According to the FBI the losses for victims of Internet fraud in the US was estimated to 560 Million US dollars last year. This is almost the double amount compared to 2008.

I don’t know if ironic is the right word to use, but one of the most common tricks was to use FBIs name to trick victims to pay money or to give out sensitive information.

Internet Complaint Crime Center received 336,655 complaints about net fraud, an increase of 22%.

NW3C Director Donald Brackman said the report’s findings underscore the threat posed by cyber criminals. “The figures contained in this report indicate that criminals are continuing to take full advantage of the anonymity afforded them by the Internet. They are also developing increasingly sophisticated means of defrauding unsuspecting consumers. Internet crime is evolving in ways we couldn’t have imagined just five years ago.” But Brackman sounded an optimistic tone about the future. “With the public’s continued support, law enforcement will be better able to track down these perpetrators and bring them to justice.”

Sources:
Read the full 2009 Crime report (PDF)
FBI Pressrelease

Until next time

Peter – Your Online Security Guide

Related posts:

1. Senate Uncovers Online Credit Card Tricks
2. Do you Bank, Invest or Shop online?
3. Phishing – What is it and how do you discover it?

In the Microsoft study the company also found that countries with high numbers of pirate copying of software also get hit harder by security problems.

“There is a direct connection between pirate copying and the number of infected computers” says Jeff Williams on Microsoft Malware Protection Center.

Pirate copying in China is about four times bigger than in the US.

Until next time

Peter – Your Online Security Guide

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Microsoft claim that the company hasn’t been hacked, but the information was retrieved by the hackers by phishing. It is rumored that over 10,000 accounts has been hacked. Hotmail has over 400 million registered accounts.

If you own a hotmail account you should head over there urgently and change your login information.

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1. Warning Phishing Attempts with Fake Microsoft Mail
2. Phishing – What is it and how do you discover it?
3. Vishing and ID Theft – New Consumer Threats

This is very important even if you are busy take a few minutes to browse through this article and find out if you are unsecured.  If you are unsecured its time to take action because all signs read DANGER and you definitely don’t want to be a Victim!

If you don’t have time to read through the top 3  software providing total security and peace of mind include;

Bitdefender Total Securite $67.00, Steganos Privacy Suite $67.00, Steganos Internet Anonym $97.00.

You may find them a little pricey but when you get an attack I can bet you will be spending alot more to get the problem sorted or purchase a new Computer! If you have spent so much money buying that top range computer or growing your business make sure you are Secured!
Consequences of  being UnSecured

1. Your Identity Could be Stolen

If you have signed up to lots of sites you are most likely to use one password for all of them so it’s easy to remember. If the hackers get into one account then you are in great danger as they could try to access all your other accounts using the same password.

Identity thieves can do a lot of things with your account and here are a few: Use your identity to access your Bank Accounts , Access important/confidential information from  Social Networking Sites, Delete  your Accounts, For Emails – spamming your contacts, send your contacts emails containing adwares

Things that could leave you open to Attack

- Leaving the login page’s “Remember my password“ checked.

- Forgetting to logout (especially if you’re in a cyber cafe)

- Website Spoofed/Phished – you have normally entered your username and password into a website whose design is adopted to the website you should be in, like Yahoo! These fake websites can even have the same URL as the target website.

- Accessing a computer with Keylogger installed on it

2. Your Computer Could Crash

This is the aftermath of having so many viruses, spyware and adware inside your system. These viruses and spywares are often times than not,  from programs downloaded or from storage gadgets inserted to your computer.

Adwares like spywares install themselves. They typically display advertisements once you go online. And this slows down your computer.

If you have  a lot of important personal and work files  you would be out of your wits knowing that you have lost months and maybe years work!

3. Denial of Service (DoS) Attack

This is the most unfortunate thing that can happen to any organization with operations running through Internet.

Denial of Service (DoS) Attack is the pursuit of making a computer deprived of doing its usual tasks and its services unavailable to its users. Where most of the victims of this attack are those sites such as banks, credit card payment gateways, etc.

Hacking can be considered as a culprit of such consequence. Stay secured with Steganos Internet Anonym.

4. Loss of Business leading to Bankruptcy

Apart from Internet thieves out there, who are masters of working their way into your computer network through whatever means they can think of, having bad data back-up habits can  contribute to the failure of a business. Bitdefender Total Security has a very good online backup facility.

With data as the core of any business, a simple backup could save your business from breaking down.

5. Public humiliation

We’ve all heard of scandals which spreads like fungus. Some celebrities even ordinary people have been a victim of this. With their personal, confidential and most personal photos and videos of them exposed on the Internet without them knowing is a total turn down. If you run a business that could be victim to this we recommend Steganos Privacy Suite.

