The Smartcard Alliance has released an in-depth report called “Medical Identity Theft in Healthcare.”

While identity theft is a global issue that garners much media attention, most do not realize that medical identity theft is a serious and growing threat. Many authorities consider medical identity theft one of the fastest growing crimes in America. With the digital age of healthcare upon us, the risks are expected to increase as electronic medical records become more prevalent and the exchange of this data over expanding networks becomes more pervasive. Heightened concern over personal data security and privacy highlight the importance of having secure electronic medical identities.

According to a recent Ponemon Institute study, nearly 1.5 million Americans have been victims of medical identity theft with an estimated total cost of $28.6 billion–or approximately $20,000 per victim. [1] Further evidence of the significance of the medical fraud problem is the allocation of $1.7 billion for fraud detection in the 2011 U.S. Health and Human Services Department budget. [2] In 2009, 68 reported healthcare data breaches in the U.S. put over 11.3 million patient records at risk of exposure.

Patients whose medical identities are stolen face serious lingering effects. Fraudulent healthcare events can leave erroneous data in medical records. This erroneous information–like information about tests, diagnoses and procedures–can greatly affect future healthcare and insurance coverage and costs. Patients are often unaware of medical identity theft until a curious bill or a surprising line of questioning by a doctor exposes the issue. Then, the burden of proof is often with the patient and it can be difficult to get the patient’s legitimate medical records cleaned up. The consequences can also be life threatening and can lead to serious medical errors and fatalities.

Identity theft prevention services generally will not protect you from medical identity theft. However, if your information is out there on the Net and being scanned constantly by the identity theft protection service, then your risk is lowered. Furthermore, I’m all about layers of protection. If your identity is protected from new account fraud via credit monitoring or credit freezes then the thief may use another identity that has less restrictions.

1. Get a credit freeze and follow the steps for your particular state. This is an absolutely necessary tool to secure your credit. In most cases, it prevents new accounts from being opened in your name. This makes your Social Security number useless to a potential identity thief.

2. Invest in Intelius identity theft protection and prevention. Not all forms of identity theft can be prevented, but identity theft protection services can dramatically reduce your risk. (Disclosures)

Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Speaker discussing Medical Identity Theft on the CBS Early Show

Prevent Abductions: When returning to a parked car, scan the area around your car, be alert to suspicious activity. Be aware of vans. Abductors and rapist open up the side doors and pull in their victims.

Never Use Your Keys As A Weapon: Contrary to popular belief your keys are not a good weapon. Using your keys as a weapon can injure your hand, the keys can break, you lose your “key to safety”, and you lose access to your car and home which are safe havens. Unless it’s a LARGE key. Then it’s a good weapon.

Prevent Home Invasions: You tell your children not to talk to strangers, so why do you open the door to a total stranger? Home-invaders pose as delivery people, public workers, or people in distress. Install peepholes, talk through the door. Under no circumstances do you open the door unless you get phone numbers to call their superiors. If someone is in distress tell him or her you will call the police for them. Install security cameras and a home security system.

Safety On The Streets: One dollar bills and change in an easily accessible pocket. Then if someone tries to rob you, you can throw the “chump change” several feet away. The robber will draw his attention to it giving you time to escape. Do not fight over material items.

What To Do If Attacked: Fighting, running and screaming are all options. Remember: You are worth fighting for!

Safety In Your Car: In the event of a minor accident, stop only in a well-lit area. Carjackers often provoke such “accidents” just to get a victim to stop. DO NOT stop on a deserted, dark street. Drive to a police station or a gas station. Use a cell phone and call 911.

Home Safe Home: Consider a second line or a cell phone in your bedroom. That’s because burglars often remove a telephone from the receiver when they enter a home. Of course, an alarm system activated while you are sleeping will prevent a home burglar from getting this far. Newer home alarms have cellular options, a safeguard even if the phone lines are cut.

Vacation/Business Traveler Safety: Be suspicious of a call from the hotel desk just after checking in requesting verification of your credit card number “because the imprint was unreadable.” A thief may have watched you enter the hotel room and called from the guest phone in the lobby. Never open your hotel room to anyone.

Telephone Security: Never give personal information over the phone unless you initiate the call. Do not click on links in text messages asking you to update banking information. Set your mobile to require password access in case it’s lost or stolen.

Robert Siciliano personal security expert to Home Security Source discussing home security and identity theft on TBS Movie and a Makeover.

Medical identity theft occurs when the perpetrator uses your name and in some cases other aspects of your identity, such as insurance information, to obtain medical treatment or medication or to make false claims for treatment or medication. As a result, erroneous or fraudulent entries wind up on your medical records, or sometimes entirely fictional medical records are created in your name. Financial identity theft as it relates to new account fraud is when an identity thief gets the victim’s Social Security number and opens new financial accounts under the victim’s name. There’s very little protection from this due to a flawed system of open credit and lack of authenticating the actual “owner” of the SSN.

