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- Fight Back Against Identity Theft
Identity theft is a serious crime that costs American consumers billions of dollars and countless hours each year. It occurs when someone uses your personal information without your permission to commit fraud or other crimes.
While you can't entirely control whether you will become a victim, there are steps you can take to minimize your risk. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the nation's consumer protection agency, encourages consumers to Deter, Detect and Defend to help cut down on identity theft. - Avoiding A New Identity-theft Scam
Consumers should be on the lookout for a new type of scam that uses Internet phone services.
The scam, known as "vishing," involves criminals using Internet phone services (called VoIP) to trick consumers into revealing information about their bank accounts and credit card numbers over the phone. - Protect Your Business From Fraud
Identity theft is one of the fastest-growing crimes in the U.S., but individuals aren't the only ones impacted by fraud-businesses are also victims.
According to a recent study conducted by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, fraud costs small businesses a minimum of $98,000 per incident. However, the crime doesn't just cost money-it can affect credit as well. Identity thieves can run up bills in a company's name for months before fraud is detected. Those unpaid bills can hurt a company's credit score. - Pirates In Your Inbox: How To Navigate E-mail Safely
Excited about checking your e-mail? Does it contain treasure or trouble? As we get bombarded with spam, clutter and truly fraudulent messages in the inbox, opening messages and responding to their urgent demands ("Your account is suspended until you update your information") or unexpected offers ("This refund/trip/item is yours if you just verify your information") is like sailing the Caribbean of old.
Gartner Group estimates that more than 75 million people received an average of 50 fraudulent messages in a recent 12-month period. In its recent "State of the Net" report, Consumer Reports estimates that 29 percent of consumers have incurred costs associated with online fraud in the last two years, and cites security vendor Symantec, which discovered more than 59 million attacks in just one 24-hour period. - Small Businesses, Protect E-mail From Theft, Misuse
Almost daily there are new horror stories about e-mail disasters and lost or stolen customer and employee information. Yet e-mail containing information such as account numbers, social security numbers and other data continues to be passed around by millions daily without a thought to the consequences. The incidents getting the most publicity are from big corporations and government agencies hit by thieves or hurt by careless workers, yet small businesses' brand and revenue potential are just as vulnerable.
According to The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, more than 90 million records containing confidential information about individuals have been stolen from U.S. organizations since February 2005. The 2006 CSI/FBI Computer Crime and Security Survey finds that unauthorized access and theft of proprietary information tops the list of sources of financial loss. - You Are The Weakest Link, Say Hackers
Perhaps it was only a matter of time before hackers began shifting their focus away from noisy attacks on businesses and towards quiet, stealthy advances on unsuspecting home users. After all, end-user systems are often more vulnerable than their owners know, and by simply exploiting an unpatched weakness in such a system a hacker can often gain access to sensitive-and highly lucrative-information, including credit card data, Social Security numbers and more.
So says the latest Internet Security Threat Report released by Symantec Corp. The report takes a comprehensive look at Internet threat activity that has occurred throughout the world over a six-month period, identifies the current and emerging threat trends and provides recommendations for protection. - Awareness Campaigns Address Consumers' Growing Concern About Online Safety
Do you usually leave your house without bothering to lock the front door? Probably not.
Connecting your computer to the Internet without taking appropriate security precautions can be just as risky as leaving your front door unlocked. Hackers and other cyber criminals may try to control your computer, steal private information, crash your system or even hijack bank accounts. - Six Easy Ways To Protect Yourself And Your Business From Information Theft
Most people know how vulnerable they are to identity theft as a consumer, but few realize how costly and common information theft is in today's business world. In fact, six out of 10 American companies and government agencies have already been hacked, according to Frank Abagnale, the subject of the blockbuster movie "Catch Me If You Can" and now a secure document expert working with Staples Contract Division, Staples, Inc., to better educate businesses about protecting confidential information.
According to Javelin Strategy and Research, businesses and consumers lost an estimated $56.6 billion due to identity and information theft last year. Identity and information theft is also time consuming, with 40 hours spent per victim to resolve the issue. - Saving Your Savings From Identity Thieves
You may be able to save yourself from becoming a victim of the fastest-growing form of fraud in the U.S.-online identity theft. Approximately 27 million Americans have been victims of identity theft in the last five years, according to the Federal Trade Commission.
While almost everyone is aware of computer viruses or spyware software, many users are not aware of a much more serious threat-phishing and pharming. - Simple Tips To Keep Your E-mail Messages Secure
When you click "send" on an e-mail to your customer, client or friend, more people than just the intended recipient can read it. E-mail is such a common form of communication that we sometimes forget how easily e-mail content can be viewed by others. Whether you are e-mailing clients, your lawyer or even your child's teacher, you should treat your message as a confidential communication.
Consider your e-mail messages to be much like a postcard that you drop in the mail. Like a postcard, your messages and any attachments can be viewed by anyone involved in transporting them from you to your intended recipients. If you've ever e-mailed your Social Security number, credit card numbers or other sensitive information, then you need to take steps to protect your e-mail content-otherwise, your sensitive information could fall into the wrong hands. You can help to safeguard your e-mail by following these five tips: - Tips For A Safe Online Shopping Experience
The National Retail Federation expects that 47 percent of consumers plan to purchase holiday items online this year. Online purchases made on Cyber Monday (after Thanksgiving) alone increased 26 percent to a record $608 million, according to comScore Networks. But, as more consumers have moved online, so have criminals. Phishing, the act in which cyber criminals imitate legitimate companies through e-mail campaigns, and other forms of online fraud continue to grow, and consumers need to be aware of the dangers that lurk in cyber space.
In a year, the number of unique phishing reports (fraudulent e-mail campaigns) doubled to more than 28,000 per month, according to the Anti-Phishing Working Group. Attacks are increasing not only in number but sophistication. In addition to phishing, many cyber crooks have begun using a technique called keylogging, which can be much harder for consumers to identify. Keylogging is when a hidden spyware program is installed on the computer and records the keystrokes, providing visibility to personal information such as your username, password and Social Security number, so cyber criminals can build a profile with your personal information. - Adapting To Scams Is Vital To Internet Safety
The words "evolving viruses" conjure up images of illnesses silently mutating until they can evade the defenses of their victim or the latest medication. But another form of mutating threat is claiming thousands of unsuspecting victims each year: cybercrime.
As the security features on computers have become more robust, high-tech criminals have developed a revolving door of increasingly sophisticated scams, particularly because cybercrime has evolved from a hobby for hackers to a lucrative profession. The direct financial losses from these crimes exceed $1 billion a year, according to research commissioned by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. - Five Tips For Avoiding Phishing Scams
Every year, tax time brings new challenges for consumers. Not only do they have the regular hassle of filing returns by the April 15th deadline, they also have to worry about new tax scams, including phishing. For example, last year the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration found 12 separate Web sites hosting such phishing schemes.
Phishing scams attempt to trick users into disclosing personal data, such as credit card numbers, online banking credentials and other sensitive information. Phishers have historically used timely subjects to draw in victims, such as the Hurricane Katrina scam, but because it is a money-making scheme, they also hover around financial topics. In fact, Symantec found that during the tax season last year, financial services was the most heavily phished sector, accounting for 84 percent of all phishing activity. Tax time this year is no exception. - Securing Valuable Data: Tips For Small Businesses
If you want your small business to move forward, it pays to back up. That's the advice from IT experts, who say that backing up data is critical to protecting a business.
Data loss can cause companies to lose spreadsheets, marketing material and, worse, customer information. The time and money spent recovering that lost data can be considerable and so can the cost to regain productivity.
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