February 17th, 2010 Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Expert
Diploma mills were born along with elearning institutions who are actually legitimate and accredited bodies. Degrees and diplomas issued by diploma mills are frequently used for fraudulent purposes, such as obtaining employment, promotions, raises, or bonuses on false pretenses. They can also be used as a form of fake ID when [...]
February 16th, 2010 Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Expert
Botnets are robot networks of computers connected to the Internet that sit in our homes and offices. A botnet is generally banks of multiple PC’s from the 10’s to 10,000’s to millions. There are no hard numbers on botnets but last figure I saw was somewhere between 3-5 million. Another stat [...]
February 13th, 2010 Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Expert
Readers of these posts are familiar with ATM skimming. ATM skimming is a billion dollar problem and growing. A relatively new scam over the past few years is electronic funds transfers at the point of sale (EFTPOS ) skimming. People commonly swipe both credit and debit cards through the in-store machines [...]
February 13th, 2010 Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Expert
In the University of Cincinnati’s Journal of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, the authors write “The general population must be engaged as active security providers, not simply beneficiaries of security policy, because their practices often create the threats to which government responds.” Somebody is saying to take personal responsibility and start [...]
February 11th, 2010 Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Expert
A Texas bank is suing one of its customers who was hit by an $800,000 online bank theft that could determine who is to be held responsible for protecting their online accounts from fraud.
Computerworld reports Romanian and Italian based criminal hackers launched numerous wire transfers out of the client’s back account. [...]
February 9th, 2010 Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Expert
In the latter half of 2009, criminal hackers went from mass SQL injection campaigns to targeted attacks. SQL is abbreviation of Structured Query Language. Pronounced ”Ess Que El” or ”Sequel”. The attackers shift in strategy focused on targeting high-profile websites, concluded Websense’s State of Internet Security report for the third [...]
February 7th, 2010 Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Expert
Police believe they may have uncovered an international ATM “skimming” ring responsible for stealing money from hundreds of local accounts. Izaylo Hristov, 28, of Ontario, Canada, a Bulgarian citizen, was arrested at an ATM in the Boston area along with Viadiclav Vladevo and Anton Venkov. Venkov had $99,100 in $20 bills [...]
February 7th, 2010 Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Expert
The Internet has made our personal and professional lives very transparent. We now live in the fishbowl. Despite what many will argue, your privacy is no longer fully in your control. Your online identity is also something that others can control, and you need to do your best to manage it. [...]
February 3rd, 2010 Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Expert
Malicious software designed to gather usernames and passwords has been a boon for the criminal hacking community. Spyware as it’s commonly known records almost everything a user does on their PC. The most damaging spyware records all electronic communications via a web browser. That’s where the most damage can be done [...]
January 25th, 2010 Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Expert
For $400-$700 you too can be a criminal hacker. Phishing hacking and spoofing software has been around for a few years. Heres what may be an example.
The ease and availability of this good for nothing other than crime software has made it easier, cheaper and more user friendly than ever to [...]