In Chicago, ABC News reports “Seven people have been arrested in an identity theft ring that allegedly used information stolen from victims’ medical records to obtain credit cards. The identities of more than 200 patients of a Chicago hospital were stolen. The information was stolen from the offices of the Northwestern Medical Faculty Foundation. That information led to $300,000 worth of goods and services being racked up on fraudulently.The suspects are even accused of using Facebook to post photos of themselves posing with stolen clothing and jewelry.”

One of the rings leaders alleged to have been a part of the group, is being held on $100,000 bond. Apparently her third run-in with the law.

Her mom said “That’s really not her. She is a good person. She do have a heart.” She “do”, huh? She do like to steal identities too. And she do like to buy her nice stuff with those stolen identities. The victims have to spend many hours cleaning up their good names. They may be denied loans in the process or jobs or insurance due to bad credit.

You do need to protect yourself from new account fraud and identity theft protection and a credit freeze is the best way. I did a spot on Good Morning America on this story below.

1. Get a credit freeze and follow the steps for your particular state. This is an absolutely necessary tool to secure your credit. In most cases, it prevents new accounts from being opened in your name. This makes your Social Security number useless to a potential identity thief.

2. Invest in Intelius identity theft protection and prevention. Not all forms of identity theft can be prevented, but identity theft protection services can dramatically reduce your risk. (Disclosures)

Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Speaker discussing ID Theft Ring on Good Morning America

Most people are smart enough to NOT give out a social security number on Facebook. However between what you say, your family, friends and colleagues say and post, your profile is becoming more complete every minute. Even your mom or wife posts her name as “First Maiden Last” because she saw someone else do it and it made sense to allow her old friends/flames to find her.

But today with all this personal information readily available there are now rumblings from academia that they have cracked the code and have assembled technologies to decipher all this information and turn it into hard decipherable data that leads to opening new accounts in your name.

The New York Times reports “computer scientists and policy experts say that such seemingly innocuous bits of self-revelation can increasingly be collected and reassembled by computers to help create a picture of a person’s identity, sometimes down to the Social Security number. So far, this type of powerful data mining, which relies on sophisticated statistical correlations, is mostly in the realm of university researchers, not identity thieves and marketers.”

SearchSecurity.com reports that researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have developed a reliable method to predict Social Security numbers using information from social networking sites, data brokers, voter registration lists, online white pages and the publicly available Social Security Administration’s Death Master File.

Originally, the first three numbers on a Social Security card represented the state in which a person had initially applied for their card. Numbers started in the northeast and moved westward. This meant that people on the east coast had the lowest numbers and those on the west coast had the highest. Before 1986, people were rarely assigned a Social Security number until age 14 or so, since the numbers were used for income tracking purposes.

From this point on I’d suggest locking down social media profiles in a way that they are not publicly accessible. Prevent anyone (except those very close to you) from seeing and reading everything about your daily activities, who you associate with and all the names and contact information of all your friends and family.

Robert Siciliano personal security expert to Home Security Source discussing cracking the code and wireless security on Fox Boston.

Dispatchers from the police department listened in at the duo discussing the cars they were breaking into and the stuff that was worth taking. Seems some info was given that directed law enforcement to the parking lot of a local nightclub where the teens were apprehended. Karma man karma.

Meanwhile, another Cro-Magnon Mickey-the-dunce in Utah stole 2 phones from a convenience store. In the process he left a piece of paper with an address he was going to. So now cops had a lead. But it gets better. The store clerk reported the theft and gave a description of the man to police.

Moments later as Mickey was driving and looking for the address, he pulled over to ask a cop for directions. Immediately the cop recognized the address and the dunces description and arrested him. Karma man karma.

And in an amazing criminal history that spans 55 years, an 80-year-old woman, known as the “Beverly Hills Burglar,” gets three years for breaking into a medical building. Her rap sheet was well known in Beverly Hills as she’s been to the clink in the past. She was quoted saying “I’m 80 years old,” she said. “I don’t think I’ll ever come back – except I’m going to die and be in the morgue.”

That’s amazing and sad all at the same time.

Lock up. Don’t be victimized. And don’t be dumb.

Home Safety Tips:

1. Install outdoor lighting on timers and motion sensors.

2. Make sure your home has a “lived in” look.

3. Use indoor timers for lights, TVs and automatic shades.

4. Install security cameras that can be remotely monitored.

5. Install a home alarm system monitored by an alarm company and the police.

Robert Siciliano personal security expert to Home Security Source discussing home security and identity theft on TBS Movie and a Makeover.

