Zero Fraud Liability

Posted on Tuesday, 1st February 2011 by Nathan Thorpe

Apple is poised for world domination. We have been addicted to our iPods for nearly 10 years and now our new addiction to iPads is getting to the point where we may need a quick stop off in Apple rehab. Though, do we really mind this addiction? Not really because Apple products make us feel, cool, hip and young. Wait, Apple really does have it’s hooks in us.

Though would be form an identity theft ring and try to buy massive amounts of Apple products with stolen credit cards? Well, our addiction is pretty severe, but not that severe. According to the Associated Press:

Dozens of people have been charged with forming a prolific identity theft ring that used thousands of stolen credit card numbers to shop at Apple stores around the country, according to a court document and a law enforcement official.

The group obtained stolen account numbers, forged credit cards and used them to buy laptops, iPhones and other merchandise at Apple stores in locales ranging from New York to Los Angeles to Wauwatosa, Wis. —

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Tags: Addiction
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Posted on Tuesday, 1st February 2011 by Archie Norton

If you have a home security system, you know the pain associated with false alarms. I have set this thing off at least a 100 times and then I have to run like a gazelle to the keypad to shut it off then wait for alarm central to call me so I can give them a PIN.

Many, if not all of us are guilty of setting off our alarms accidentally. Sometimes we open a door or window that sets it off, other times we mess up the secret code. The result of this mishap is usually a very loud siren and the attention of your neighbors. If you don’t call to cancel in time, then it results in law enforcement showing up.

In many counties, towns, cities and states there are laws and ordinances that impose a fine for false alarms.

1. Have your service provider set up your home alarm system to call your mobile phone first, then your home phone second. I

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Tags: Alarms, False Alarms
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Posted on Friday, 28th January 2011 by Archie Norton

So I have the new ADT Pulse system. It’s pretty amazing. I’ve had a “plain old” system for the past 15 years, which has been upgraded 3 times. The standard home alarm system covers monitoring, doors, windows, motion and glass.

This system has all that plus wireless cameras inside, remote controlled thermostats, remote controlled/timed light controls, flood sensors in the mechanical room and laundry, full web access to the cameras, an iPad looking touchpad that controls it, an iPhone app to control/monitor its cameras/stat it from anywhere, and a web dashboard that lets you control every single aspect of each control to inform you of activity or to set up a “reaction” to an incident.

This home alarm system is very simple and easy to program and once you dive into the system it give you a tremendous amount of “awareness” of the goings on in and around your home and it does it automatically.

I haven’t spent a lot of time on the programming just yet, but just by default the basic settings will alert you via text and email whenever anything happens. You also have the

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Tags: Home, Home Alarms
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Posted on Thursday, 27th January 2011 by Nate Sawers

A California lawmaker has introduced a bill that would update the state’s current data breach notification law, SB-1386.  The new bill would include additional requirements for organizations that lose sensitive data.  This is the third time the bill has been proposed.

The proposal, introduced Thursday by Democratic state Senator Joe Simitian would require breach notification letters contain specifics of the incident.  This would include the type of personal information exposed, a description of what happened, and advice on steps to take to protect oneself from identity theft. The new law would also require organizations suffering a breach affecting 500 or more people to submit a copy of the alert letter to the state attorney general’s office.

The proposed bill has gone to former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger twice now, but both times was vetoed. 

Simitian said in a news release that he hopes the new administration, led by Governor Jerry Brown, “will give this issue a fresh look.”

“This new measure makes modest but helpful changes for consumers,” Simitian said. “By requiring n

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Tags: Bill, Data Breach
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Posted on Wednesday, 26th January 2011 by Nathan Thorpe

Writing in American Banker this week, ITAC President Anne Wallace challenged RSA conference-goers to rethink computer security in a way that compels consumers to embrace it. It’s time they think more like consumer product developers and marketers, and makes her case in the excerpt below:

Consumer electronics companies are masters at understanding human behavior and creating products that anticipate and respond to human wants and needs. The most successful devices, and the applications that support them, are indispensable to their owners. By understanding how we behave today and what we will want tomorrow, Apple, Motorola and Research In Motion create compelling relationships between device and user.

The smartest processes, and the best technologies, are not effective if people do not want to use them, avoid them or will not update them.  Technology and processes depend on user adoption and consistent use to be effective. Th

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Tags: Anne Wallace, President Anne, President Anne Wallace, Think
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Posted on Sunday, 23rd January 2011 by Nathan Thorpe

Welcome to the Friday’s Food for Thought post from the ITAC blog.  There have been a number of stories this week that point to the simple fact that hackers are gaining traction, momentum and some would even say getting more powerful.

We recently wrote a post about a PandaLabs report that highlights how hackers are getting able to be more financially successful these days. And, as we all know, were there are dollars people will follow — even if that have a weaker morale code than the rest of us. On top of that, we also did a post about a report from Symantec that stated that cyber attack toolkits are becoming more accessible and easier to use, allowing criminals with little technical expertise to turn to cybercrime. As a

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Tags: Friday’s Food, Hackers
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