Written by Benjamin Woods on June 21, 2011.
- Identity theft starts with the misuse of your personal identifying information such as your name, Social Security number, credit card numbers, or other financial account information.
- Check your credit report from each of the three major credit bureaus every year.
- Open your credit card bills and bank statements right away. Review your statements and close unused accounts. Be aware if bills don’t arrive on time. It may mean that someone has changed contact information to hide fraudulent charges.
- Don’t carry your Social Security card or PIN numbers in your purse or wallet because of what can happen if they fall into the wrong hands.
- Avoid giving any personal information over the phone, mail, or Internet unless you know who you are dealing with. Give it to them in person instead.
- Criminals pretend they are collecting money for victims of a natural disaster. Sometimes they claim to be police officers and ask for donations.
- Elderly people are frequently targeted in money scams. Keep
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Written by Hugo Pethebridge on June 20, 2011.
Sometimes home security begins online. Many millions use and rely on PayPal for convenient and secure ecommerce transactions. But is it safe? The short answer is “yes”. The longer answer is “it depends”.
PayPal has numerous redundant measures of protection in place to protect their user accounts. PayPal falls under many of the same rules and regulations as banks and retailers. They don’t have a choice to be secure or not, they have to be.
But PayPal is just like everyone else, they are under constant attack.
Most security issues with PayPal aren’t actually with PayPal at all, but with its users.
1. Don’t click links in emails that come from PayPal. The emails may not be from PayPal but from scammers trying to phish your information. Always directly log into PayPal to access your account.
2. Don’t link your bank account to PayPal. If your PayPal account is compromised then the money stolen will be from your bank account opposed to your credit card account. There are many
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Written by Hugo Pethebridge on June 16, 2011.
Yet another reason to invest in home security systems.
Some people work in a building, others on construction sites. Some work in banks and some in people’s homes. Burglars and bandits go to work to rob banks and homes and that’s a normal days work for them.
A dude named Robert James Neese famous for burglarizing Dan Quayle the former Vice President under Bush Sr is known as the “Rock Burglar” and got his name by tossing rocks through a glass door or windows to gain entry to his victim’s homes. How original.
Neese racked up a reported 337 break-ins over 17 years and stole an estimated $10 million in cash and jewels. He was busted in Arizona and now instead of throwing rocks he’ll be breaking them on a chain gang.
Another famous burglar in Georgia known as the Grandma Bandit wasn’t a grandma at all, but just another (more than likely) drug addicted dude who donned a grandma disguise and posed as a cancer patient at numerous drug stores and would ask for drugs, then demand money.
After a string of robberies police released security surveillance video and photos of the robber who was eventually identified by a concerned citizen who called the police. And unfortuna
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Written by Hugo Pethebridge on May 29, 2011.
An excellent way to improve one’s level of security intelligence is to follow the writings of Robert X. Cringley, one of my favorite technology know-it-alls.
Anyway, Cringley’s credit card was recently hacked. And if his card can be hacked, anyone’s can. Like many cardholders, Cringley received a notification from his credit card company’s fraud depar
Written by Hugo Pethebridge on May 28, 2011.
Published: May 26, 2011Tags: Familial DNA, Grim Sleeper
Along with your neighborhood watch program and wireless home alarm system you should be comforted to know that there are technologies out there being put to use that help catch the bad guy.
Many of us by now know that a sample of Osama bin Laden’s DNA was used to effectively identify him. But how? They didn’t have his original DNA until his death, but they did have samples from bin Laden’s family members, and scientists were able to match them up and determine they had their man.
This is called Familial DNA.
In Las Angeles police captured a serial killer dubbed “Grim Sleeper”, based on pulling his sons DNA. Prior to the Grim Sleepers arrest, his son was arrested for an unrelated charge. From that arrest they pulled his DNA, and it was a partial match to the DNA found at the crime scenes of his father decades ago. This is c
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Written by Benjamin Woods on May 26, 2011.
Sony estimates the massive data breach affecting 100 million PlayStation Network, Qriocity, and Sony Online Entertainment customers have cost $171 million so far. However, lawsuits and regulatory fines could push that figure much higher.
The money has been spent on providing identity theft protection to affected customers, costs from welcome back programs that offer services for free, customer support costs, network security enhancement costs, legal and consulting costs, as well as lost revenue, Sony said.
Sony stressed that it has not received “any confirmed reports of customer identity theft issues, nor any confirmed misuse of credit cards” from the data breaches.
The company acknowledged that class action lawsuits have been filed against the company and some of its subsidiaries and regulatory inquiries have been initiated. These could significantly increase the costs from the data breaches. “Thos
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Written by Hugo Pethebridge on May 16, 2011.
Q. I currently have a fax machine with its own fax number. If I move to online faxing, do I have to change my number?
A. Most Internet fax services allow you to keep your number. Some, such as RingCentral, let you choose a new number from a selection of available ones. Others, such as MyFax and MetroFax, assign you a number. However, you won’t be able to find out about your number specifically until you sign up: Some faxpanies won’t let you keep your number if you leave their service. So the rules of your original fax provider have a greater impact on whether you can keep your number than Internet fax services. Review your provider’s terms of service for more details.