Entries by Robert Siciliano

Why Complex Device Identification Isn’t Enough

“Simple device identification” relies on cookies or IP addresses to confirm that a customer is logging in from the same PC that was used to create the account. The Financial Federal Institutions Examination Council has explained the fallibility of this system: “Experience has shown this type of cookie may be copied and moved to a fraudster’s…

Neighbor Gets 18 Years for Hacking Neighbor

Home security in the physical world is locks, cameras and a home security system. In the virtual world home security is protecting your homes wireless internet connection. I’ve spoke many times of how hackers can invade your wireless internet and steal your identity by getting onto your computer. We’ve also touched on how pedophiles can…

Flash Mob Attacks On The Rise

You’ve heard of “flash mobs” when a group of people suddenly get together in some form of public place for a performance of some sort generally in the name of fun. They are formed when someone posts something on Facebook or Twitter and text messages begin to go viral. All of a sudden a time…

The Benefits of Multifactor Authentication

The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC), a formal government interagency body empowered to prescribe uniform principles, standards, and report forms for the federal examination of financial institutions, recently issued a supplement to the 2005 document “Authentication in an Internet Banking Environment” effective January 2012. The FFIEC has acknowledged that cybercrime is increasing and financial…

What Identity Theft Protection Is and Is Not

To all you security companies out there, listen up: “identity theft protection” has become an overused and abused marketing term, which is often used to sell a product or service that doesn’t actually protect users from identity theft. It’s like labeling food “natural” when we know it’s not “organic.” It’s incorrect at best and a…

5 Security Considerations for a Mobile Phone

Nielsen reports “We are just at the beginning of a new wireless era where smartphones will become the standard device consumers will use to connect to friends, the internet and the world at large. The share of smartphones as a proportion of overall device sales has increased 29% for phone purchasers in the last six months;…

Medical Temp Arrested For Identity Theft

You’ve probably heard the phrase “a fox watching the henhouse.” Today, that applies to people on the inside of organizations who work in trusted positions, and who use those positions to steal client or employee information for their own personal gain. As much as 70% of all identity theft is committed by individuals with inside…

Standards Will Bring Mobile Payment

Mobile payment has been around for years in numerous forms for purchases such as downloading music, ringtones and various other services and is now gaining traction for retail purchases in the U.S. But its implementation in the U.S. is a bit slower due to a lack of standardization of payment methods and the overall security…

Device Intelligence Helps Stop Scammers Targeting Social Media Sites

We’ve heard this story before, but unfortunately it happens over and over again. Social media and dating sites are overrun with criminals who pose as legitimate, upstanding individuals, but are really wolves in sheep’s clothing. In Florida, a man named Martin Kahl met a 51-year-old woman and they developed an online romance. A quick search…