Search results matching tags 'identity theft' and 'LifeLock ID theft protection'

Good customer service shouldn't include identity theft

IdentityTheft — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 22:51:00 GMT

"Thank you for calling. May I have your account number, please?"

Sometimes you have no choice but to give out personal or financial information over the phone. Have a question about your credit card account? Want to increase the minutes on your cell phone contract? You have to tell all to the customer service rep in the call center. But, hey, you can trust them, right? Maybe. Maybe not.

ID Analytics recently reported results from their study of 12 internal data theft incidents, eight of which led to more 1,300 fraud attempts involving bankcards, retail cards and wireless service.

Among the ID Analytics findings:
• If your information is part of an internal data theft, the chance of your info being used fraudulently goes up 2,400%.

• If your info is used fraudulently, it’s probably going to be used within 20 miles of the place it was stolen.

• Just like identities stolen from outside an organization, most identities stolen from the inside are used quickly then discarded within a two-week period. In five of the eight incidents, online purchases and services were responsible for 80% of the fraudulent activity.

When you call a customer service center, there’s nothing you can do to protect your information. Like it or not, once your data is out there, it’s completely out of your control.

Source for data breach information

IdentityTheft — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 14:27:00 GMT

Question: How many records have been lost or exposed in data breaches in the past four years?

Answer: Far more than 246,091,423--and that's just within America. The answer is "far more than" is because many of the private and public entities don't know how many records were exposed. Worse than that, roughly half of all companies surveyed don't report their data breaches or notify their customers or constituents.

I get this information from the Chronology of Data Breaches, a product of the nonprofit Privacy Rights Clearinghouse. They get their information from Attrition.org which is hosted by the Open Security Foundation.

When you look at these databases it's especially interesting to note which of the breaches is governmental or private industry. Or, how many are from hospitals, universities or K-12 schools. Or, take a look at how many breaches a specific entity has reported over the last four years.

And we wonder why identity theft is rampant.

News Flash! Laptops and mobile data devices to blame for half of all data breaches!

IdentityTheft — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 14:40:00 GMT

Brendon Lynch, Microsoft’s director of privacy strategy, delivered this bit of news you already knew at the Privacy and ID Theft Conference in Vancouver last week. He also made the dubious statement that businesses were protecting our personal information inside the office.

While he’s right about the first part—that laptops, PDAs and flash drives are responsible for most data losses—he was a little too optimistic about the second part.

In fact, if companies and public entities had better security policies, far less data would be walking out the door. Even within the office, there are often few restrictions on who is allowed access to sensitive information. And, without a strongly-worded and strictly-enforced policy demanding that data taken away on laptops, etc. must be password protected and encrypted, every lost or stolen laptop leaves more people at an elevated risk of becoming identity theft victims.

Bryant again resorted to common knowledge to fill his minutes at the podium with his remarks regarding hackers and how they’ve changed over the years.

He reminded us all that hackers were originally geeky guys with greasy hair who wanted to impress their equally geeky and greasy friends by gaining inside access. Now, he said, hackers are cogs within sophisticated organized crime syndicates.

What he failed to mention was the international flavor of those crime rings. Federal officials are still investigating the recent hackings of then-presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain, presumably to gain insight into future foreign policy. The feds seem to think the attack originated in Russia or China.

Microsoft is working on a new system that replaces the username and password with “Information Cards” that wouldn’t contain any personal information, but would connect the user to service providers, banks, etc.

However, given all the other tired old news Bryant trotted out, it’s hard to get excited about what he called “game-changing strategies.”

It's all about your wallet

IdentityTheft — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 16:29:00 GMT

Pickpockets, strap-slashers and food court loiterers know that once they get their hands on your wallet they have everything they need to assume your identity.

Here’s what you do to thwart the sleazebags:

• Stay alert, especially during the holiday season when there are so many crowds and distractions.
• Never leave your purse or wallet in the car where it’s visible to passersby.
• Plan ahead. Put your cash, check or credit card along with your driver’s license into a fanny pack or a small bag you can wear across your chest. Leave your purse at home, or lock it in the trunk before leaving home. DON’T put it in the trunk in a parking lot where everyone can see.
• Use a money clip for cash, credit card and ID instead of a wallet so you can more easily carry it in your front pocket. If you don’t think a pickpocket to reach into your pants pocket without your knowing, you’re wrong; it happens everyday, and crowds make it easier.
• Clean out your wallet, and carry only the essentials: Your driver’s license, one credit card OR one check OR cash. NEVER carry your Social Security card with you. Leave your auto insurance card in the glove compartment. Everything else belongs at home in a lockbox.
• Make sure you know what’s in your wallet in case it’s stolen. The sooner you can contact the credit card issuers the better; time is on the side of the identity thief.

I already warned you that I’d be plugging some LifeLock products, and WalletLock is my personal favorite—because I’ve left my wallet in a phone booth, a fitting room and the Rome Airport.

With WalletLock you make only one call to LifeLock if your wallet is swiped or lost and they’ll take care of canceling and replacing just about anything except your photos.

Covered documents include your driver’s license, health and auto insurance cards, Social Security card (what was that doing in there, anyhow?), professional association cards, credit cards, bank cards, check book or checks—even your passport, visa or immigration documents. They’re open 24/7 so they’ll always be able to help you, even if you’re out of the country and several time zones away.

Florida agency posts 250,000 names, SSNs to website

IdentityTheft — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 18:58:00 GMT

The following article is about yet another data breach. The loss and exposure of personal data is one of the reasons all Americans are vulnerable to identity theft and need identity theft protection like that offered by LifeLock.

More than a quarter million Floridians have been placed at an elevated risk of identity theft after The Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation posted their names and Social Security numbers on the Internet. Some of the records go back as far as 2002.

The records were on the Internet for approximately one month, according to an Agency spokesman. They weren’t password protected, encrypted or behind a firewall, all of which are considered elementary procedures in data protection. As a result, anyone with an Internet connection would have been able to view the information.

Fifty minors’ Social Security numbers were among the records. The Agency has not responded to the nonprofit Liberty Coalition’s inquiry as why the Agency had records for these Floridians under the age of eighteen.

The data breach victims haven’t been notified yet, but a spokesman for the Agency said they plan to send letters to them. There has been no mention of whether credit monitoring or identity theft protection services will be provided to the victims.

Even if free credit monitoring is provided, its protection is limited to customer notification after a new account is opened by the thieves. In comparison, LifeLock takes measures to prevent the thieves from using stolen personal information, and from buying, selling or trading it on the Internet.

In a response to questions from Liberty Coalition, the Agency said they “pledge to learn from its mistakes.” However the Agency apparently didn’t learn from an earlier, similar mistake. In 2002 4,624 Floridians’ names and Social Security numbers were posted on the Internet. That data wasn’t password protected, encrypted or behind a firewall, either, and was discovered when one of the victims did a Google search on his own name.

Visit LifeLock.com to learn more about Life Lock's innovative services that have made them the ID protection service chosen by more than a million Americans. If, after you’ve read the article, you decide to fully safeguard your credit and finances, use the LifeLock promotion code RD17 for the best available discount.