Identity theft has always been a concern, but with more and more details of our private lives openly accessible on the Internet, it's easier than ever for cybercriminals to steal somebody's identity — which is worth $5,000.
Criminals are also getting more sophisticated and tech savvy, but sometimes, we do most of the job for them. After all, "password" is still one of the most popular passwords on the Internet. And there's no need to tell you why that's a bad idea.
It is very easy to now write and be published online, even if you are halfway around the world. But it is much, much easier to have your content ripped off by unscrupulous parasites, who don’t want to put in the hours to create good content.
Some steal in parts, sometimes half-heartedly paraphrasing (to cover their tracks), sometimes using direct copy-and-pasting to take bits and pieces of a few articles to ‘produce’ their own piece. When you do this without crediting the original writer, this is called plagiarism.
With headlines almost weekly about security breaches in cyberspace, identity theft isn’t just something that happens every now and again, or to somebody else. It’s real, very real. So maybe you’ve been thinking about signing up for an identity theft service.
Before you rush to do so, give a look-see to the Consumer Federation of America’s just released, Best Practices for Identity Theft Services: How Are Services Measuring Up? They looked at 20 identity theft services and also looked at Internet complains about identity theft services. The study is based on CFA’s Best Practices for Identity Theft Services, the voluntary guidelines the organization developed with the help of theft service providers and consumer advocates released last year.
As Apple's popularity has grown over the past 10 years, so too have the number of crimes and thefts involving coveted products like the iPod and the iPhone. Typically, thieves engage in "smash and grab" type crimes at Apple retail stores or isolated muggings. But sometimes thieves get inventive, such as when a team of crooks a few years ago drilled a hole into the roof of a Best Buy, rappelled down and made out with a number of iPads, Mission Impossible style.
Researchers are working on an on/off switch for the next generation of credit cards. No, not to stop you from spending money you shouldn’t, but to help protect you from theft and fraud.
Credit cards are moving away from magnetic strips to more modern, no-contact technology. Now, with radio frequency identification (RFID) chips or near-field communication (NFC) cards, you can just wave your credit card in front of a reader to quickly pay for a cup of joe.
I have a confession to make: Over the past two years, I’ve been watching HBO content without paying for it. I’m not actually pirating it. Instead, I have benevolent family members who subscribe to the channel and have gifted me with a password that they get from their local cable provider.
$500,000 of jewelry is missing from a Chicago store after thieves drilled their way from a sushi restaurant into a jewelry store next door, evaded a state-of-the-art security system, and cracked a supposedly theft-proof safe.
The burglars just cut the bottom of the the safe door off making the bottom shelves available. Then containers holding rare gems and jewelry were crushed, so they fit through the small opening, and removed from the safe. The TL-30 safe holding the goods earned its name because it's supposed to take even a master lockpick 30 minutes to crack. Guess they didn't account for brute force.
A rampant worm by the name of Ramnit has stolen login and password information for 45,000 Facebook users, mostly in the UK and France. Prowling the 800-million-strong social network, the worm eats user names, passwords and browser cookies. It also acts as a backdoor, meaning a hacker can attack any computer that has already been infected. According to the Microsoft Malware Protection Center, Ramnit infects Windows executables, Microsoft Office and HTML files. The Ramnit worm initially transformed into financial malware in August 2011, according to reports from Trusteer.
Practically every adult in the U.S. knows someone who has had their identity stolen, if they have not been a victim themselves, which is plenty likely. In fact, according to the Federal Trade Commission, approximately 9 million Americans have their identities stolen each year.
I am often asked do I need a trademark for my slogan? Can I patent my idea? How do I keep others from copying seminar materials that I have written? Well, here’s a primer for what all small business owners should know to protect their valuable intellectual property assets.
Cybercrimes are becoming more mobile.
As more smartphones and tablets are being used, cyberthieves aren't just targeting personal computers to steal information for financial gain, antivirus security experts say.
