Comments on: How to Avoid Cons That Can Lead to Identity Theft http://ptech.allthingsd.com/20080501/how-to-avoid-cons-that-can-lead-to-identity-theft/ from The Wall Street Journal Fri, 12 Mar 2010 04:34:33 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Robert LaBlah http://ptech.allthingsd.com/20080501/how-to-avoid-cons-that-can-lead-to-identity-theft/comment-page-1/#comment-1244 Robert LaBlah Mon, 05 May 2008 20:31:45 +0000 http://ptech.allthingsd.com/20080501/how-to-avoid-cons-that-can-lead-to-identity-theft/#comment-1244 This is all really good advice. If I ever suspect something bad is happening to my bank account, I call the phone number on the back of my credit card or statement. I try to be smart about what email I open and I'm careful about where I stick my mouse. I use the phishing filter on IE as well as my AV program from Trend as well as their new anti-phishing program email id. http://www.trendsecure.com/portal/en-US/tools/security_tools/emailid i like this because i don't have to worry about it catching everything that might be bad, it shows me what is guaranteed to be real. even with all this, you gotta be careful and you gotta be smart! This is all really good advice. If I ever suspect something bad is happening to my bank account, I call the phone number on the back of my credit card or statement. I try to be smart about what email I open and I’m careful about where I stick my mouse. I use the phishing filter on IE as well as my AV program from Trend as well as their new anti-phishing program email id. http://www.trendsecure.com/por.....ls/emailid

i like this because i don’t have to worry about it catching everything that might be bad, it shows me what is guaranteed to be real.

even with all this, you gotta be careful and you gotta be smart!

]]> By: Brian Nerland http://ptech.allthingsd.com/20080501/how-to-avoid-cons-that-can-lead-to-identity-theft/comment-page-1/#comment-1240 Brian Nerland Fri, 02 May 2008 15:17:30 +0000 http://ptech.allthingsd.com/20080501/how-to-avoid-cons-that-can-lead-to-identity-theft/#comment-1240 Great Article outlining the active threat that Social Engineering will always present in our high tech world. No matter how fancy computer filtering services become there is always the threat that individuals and employees will make a mistake and gives away valuable information to these crooks. Companies can take steps to protect themselves by making sure their employees are aware of the threat, which unfortunately does not occur as much as it should. Proactive companies would be wise to take an additional step and hire an outside firm to audit their employee’s reaction to a real world email and phone phishing attempt. As an individual this article does a great job in educating you to this real threat. The old fashion con game is alive and well in our digital world. My company, RocketReady, helps train and audit corporations to face this risk and I am continually amazed at the success we have in obtaining highly sensitive documents and personal information using only the phone and email. I am afraid that as technical hacking gets more difficult more criminals will turn to Social Engineering because it is so easy and effective. Brian Nerland www.socialengineering.com Great Article outlining the active threat that Social Engineering will always present in our high tech world. No matter how fancy computer filtering services become there is always the threat that individuals and employees will make a mistake and gives away valuable information to these crooks. Companies can take steps to protect themselves by making sure their employees are aware of the threat, which unfortunately does not occur as much as it should. Proactive companies would be wise to take an additional step and hire an outside firm to audit their employee’s reaction to a real world email and phone phishing attempt. As an individual this article does a great job in educating you to this real threat. The old fashion con game is alive and well in our digital world. My company, RocketReady, helps train and audit corporations to face this risk and I am continually amazed at the success we have in obtaining highly sensitive documents and personal information using only the phone and email. I am afraid that as technical hacking gets more difficult more criminals will turn to Social Engineering because it is so easy and effective.

Brian Nerland
http://www.socialengineering.com

]]> By: rod sandcones http://ptech.allthingsd.com/20080501/how-to-avoid-cons-that-can-lead-to-identity-theft/comment-page-1/#comment-1237 rod sandcones Thu, 01 May 2008 20:41:10 +0000 http://ptech.allthingsd.com/20080501/how-to-avoid-cons-that-can-lead-to-identity-theft/#comment-1237 Most problems can be avoided with a little foresight. Most victims are just a little short-sighted. I keep nothing important on my computer that I have connected to the Internet. I have a separate one that I keep important stuff on, that has a big "do not connect to the Internet" sign on it, to remind me not to conenct it to the Internet. Of course nothing is necessarily foolproof, but a pinch of prevention is worth a pound in security, or something like that. Most problems can be avoided with a little foresight. Most victims are just a little short-sighted. I keep nothing important on my computer that I have connected to the Internet. I have a separate one that I keep important stuff on, that has a big “do not connect to the Internet” sign on it, to remind me not to conenct it to the Internet. Of course nothing is necessarily foolproof, but a pinch of prevention is worth a pound in security, or something like that.

]]> By: bambi vincent http://ptech.allthingsd.com/20080501/how-to-avoid-cons-that-can-lead-to-identity-theft/comment-page-1/#comment-1235 bambi vincent Thu, 01 May 2008 17:44:40 +0000 http://ptech.allthingsd.com/20080501/how-to-avoid-cons-that-can-lead-to-identity-theft/#comment-1235 Used to be that we could say a real email from your bank, brokerage, paypal, etc, would use your real name in the body of the message, not "dear member." Nowadays, ID thieves are targeting specific wealthy individuals, finding their names and photos and other identifying info in articles about fundraisers and the like. A group of these ID thieves operate out of Russia, and send scouts to the U.S. to spy on the marks in their own neighborhoods. The social engineering scams then concocted are sophisticated, individually targeted, and very hard to pick up on. I write about thefts and scams at Thiefhunters in Paradise: http://bobarno.com/thiefhunters Used to be that we could say a real email from your bank, brokerage, paypal, etc, would use your real name in the body of the message, not “dear member.” Nowadays, ID thieves are targeting specific wealthy individuals, finding their names and photos and other identifying info in articles about fundraisers and the like. A group of these ID thieves operate out of Russia, and send scouts to the U.S. to spy on the marks in their own neighborhoods. The social engineering scams then concocted are sophisticated, individually targeted, and very hard to pick up on. I write about thefts and scams at Thiefhunters in Paradise: http://bobarno.com/thiefhunters

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