Archive for January, 2009

Looming Cyber-Threat Has Fed's Attention

Thursday, January 22nd, 2009

Outgoing National Intelligence Director Michael McConnell reported last week that Cyber-threats are among his greatest concerns, second only to Iran’s continuing development of nuclear weapons.

MSNBC and the Associated Press reported:

“…Iran producing a nuclear weapon and a cyber attack on critical government or private computer networks top the list of concerns nagging at National Intelligence Director Michael McConnell as he prepares to leave office.”

There are many well intentioned observers who seem to think that cyber-crime in general is on the decline inside the United States. Although there is statistically no need for mass panic, it is foolish to assume that our computer infrastructure isn’t the greatest information target in the world. As a practical matter, I think we are all better off with “someone on the gate” to guard our repositories of personal, commercial,  educational, financial and military data.

The truth is that many potentially damaging breaches go undetected and are often intentionally unreported. Back in 2005, the Department of Homeland Security constructed a worst-case-scenario type cyber-attack and concluded that over 20 million credit cards might be affected over a period as short as just one week. The Department concluded that an event like this could undermine faith in the entire U.S. financial system.

We all pray that President Obama’s team remains watchful and vigilant on the cyber-front during these desperate times. The Obama Administration has already declared our nation’s cyber-infrastructure a “strategic asset” and has pledged to protect “America’s competitive advantage”.

Great start Mr. President.

Posted in Computer safety, Cyberwar, Data Breaches, Federal Government | No Comments »

Relentless Fraudsters Begin The Assault

Saturday, January 17th, 2009

The New Year’s barrage arrives just days before President Obama is sworn in.

Today was unlike most days when I open my email, yawn and shrug my shoulders. This evening, my KEEN eye caught three names of email senders that I didn’t recognize. That generally means “junk or spam email, but today was different due to the sheer volume and ridiculously (laughable) transparency of these scammers.

These emails were online scams, so phony looking that anyone with “half-a-brain” could spot them a mile away. Three in one day! I had to look in a mirror to make sure the word “sucka” wasn’t pinned to my back.

Not only did the senders promise OUTRAGEOUS sums of money for my help, the spelllinngg was so bad that I actually laughed out loud.

Phishing scams come in many varieties including lottery scams, bill collector scams, fraud investigation scams, employment application scams, overseas bank transfer scams, credit card or banking verification scams and many  others.

According to the Yahoo Security Center:

“If you receive an email (or instant message) from someone you don’t know directing you to sign in to a web site, be careful! You may have received a phishing email with links to a phishing web site. A phishing web site (sometimes called a “spoofed” site) tries to steal your account password or other confidential information by tricking you into believing you’re on a legitimate web site. You can even land on a phishing site by mistyping a URL (web address).

Is that web site legitimate? Don’t be fooled by a site that looks real. It’s easy for phishers to create web sites that look like the genuine article, complete with the logos and other graphics of a trusted web site.”

Unfortunately, the current economic downturn is expected to cause a dramatic increase in the number and frequency of these fraudulent attempts to separate the uninformed from their personal data.

The good news is that these crimes are getting harder and harder to pull off, due to greater consumer awareness and more advanced spam filtering technologies.

Despite the almost comical transparency of the three scams that entered my email box today, the potential for harm and the growing frequency of these annoying ploys is really no laughing matter.

Posted in Computer safety, Cyberwar, Financial Scams | No Comments »

Forecasters Make ID Theft Predictions For 2009

Sunday, January 4th, 2009

Recently, the Identity Theft Resource Center looked forward to the coming year to predict events that will be the inevitable outcomes of the current economic crisis and the looming identity theft battles.

Real Estate: Homeowners who are behind on payments or seeking refinancing sources can easily fall prey to unscrupulous thieves who are more than willing to “take your information and see what we can do”. Bogus land grants and home equity scams will be commonplace. The recommendation is that homeowners speak directly with well known and established banking and mortgage companies in order to avoid the potential pitfalls of unknown solution providers.

Credit Cards: Many consumers may unknowingly turn to thieves in order to get access to credit cards, debit cards and debt consolidation loans. It is easy to imagine handing over private information to seemingly legitimate companies. Like the mortgage industry, the credit card world has been turned on it’s head in the current economic climate. Look before you “leap” into a deal that may be too good to be true.

Check Fraud: Due to the lack of easy credit, many thieves will turn to check fraud as a way to accomplish their crimes. Needless to say, safeguard your checkbook, deposit slips and banking statements as a first line of defense. Many financial advisers are steering clients away from using paper checks at all. If you must write paper checks, be sure to use an anti-check-washing gel pen and keep a close eye out for any irregularities on your statement.

Organized Crime and Cyber-Thieves- Rings of professional thieves from all over the world have helped make identity theft the fastest growing crime in the United States. Security experts agree that these attacks will become more brazen as time goes by. According to the Wall Street Journal, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has been reviewing “worst case scenarios” for possible attacks against U.S. government, industrial and financial institutions.

Consumer Scams: Common and rampant scams with nicknames such as skimming, phishing, vishing, pharming and whaling will continue in 2009. This is largely due to the weak condition of the U.S. economy, the vulnerability of average consumer and law enforcement’s scarcity of resources to deal with the sheer volume of complaints.

Breaches: Corporate, educational and government security breaches continue to grow every year. According to the ITRC, there were 641 breaches in 2008, surpassing the total of 446 in 2007. Due to the portability of data, the easy theft of laptops, the cunning deception of “inside scam artists” and the desperation of global perpetrators, this number will continue to increase. At the very least, have your own laptop or PDA/smart-phone set up with encryption and password protection software.

Remaining diligent, alert and informed about the latest scams and threats is your best defense against being victimized in 2009. Stay tuned.

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Posted in Credit card fraud, Credit industry, Cyberwar, Data Breaches, Federal Government, Real Estate Fraud | No Comments »