Learning to trust your Intuition

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The old TV show “Star Trek” has and episode where Spock is telling Kirk of a human flaw called intuition. Spock was all about analysis and logic, while Kirk often relied upon intuition to solve problems. Intuition is a complex human sense that isn’t entirely understood or even believed to be real by some. Some call it mothers intuition or women’s intuition. But I believe everyone has it even though some don’t know how to properly cultivate it for their benefit.

12DIntuition vs. Analysis

A Rice University research team wanted to know if intuition was more effective than analysis. The team also set out to discover if the intuitive approach was better if a person had related knowledge of the matters surrounding their choice.

For the first study, subjects viewed videos of 13 basketball shots, then rated them in difficulty based on a numerical scale. There were two groups of subjects. One group (analytical) was allowed time—prior to the actual viewing—to ponder any details to be considered, such as the athlete’s particular stance.

The other group was the intuitive group who did not have this time to reflect. Both groups had 10 seconds to give their rating. Their assessments were then compared to those of a basketball coach and his assistants.

Whether or not the analytical-group subjects had any basketball knowledge was irrelevant to how well they rated the shots. However, experience with basketball was indeed a relevant factor for the intuitive group. In summary, the most accurate ratings came from subjects with basketball skills in the intuition group.

The second study had subjects viewing 10 designer handbags and determining which were authentic and which were phony. The intuition group had five seconds to give their answer. The analytical group was allowed to look at details and then had half a minute to assess the handbags. The highest scores came from owners of at least three designer handbags—in the intuition group.

So what does any of this really prove?

Let’s apply this to a somewhat risky situation. An adult is learning to ski for the first time. Too much analysis hampers their efforts: “I’ve never done this before,” “I’m way off-balance,” “I might fall,” “If I fall I’ll injure my knee,” etc. As a result, it takes a good while for the analytical adult to actually be skiing.

However, put skis on a three-year-old for the first time, and what happens? It’s not long before the preschooler is zipping past the adult, even though from a neuromuscular standpoint, the adult is far superior to the preschooler. What’s going on? The preschooler’s brain isn’t developed enough to analyze. They have no fear.

Let’s take this a step further: self-defense. Hannah is approached by a much bigger man intent on assaulting her. Immediately she’s thinking, “I can’t fight him off; he’s a foot taller; he might have a knife; he’ll strangle me with his big hands; his eyes look glazed—he’s crazed on drugs…” She gets assaulted.

This same man approaches Kaytie, who’s the same size as Hannah. Kaytie has no self-defense training, facing the same situation by this disgusting being, it doesn’t register to Kaytie that he’s bigger or that he might have a knife.

She’s not logical. She doesn’t analyze. She’s pure raw emotion—and intuitively knows her desire to protect herself is far greater than his desire to violate her. She goes wild on him, resists and she flees.

This same principle can be applied to situations like getting into an elevator with a strange man. A woman should trust her intuition or gut feeling, rather than analyze: “I’ll seem rude if I tell him I’ll wait for the next elevator,” “I must be imagining he’s dangerous; after all, he’s well-dressed.”

Too much cerebral cortex can put women (and men) in danger. An animal in the wild relies upon gut instinct. We can learn from wild animals.

Robert Siciliano personal and home security specialist to BestHomeSecurityCompanys.com discussing burglar proofing your home on Fox Boston. Disclosures.

Why Hotels Check your ID

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https://safr.me/webinar/  | Robert Siciliano is the #1 Security Expert in the United States with over 25 years of experience! He is here to help you become more aware of the risks and strategies to help protect yourself, your family, your business, and your entire life. Robert brings identity theft, personal security, fraud prevention and cyber security to light so that criminals can no longer hide in the dark. You need to be smarter than criminals yesterday so that they don’t take advantage of you today! If you would like to learn more about Security Awareness, then sign up for Robert’s latest webinar!

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I know someone who tried to make a hotel reservation over the phone. She goes by the name “Kelcie,” but her birth name is Frances. She hates her birth name. When making the reservation she used the name Kelcie, which is what’s on her credit card and checks, but her driver’s license says Frances.

8DShe was told that when she arrived, she’d need to present a photo ID. She asked if there’d be any problem since her driver’s license said Frances and the reservation said Kelcie. She was told most definitely. “Why should they care if the name on my photo ID doesn’t match the name in the reservation or my credit card? As long as I can pay for the room, right? You’d think I was applying for a government job!”

Why do some hotels require the photo ID or even information about your car, even if you have wads of money ready to pay for your stay?

In some areas, the law requires hotels to do this. But this answer only sets back the question further: Why does the law require this? The law also requires hotels and other lodging facilities to be able to turn over this information to the police when requested. A warrant is not necessary.

If we’re talking a little “ma and pa” motel, it’s actually more understandable that they’d require guests to show a photo ID, especially in a seedy part of town. If the room is trashed, the owner knows whom to go after.

But the large name-brand hotel is a bit different. Requiring a photo ID when someone uses a credit card or check is understandable. But some hotels also require it if the guest has cold cash.

The true answer would have to come from the lawmakers, even though we can think of some hypothetical scenarios in which a person could claim to be someone else and then get that person’s room—but the imposter would have to know ahead of time that the real guest had reserved the room. It’s not likely that the lawmakers have this scenario in mind for their reasons for requiring hotels to require photo IDs.

One plausible explanation is to protect people from fraudulent credit card use. More reasons include weeding out of imposters to make everything a bit safer by reducing nefarious activities such as drug use, meth labs, prostitution, or using the hotel room as a staging area for various crimes.

