Friday’s Food for Thought: Time for Some Levity When It Comes to Identity Theft
Every so often, we like to do a “Friday’s Food for Thought” post that showcases the entertaining, sublime and down-right funny. While we completely acknowledge that identity theft is not a laughing matter, songs and other popular culture snippet about identity theft can create more awareness about this issue. And, of course, we are not going to feature those so-called funny ads that offer free credit reporting. Do you remember our post featuring the FTC’s spoof videos on these TV advertisements? Yes, that was funny. Well, today, we have are featuring two video clips for your entertainment. One is more of an audio clip of hipster cabaret singer Nelly McKay’s 2008 song called “Identity Theft.” And the second is a “Funny or Die” video that features a guy singing about identity theft. We hope you enjoy Full Post…
Supercookies: What Websites Know About You
Most major websites now install cookies on your computer, which track what you do online. Over time, these cookies develop a profile, which becomes your digital fingerprint, to a certain extent. You may have noticed after searching for a specific product, advertisements for that particular product or brand appearing on various other websites you visit.
The New York Times reports , “advertisers are increasingly using powerful software known as supercookies, such as so-called Flash and document object management (or DOM) cookies, which can hold more information, and Web bugs or beacons, which let sites record statistics like what ads attracted you to the site and whether you bought something. They are not removed when you clear out your cookies.”
The “harm” done here is less damaging than it is invasive. Meaning I don’t see any physical harm or identity theft ever happening as a result of this refined marketing. More so, i
Using Social Media Passwords With Critical Accounts
InformationWeek reports, “All the major sites–Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, LinkedIn–have the same minimum password length of six characters. And password complexity checks are few and far between. Facebook and LinkedIn have no complexity checks. For MySpace, some complexity checking is enabled; however, users can enter a password of ‘123456.’ Twitter has a basic complexity check based on a static word list that’s viewable through the HTML source of the login page. You can’t use ‘password1,’ but ‘1password’ is OK.”
Of the 32 million people whose passwords were exposed, almost 1% had chosen “123456.” The next most popular password was “12345.” “Princess,” “qwerty,” and “abc123” were other common choices.
In another instance, phishers posted thousands of Hotmail addresses and the associated passwords in an online forum. These passwords were equally obvious. Those used most frequently included “111111 Full Post…
Monday Morning News Kick Off: It’s Cyber Monday (Be Careful); DHS Power Over Private Networks and Olympics 2010 and Cyber Security
Welcome to the official post-Thanksgiving Monday Morning News Kick Off from the ITAC blog. Now that we have all come back from a restful holiday break, it’s time to crank up the identity theft, data breach and cyber security news cycle. And, as always, there is no shortage of news. Oh, and for all of you Cyber Monday shoppers out there, word of caution: be careful when shopping online today.
Protect Yourself From Identity Theft on Cyber Monday Now that the holiday shopping season is in full swing the malls, internet, and other shopping centers are packed with shoppers. While the holiday shopping season may be busy for you, it can be even busier for identity thieves. Whether you are shopping at brick-and-mortar stores or doing your holiday shopping online, it is important that shoppers take measures to ensure their identity is protected. <
UCM Students Indicted After Trying to Sell 90,000 Classmates Personal Information
Two former University of Central Missouri students have been charged with stealing the identities of thousands of their classmates and faculty.
According to court documents, Joseph Camp, 26, and Daniel Fowler, 21, worked together in a computer hacking scheme while they were students during the fall semester of 2009. The two made a computer virus to infect University of Central Missouri computers, including the university president’s computer.
Once the virus was installed, the two were able to record a user’s keystrokes and download the user’s files. They obtained the username and password of a residence hall director, which they allegedly used to switch money from university accounts to their own.
They also obtained the username and password for a university administrator, allowing them to turn on the computer’s webcam to watch the administrator work and to download his e-mails, the indictment said. They als