Entries by Robert Siciliano

Tracking Lost or Stolen Devices

Lost your iPad? Someone steal your iPhone? Can’t find your laptop? Misplaced your Android phone? You can call your phone and hope it rings, but maybe it’s on vibrate, or miles away. If your car gets broken into and your laptop goes missing, what do you do? There are plenty of software programs that can…

Barefoot Bandit Gets a Movie Deal

Colton Harris Moore was busted for committing over 100 burglaries in the Pacific Northwest. He stole cars, speedboats and airplanes (at least 3). He is known as the “Barefoot Burglar” because he kicked off his shoes running from the police through the woods. He was a “door knob jiggler”. Most of the homes didn’t have…

How Phishing is Like a Home Invasion

Phishing of course is when you receive a fraud based email designed to trick you into clicking links and entering your personal information. In some cases when clicking those links you may download a virus. Their intention is to bypass your computers security. Phishing is emerging as sophisticated due to ways in which the phish…

North Korea Hacks Online Games to Fund Terrorism?

The Guardian reports, “South Korean police recently arrested five people who allegedly collaborated with North Korean hackers to steal millions of dollars in points from online gaming sites. Members of the gang, which included North Korea’s technological elite, worked in China and shared profits after they sold programs that allowed users to rack up points…

Security is a Journey, Not a Destination

This title of this post is a security industry axiom. In other words, we can strive for security, and by making this effort we put ourselves on a path to security. But while we may achieve a relative degree of security, we can never be 100% secure. Even Fort Knox is vulnerable. We can, however,…

Snow Shovel Bandit Busted

I know the last four letter word you want to hear is SNOW. But everyone needs to know the Snow Shovel Bandit has been sentenced to 6 years in prison!! This guy generally broke into homes without home security alarms occupied by single women. For a small time crook, this guy had a pretty solid…

Insider Identity Theft Still a Problem

More than ten years ago, when I began speaking to organizations about personal security and identity theft, headlines often read “Utility Worker Steals Identities” or “Human Resource Officers Steal Identities” and even “Police Officer Steals Identities.” Back then the primary concern was insider identity theft, perpetrated by those who had direct access to victims’ data.…

Bad News For Banks: Courts Side With Customers

Who is responsible for financial losses due to fraud? The bank, or the customers whose accounts have been drained? One Michigan judge recently decided in favor of Comerica Bank customers, holding the bank responsible for approximately $560,000 out of a total of nearly $2 million in unrecovered losses. A copy of the bench decision is available from Pierce Atwood…

Back Up Google And Facebook Data

We are increasingly reliant on online calendars and address books, but when you store everything in the cloud, there is the possibility that your essential data could evaporate. Some insist that you have nothing to worry about but what if you got hacked and all your data was deleted? What if you temporarily lost Internet…

Online Payment Alternatives to PayPal

I’m a little more than a casual online shopper, so I make lots of electronic payments. I prefer to avoid stores, so I buy almost everything aside from food via the Internet. I frequently use eBay. I’m also something of an airline mileage fanatic, so I prefer to pay with a credit card that earns…