Online Security Guide » ID Theft

Record Year for Online Fraud

admin — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 11:37:58 +0000

Good times for online fraudsters says FBI.

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

Phishing: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [alerts@cdcmailsystem.gov]

admin — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 12:45:47 +0000

Did you get an email from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [alerts@cdcmailsystem.gov], then DO NOT respond or click any links.

This is a fake message trying to get you to give up personal information that will be used for illegal purposes.

I have received several of these the last few days with slightly different wordings, title and sender information. In any regard you can be sure that CDC or other government organizations will not email you about information like this. An easy way to see where the link goes in messages like this is to hold your mouse over the image. As you can see on the image of the email I have enclosed here it goes to a website on Isle of Man.

Until next time – Stay Safe!

Peter – Your Online Security Guide

Hotmail Passwords Phishing

admin — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 09:42:57 +0000

Microsoft has confirmed that thousands of hotmail passwords has leaked on the internet.

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.

Are you UnSecured ?

admin — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 11:42:28 +0000

Hello Friend,

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

Do you Bank, Invest or Shop online?

Maureen — Mon, 11 May 2009 16:31:51 +0000

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.

Phishing – What is it and how do you discover it?

admin — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 17:29:55 +0000

What is Phishing, how to protect yourself against Phishing and examples of Phishing.

Phishing is the use of fraudulent e-mails and Web sites to lure consumers into sharing personal and financial information. According to the most recent data from the Anti-Phishing Working Group, there were 1,125 unique attacks in April — a 180 percent increase over March (statistics from 2004). Since then it has only been growing.

Criminals are sending out millions of “urgent” e-mails trying to get unsuspecting consumers to divulge personal information such as their Social Security numbers or the passwords for their online accounts.

Some tell consumers the federal insurance on their savings accounts will be canceled unless they immediately update their personal details. Others claim to be from Internet service providers redoing their billing lists and others say something has gone wrong with a credit card transaction and that additional information is needed or the card will be canceled.

Sometimes they include links both to a website where they want consumers to divulge their information as well as links to the real credit institution website, to seem legitime.

What can you do to protect yourself against Phishing

Consumers can take proactive steps to thwart identity theft, such as:

– Regularly obtaining personal credit reports from all three credit reporting agencies and carefully reviewing the information.

– Question and correct any inaccuracies.

- Try to avoid providing their mother’s maiden name as a security feature. In many cases, identity thieves can find this information with little difficulty. Instead, consumers should substitute a name of personal significance, such as a grandmother’s maiden name, a friend or family member’s nickname, or a favorite author’s name.

– Assigning a separate password for each account requiring one. This step can help limit the amount of damage a criminal can do.

– Shredding documents that contain important personal information such as account numbers or Social Security numbers before discarding.

Examples that I got in my mailbox last week
(Links has been removed)

CitiBank Phishing

From: Citibank [user-supports09@citibank.com]
Subject: 0fficiaI Notice for aII users of Citiban

(Please note, the whole white part above is actually one big picture and one big link and it doesn’t link to the same place that it’s showing.)

From: Fleet [user-support4@fleet.com]
Subject: 0fficial Notice for all FleetBank clients!

(Probably the two examples above is from the same group since they are so similar.)

Vishing and ID Theft – New Consumer Threats

admin — Thu, 08 May 2008 06:43:14 +0000

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