Hotels will want to do anything to cover their butts just in case a crime occurs. And I suppose the lawmakers have the hotel industry’s back.

If you are concerned about privacy of your personal information, you should be. But recognize that “personal identifying information” or PII is “public” and not private. So giving it to a hotel clerk shouldn’t be considered a “private” transaction. Know the risks.

Robert Siciliano is an identity theft expert to BestIDTheftCompanys.com discussing identity theft prevention. Disclosures.

Sad Scary State of Bank Security

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Who needs guns, threatening notes to rob a bank when you can do it with just your fingertips inside your home?

1SA hacking ring in the eastern portion of Europe may be the most successful team of bank robbers to date, having purportedly robbed $1 billion from multiple banks. This can only be done by infecting computers with malicious software (malware) and sucking out all the money.

Obviously, these hackers aren’t dumb criminals, but they also play on poor security measures of the banks. Apparently, the success of the hackers’ attack was contingent upon an employee clicking on a malicious link in an e-mail or opening a malment in the e-mail (“malment” = malicious attachment).

And that’s exactly what happened; someone fell for the oldest cyber trick in the book. This could have been prevented by not only having Microsoft updates done on a regular basis and having updated antivirus, but educating employees.

The next step in the chain reaction was the triggering of Carbanak, a virus that installs software that logs keystrokes…figuring out passwords this way. But Carbanak also captured screenshots.

How could banks let something like this happen?

Let’s Dissect this Robbery

The thieves sent out phishing e-mails—those containing malicious links or attachments—that are designed to trick people into clicking on them because the messages look legitimate. The crime ring just sat back and waited, knowing it was only a matter of time before someone clicked on one of their malments.

The keylogging gave the thieves all the information they needed to drain the banks. Boy, they sure broke in easily! All because the banks didn’t keep their devices security updated, leaving an unpatched opening—and perhaps the employee(s) who fell for the ruse were doing banking business on the same device they use for personal use—big huge mistake.

And whose fault is that? The bank’s; we can’t expect the run-of-the-mill employee to have built-in knowledge about how hacking rings work and that it’s a gateway to cyber theft if one mixes business activities and personal activities on the same computer. Learn from their mistakes. Update your devices and don’t click links in emails.

Robert Siciliano is an identity theft expert to TheBestCompanys.com discussing  identity theft prevention. Disclosures.

What is Catphishing?

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https://safr.me/webinar/  | Robert Siciliano is the #1 Security Expert in the United States with over 25 years of experience! He is here to help you become more aware of the risks and strategies to help protect yourself, your family, your business, and your entire life. Robert brings identity theft, personal security, fraud prevention and cyber security to light so that criminals can no longer hide in the dark. You need to be smarter than criminals yesterday so that they don’t take advantage of you today! If you would like to learn more about Security Awareness, then sign up for Robert’s latest webinar!

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What is catphishing? It certainly isn’t Garfield lazily sitting in a canoe holding a fishing rod. Catphishing is when a fraudster fabricates an identity and tricks someone via cyber communication into a phony emotional or romantic relationship—usually for financial gain to the scammer—because eventually he’ll hit the victim up for money.

1FBut another reason for catphishing is to lure someone into having a “relationship” with the scammer—to either ultimately publically humiliate them with this information if they’re well-known, or, to prove to a significant other that they’re capable of cheating. Not all catphishers are fraudulent. Sometimes, a person will catphish to catch a criminal.

One doesn’t get reeled in overnight, but the warning signs of the early stages of catphishing are clear: A too good to be true situation. The other party is very attractive (don’t bet for a second it’s really their photo). Another tell-tale sign that should make the alarm bells go off: This person comes out of thin air.

He…or she…will be reluctant to use the phone. Skype is out of the question: “I can’t figure out how to use it,” or, “It’s not compatible with my browser.” To maintain an air of legitimacy, the scammer will finally agree to meet you in person, making the plans sound like they’re running smoothly, but then at the last minute, must cancel the plans due to some crisis.

Some examples of real-life catphishing:

  • The DEA created the identity of a woman arrested on drug charges to nab drug dealers on Facebook.
  • Someone used the identity of a woman they personally knew, Ellie Flynn, to create phony accounts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. This fleabag even used “Ellie Flynn” and her photo on dating sites.

So the issue isn’t just the idea of you being tricked into a relationship by the catphisher, but the possibility that YOUR photo, name and other data can be used by the catphisher to commit this crime against someone else or to use it for dating sites. Are you pretty good-looking? Makes you wonder about the possibilities…catphishers DO peruse Facebook for those who are physically blessed.

It’s really difficult to discover that your image/name is being used by a catphisher. For example, suppose your name is Ashlee Patrick and you’re gorgeous. And someone named Ann Casey has decided to use your Facebook profile photo for a dating site she wants to register with, or maybe she wants to create a Facebook account.

How will you ever learn of this…unless, by freako chance, someone who knows you just happens to be on Ann Casey’s (if that’s even her real name) Facebook page or is communicating to her via the dating site?

At any rate, if you’re lucky enough to discover someone has stolen your picture for fraudulent purposes, you can report their phony account.

Best ways to protect yourself?

  1. Stop uploading pictures of yourself is one option. This way you have more control of what’s out there.
  2. Use Google Reverse Image Search. https://www.google.com/imghp?gws_rd=ssl simply upload a photo and Google will seek it out.

Robert Siciliano is an identity theft expert to BestIDTheftCompanys.com discussing identity theft prevention. Disclosures.