A burglary occurs every 15 seconds. The chance of your home being broken into is higher than you’d think. The good news is that today’s alarm systems are “not your father’s alarm.” Twenty years ago, a contractor had to spend a week tearing up your walls, ceilings, and windows to retrofit a messy, hardwired security…
Amazon Web Services is a cloud-based service hosted by Amazon.com, which provides numerous tools for web-based businesses. The service’s primary function is to help businesses of any size compute and store data. Solutions available to both businesses and consumers include: Application Hosting Backup and Storage Content Delivery Databases E-Commerce Enterprise IT High Performance Computing Media…
Consumers enjoy a certain level of protection that business bank accounts do not, and it’s called “Regulation E.” Here is Regulation E in black and white: “ELECTRONIC FUND TRANSFERS (REGULATION E) Limitations on amount of liability. A consumer’s liability for an unauthorized electronic fund transfer or a series of related unauthorized transfers shall be determined as…
Criminals often target cash machines, as well as various other automated kiosks that dispense DVDs, tickets, or other merchandise. They have discovered numerous techniques for compromising these devices. According to the ATM Industry Association (ATMIA), ATM fraud alone results in over a billion dollars in losses each year. But manufacturers are fighting back. Diebold, a…
Around 1994, when I operated a small mail order catalog business, it was very difficult to obtain “merchant status,” or approval to accept Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express cards. It was easier if you had a storefront, but payment processors made mail order businesses jump through more hoops. Their main concern was that companies…
The amount of money made and lost due to fraud is surpassing the illegal drug trade. A digital arms race has law enforcement officials nipping at the criminals’ heels. Retailers and banks continue to fight criminal hackers, but are being bombarded by advanced, persistent threats that eventually make their way into the network. There are…
People love their cars. My 80-year-old mother-in-law goes nutty at the thought of not being able to drive. “Take my car and you take my freedom,” she says. I understand where she is coming from. Personally, I don’t like to drive. But I do like riding my Harley! Many consider cars synonymous with freedom. Cars…
If you ever decide to get all hopped up on drugs and seek some extra cash to feed your fix, I’d suggest not wearing your governmental department of corrections court ordered previously installed GPS ankle-monitoring bracelet to your next home invasion. Chances are you’ll get caught. But as tongue and cheek funny this may be,…
People lie when they set up online dating profiles, they lie when they put up fake social media profiles, and they lie to the innocent victims of their scams. Banks and retailers know better than anyone that people lie. There are countless scenarios and justifications, but people who lie invariably do it in order to…
While out for an evening with friends talking about everything under the sun, including security, which I’m obsessed with – and people often quiz me anyways, my mobile rang from an “unknown” number. The caller, a computer, stated “Hello, this is a call from Eastern Bank. Your MasterCard account has been locked. Please press 1…