Con men posing as city employees seem to be the most effective scam. In one incident 2 men posed as city workers who were trimming trees in a neighborhood. One man would knock on the door and schmooze the resident into allowing him into the home. He would then coax the person into the back area of the home while his partner would sneak in the front door.

Once the second man was in he’d rob the person. Often they’d head straight for the bedroom and grab jewelry boxes and look for wallets and pocketbooks.

In another scam a man would go door to door and offer his labor for gardening and yard work for elderly. He would do the job he was hired to do at an agreed fee. But when the job was over he would request a significant amount of money that wasn’t previously discussed. In this case he would escalate the situation to yelling and threats.

He was so bold he would drive the person to an ATM machine to get the money.

In both of these situations the home owners were lucky the situations didn’t escalate to physical violence. It’s unfortunate that elderly are preyed upon in this way. If you have an elderly parent or neighbor, keep a close eye on them and watch out for them. Unfortunately with some people you can tell them to be careful and not open the door to strangers until you are blue in the face and they may not listen.

If you have an elderly person you care for and they live away from you I’d recommend installing a video security system in their home. Today’s surveillance systems can be remotely monitored from any PC in the world. I’m able to monitor mine from my iPhone. You can set an alarm on individual cameras to alert you to activity.

Consider a home alarm system too. Make it real easy for them to activate and deactivate using a remote control. Have the alarm company call them first, the police second and you third when an alarm goes off.

Robert Siciliano personal security expert to Home Security Source discussing Home Invasions on Montel Williams.

Today, copy machines, fax machines and many printers are just like computers; they’re smart and they have hard drives or flash drives and can store data that can be extracted. Peripherals in the olden days, just like when dot-com was a significant part of a person’s stock portfolio, were dumb.

Because of the increased demand of networked technologies, manufacturers of all these peripherals met the demand and built them so they can be easily accessed by everyone in the office. These same peripherals are often wireless too.

The issue here is that these devices, sometimes, but aren’t always treated with the same considerations as a computer would have. PCs are often locked down, access is limited and the data might be encrypted. Worse, when someone upgrades to a new PC, the old PC’s data is supposed to be removed, reformatted etc. This procedure is often overlooked on a copier/printer/fax.

Consider what kind of data is copied at your doctors, banks, mortgage broker and accountants office. Generally, there might be personal identifying information that can be used to create a new accounts or take over exiting accounts.

Where do old peripherals go? Many of them head to warehouses to be resold. Others end up on eBay. A quick search on eBay results in 7845 copiers for sale and 1130 used ones. If I can buy an ATM off Craigslist with over 1000 credit and debit card numbers on it, how much data do you think we can get from used copiers?

All the more reason to protect your identity.

1. Get a credit freeze and follow the steps for your particular state. This is an absolutely necessary tool to secure your credit. In most cases, it prevents new accounts from being opened in your name. This makes your Social Security number useless to a potential identity thief.

2. Invest in anti-virus and keep it auto-updated and check out my spyware killer IDTheftSecurty HERE

3. With your iPhone get my book as an App or go to my website and get my FREE ebook on how to protect yourself from the bad guy.

4. Invest in Intelius identity theft protection and prevention. Not all forms of identity theft can be prevented, but identity theft protection services can dramatically reduce your risk. (Disclosures)

Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Speaker discussing copy machine scams on CBS Boston

“Lola” the furriest of all beasts is all bark, love and very territorial. When anyone walks within 100 yards of the property she’s barking. If the door bell rings or someone knocks on the door forget it. All mayhem breaks out. If I or anyone enters through a door and she is even a little surprised she goes nuts.

In the event a bad guy was to walk through my door my feeling is he’d end up “sausage.” A dog is another home alarm system. It’s an extra video security system too. They often see and hear what you can’t day and night. Whenever my dog starts barking the first thing I do is check the video surveillance system monitor to see what she’s cracking about.

In the Boston area, it is reported that a German Shepherd thwarted a home invasion.

The key to getting a protection dog is to understand what a protection dog is and isn’t. First and foremost a protection dog doesn’t mean that the dog is a non stop-snarling-growling-aggressive-ready to pounce-rabid animal. Most protection dogs are relatively sublime, but aware. They respond to the call of duty when they sense a reason to.

A real protection dog is one that is trained for such a purpose. Certain breeds are more trainable and often go through a technique called “schutzhund”. German Shepherds, Malinois and Dobermans are breeds that come to mind. Generally, these dogs have what’s called “prey drive.” Prey drive is the instinctive behavior of a carnivore to pursue and capture prey.

Without prey drive the dog doesn’t have much motivation to do much, never mind put themselves in harms way.

My neighbors have these 2 little “Toto” dogs that think they are 125lbs Rottweilers. And frankly, I don’t get to close to them because they act the part too. They snarl and hiss and bark when their “Mom” walks them and they have razor sharp teeth. It’s not the size of the dog in the fight; it’s the size of the fight in the dog.

