlement as usual suits for unsecured creditors only. Read more…

Tags: Debt Relief
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LifeLock Study Finds Benefits in Identity Theft Protection

Posted on Tuesday, 3rd May 2011 by Nate Sawers

If you’ve been thinking about purchasing an identity theft protection service but you’re just not sure how helpful it’s going to be, perhaps a recent survey will assist you in making the decision. This study, conducted by Harris Interactive, involved surveying over 3,000 Americans 21 years of age or older, some who were covered by identity protection plans and some who weren’t. One of the most telling results of the survey was the increase in peace of mind that the current subscribers had. Over 70% of subscribers indicated that they were highly satisfied with this aspect that comes from being covered.

Also, 64% of subscribers responded that they were confident that they would be safe from complications due to things like credit card fraud and breaches in Internet security. Only, 38% of non-subscribers responded in a similar fashion. And 79%

Reporter’s Identity Stolen

Posted on Sunday, 1st May 2011 by Archie Norton

It doesn’t matter if you are young or old, rich or poor, if you have good credit or bad credit, pay with cash or credit card, whether or not you use the Internet, or even own a computer. You can be a maintenance worker or a scientist. It doesn’t matter.

Whether you are alive or even if you are dead, as long as you have a Social Security number, you are a potential identity theft victim.

Reporters tend to be fairly savvy and well informed. Identity theft, however, is a complicated issue, and anyone can be stumped, regardless of your level of security intelligence.

One reporter received an alert about “irregular check card activity.” It was sent late one weeknight, and she didn’t see the email until the following night. At first, she couldn’t believe her bank account could have been compromised, and suspected it was a phishing email designed to trick her into disclosing her account information. But when sh

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