Entries by Robert Siciliano

Facebook Beefs Up Your Security

It is obvious to many that Facebook has got the message and is becoming more responsible for their users security. For a few months now I have enjoyed a security feature they implemented that allows you to say in control of your logins. Login notifications: This feature sends you an email or text telling you…

Losing Control of a Digital Life

We have heard it all before, once you post it on the Internet; it is no longer in your control. Anything digital is rRepeatable. Re-peat’ a-ble: “To say again. To utter in duplication of another’s utterance. To tell to another. To do, experience, or produce again. Capable of being replicated.” In very simple terms whatever…

Criminal Hackers: The Soldiers of the Web Mob

Today’s criminal hackers are very different than those who hacked for fun and fame a decade ago. Every week, I see stories about more criminals in faraway lands, making millions from various scams, emptying the bank accounts of small businesses or draining the financial reserves of entire towns. High-tech crimes can be committed by lone…

IRS Fully Reliant on Social Security Numbers

On the Policy, Practice & Procedures page of their website, the IRS addresses the public’s concern regarding Social Security numbers on checks: “Complete Social Security Numbers (SSN) on Checks or Money Orders Remitted to IRS Issue: Tax Professionals and clients have concerns about taxpayers putting their full SSN on checks remitted to IRS in payment of…

Live ATM Skimming Video Confiscated

ATM skimming, the top ATM-related crime, accounts for about $350,000 in fraud every day in the United States, exceeding a billion dollars a year. An organization called EAST, or European ATM Security Team, posted seized video footage from a compromised ATM, depicting the installation of a camera and skimmer. The video shows how criminals collect cardholders’ PINs. …

Botnets Turn Your PC into A Zombie

A botnet is a group of Internet-connected personal computers that have been infected by a malicious application, which allows a hacker to control the infected computers without alerting the computer owners. Since the infected PCs are controlled remotely by a single hacker, they are known as bots, robots, or zombies. Consumers’ and small businesses’ lax…