Ultimately you want a dog that is safe around you and children. Just as important the dog needs to be safe around strangers too. The dog needs to be sensitive to who or what is good, and when there is a threat. A dog that bites for no reason isn’t a protection dog; it’s a lawsuit and a burden.

Do your research to determine what’s best for you and your family. No matter what dog you get, show them respect and they will watch your back.

Robert Siciliano personal security expert to Home Security Source discussing Home Security on Fox Boston

Today is a little different. It’s not so easy to peel back the laminate. Most cards today are treated plastics, PVC, styrene, polypropylene, direct thermal, and teslin hybrids. However, while all that sounds technically challenging, it’s really not. Some of the do-it-yourself ID making machines are the size of a shoebox. It is however a tad more complicated than that. Sure you can go to your local office supply and buy ID making materials or simply buy fake IDs online, but will they pass the muster when put in front of numerous technologies that look for tampering?

That’s where the $10,000 Fake ID comes in. In New York authorities busted an identity theft ring and charged 22 people with selling drivers’ licenses and other identification documents.

“Among those implicated in the ring are two New York State Department of Motor Vehicles employees, who are believed to have earned over a $1 million dollars issuing more than 200 licenses and other documents over the past three years. The alleged ring leader of the group was identified as Wilch Dewalt, also known as “Sharrief Sabazz Muhammad” and “License Man.” Authorities say he acted as a broker who, in exchange for a fee of between $7,000 and $10,000 served as a one-stop shop for fraudulent documents.”

In this case the clients who were dropping 10G on ID’s were people who were hiding from the law in plain site, including felons, a drug dealer whose claim to fame was once a cameo on America’s Most Wanted and someone from the governments ‘No Fly List.” These were people that, A: could afford it and B: needed the best of the best in real fake identification.

In the meantime, identity theft is again the top 2009 consumer complaint, the FTC reported. The FTC had reports of 1.3 million. The number of American identity fraud victims rose 12% last year to 11.1 million, with losses hitting $54 billion, according to an annual report from Javelin Strategy & Research.

Protect your financial identity.

1. Get a credit freeze and follow the steps for your particular state. This is an absolutely necessary tool to secure your credit. In most cases, it prevents new accounts from being opened in your name. This makes your Social Security number useless to a potential identity thief.

2. Invest in anti-virus and keep it auto-updated and check out my spyware killer IDTheftSecurty HERE

3. With your iPhone get my book as an App or go to my website and get my FREE ebook on how to protect yourself from the bad guy.

4. Invest in Intelius identity theft protection and prevention. Not all forms of identity theft can be prevented, but identity theft protection services can dramatically reduce your risk. (Disclosures)

Dan Yost Chief Technology Officer of MyLaptopGPS brought attention to the Ponemon Institute, with sponsorship from PGP, has released their “Fifth Annual U.S. Cost of Data Breach Study.” As usual, the report is a treasure trove of great data (just like most people’s laptops are).

The average cost per breached data record rose $2 in 2009, to $204. That’s actually not too bad. The average cost of a breach was $6.75 million, compared to $6.65 million in 2008.

PC World has a good article to summarize, and thanks to lyger at DataLossDB for the pointer.

Not very many businesses are taking serious note of the fact that, on average, they have $6.75 million laptops walking around out there. For those who are, our hats are off.

Here’s an interesting excerpt:

“Overall, 42% of all cases in the Ponemon data-breach study involved third-party mistakes and flubs. In addition, more than 82% of the cases in the Ponemon study were organizations that had more than one data breach in 2009 involving the loss or theft of more than 1,000 records containing personal information. At about 40% of the companies that participated in the study, the chief information security officer (CISO) was in charge of managing the response related to the data breach.”

And how about the maximum data breach cost in the study? $31 million.

That’s a rather expensive laptop, and probably worth a few dollars to protect instead. (Note: the breach may actually have been the result of something other than a lost/stolen laptop, such as a network break-in).

The least expensive breach? $750,000. That beats $31 million, but $750k is still a pretty penny to pay, compared to protection.

Many thanks to Ponemon and PGP for another excellent study.

Protect your identity.

1. Get a credit freeze. Click on the preceding link and follow the steps for your particular state. This is an absolutely necessary tool to secure your credit. In most cases, it prevents new accounts from being opened in your name. This makes your Social Security number useless to a potential identity thief.

2. Invest in anti-virus and keep it auto-updated and check out my spyware killer IDTheftSecurty HERE

3. Go to my website and get my FREE ebook on how to protect yourself from the bad guy.

4. Invest in Intelius identity theft protection and prevention. Not all forms of identity theft can be prevented, but identity theft protection services can dramatically reduce your risk. (Disclosures)

Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Speaker discussing laptop security on The Today Show