Okay don’t say we didn’t warn you the ball is in your court.

Until Next Time

Peter – Your Online Security Guide

Related posts:

1. Do you Bank, Invest or Shop online?
2. Phishing – What is it and how do you discover it?
3. Vishing and ID Theft – New Consumer Threats

Identity Theft is on the Rise – Protect yourself Today

Do you bank, shop or chat to friends online? If your answer is yes you need to protect your identity online. Most of us do not think of online identity protection and we don’t realize the risk we put ourselves everyday. This is how many of us become victims of online scams. You do not have to be a Victim of Spammers!

Together with Softwarecasa we would like to make sure that you are protected and due to the tough economic times we are going to make it affordable by offering all our clients $5.00 Coupons as a special introductory price for GhostMyMail which protects your online identity and stops spam. In just a few seconds you can be fully protected. See below for info on how to redeem your $5.00 coupon.

Spammers will do just about anything to bypass filters to reach your inbox as a quick way of getting rich. We always hear of Millions of people like you and I whose personal information such as credit card details has been stolen through the internet. However you do not have to be a victim and you can stay one step ahead of the spammers by using GhostMyMail. This software will create a temporary, anonymous email address every time you shop or chat and this could save you millions!

Ghost Your Mail and Protect Yourself Today

Use GhostMyMail today which will create anonymous email addresses to send and receive messages freely while hiding your identity from the outside world. You will be able to safely bank, invest, shop and chat on the Internet without worrying that you may fall victim to scams. Also your inbox will be protected from being flooded with unwanted email, wasting your time. Get protected today!

1. Go to the page for GhostMyMail (opens in a new window so you can have this information handy)

2. Click on “Order Now”

3. Click on “Checkout” enter your personal information and click “Continue”

4. Once on this page click on “have code”

5. Enter your $5.00 Discount Code : boospammers

4. Click on “Checkout” and your discount will be reflected.

If you are way ahead and you have your identity protection covered you may want to protect yourself from hackers and keep your personal data personal! Checkout Softwarecasa’s Special Offer on  Steganos Safe on a very special offer but valid only in the month of May, SAVE $5.00.

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A report from KPMG states that due to worsening company bonuses, cutt backs and worthless stock options employees are more likely to do harm to their companies by theft and by destroying systems.

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Identity theft is not only done online. In fact the majority is done offline. Only 14% of cases are based online. So although many con artist do this at cyberspace, it can also do damage in the real world. By stealing Id’s, Credit cards and checking accounts they can access into your finances.

GT got her car broken into by thieves. They broke the window of her car and got her purse and some other valuable things. She expected that her credit cards would be used for some unauthorized purchase.

After a few days her bank called trying to verify a large purchase made on her credit card. Not just that, she also got charged for a maternity bill when she wasn’t even pregnant.

“They used my checking account and credit cards before I had a chance to cancel them”, says GT, a PR executive from San Francisco. A few months later she found out that they had also opened a new checking account in her name.

That one incident made her to go in debt and she couldn’t even use the account. This can be frightening to consumers who have credit cards and checking accounts. Someone can just steal your identity.

Now I am more careful and observant, says GT who has just only recently recovered from the financial mess that she encountered.

Majority of the people believe that Identity theft could only do damage when credit cards are used for online purchases. Well they are definitely wrong. A stolen wallet or bag would create a worse scenario.

For the one out of three identity theft victims who knows how their information was taken, more than 75 percent said it involved a physical method such as a stolen wallet, a phone or mail-order sale, stolen mail, or a theft by someone they knew, compared with 14 percent who reported that it involved online access.

What is Vishing

The Wikipedia definition of Vishing:

“Vishing is the criminal practice of using social engineering and Voice over IP (VoIP) to gain access to private personal and financial information from the public for the purpose of financial reward.

The term is a combination of “voice” and phishing. Vishing exploits the public’s trust in landline telephone services, which have traditionally terminated in physical locations which are known to the telephone company, and associated with a bill-payer.

The victim is often unaware that VoIP allows for caller ID spoofing, inexpensive, complex automated systems and anonymity for the bill-payer. Vishing is typically used to steal credit card numbers or other information used in identity theft schemes from individuals.

Vishing is very hard for legal authorities to monitor or trace. To protect themselves, consumers are advised to be highly suspicious when receiving messages directing them to call and provide credit card or bank numbers.

Rather than provide any information, the consumer is advised to contact their bank or credit card company directly to verify the validity of the message.”

Stay tuned for the second part in this series on what to do to protect yourself against vishing, phishing and similar threats.

Until next time

Peter – Your Online Security Guide

Related posts:

1. Phishing – What is it and how do you discover it?
2. Do you Bank, Invest or Shop online?
3. Are you UnSecured ?