Entries by Robert Siciliano

10 Business Identity Theft Risks in 2010

Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Expert Advancements in technology over the past decade have created a tremendous amount of opportunity for the savvy businessperson. Whether it’s mobility, streamlined processes, marketing, or the ability to sell to a global market, there’s never been a better time to be in business. Like anything good, there is always a…

Forget Privacy, Think Security

Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Expert Everywhere you go there is a privacy advocate screaming to protect your privacy. Privacy advocates, bless them, are a dying breed. They fight for whatever privacy rights there are left and do their best to remain watchdogs. If your gig is privacy, my guess is you have lost all your…

Protect Your Identity While Donating to Haiti

Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Expert The Haiti tragedy has people all over the world scrambling to donate money to help in the relief effort. It is no surprise that scammers have ramped up and are sending “phish” emails designed to extract your money to their own nefarious cause, “themselves.” Right now, there is 24 hours…

Google Gets Hacked & What It Means to You

Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Expert Google disclosed that it had been breached by Chinese hackers, who were apparently targeting Chinese dissidents: “The cyber-assault came to light on Tuesday when Google disclosed to the public that the Gmail Web service was targeted in a highly-organized attack in late December. Google said that the intrusion attempt originated…

Why Am I Logged Into Someone-else’s FriendFeed?

Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Expert I have pretty tight controls over my network and access to my 510 usernames and passworded accounts. Yes he just said “510”…and counting. I have full administrative rights over every PC and nobody else has access to my home or office. So it came as a surprise to me when…

Secure Your Social Media

Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Expert In a shocking instance of high tech harassment, a hacker took over a woman’s Facebook account while she was on a camping trip, with no Internet and no cell phone service. The hacker impersonated this woman, but instead of attempting to scam her family and friends out of cash, he used…

Be Careful about False Alarms At Home

Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Expert We are all familiar with the boy who cried wolf. The protagonist of the fable is a bored shepherd boy who entertained himself by calling out “Wolf!” Nearby villagers who came to his rescue found that the alarms were false and that they had wasted their time. When the boy…

Protect Yourself from Social Engineering

Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Expert Social engineering is the act of manipulating people into performing actions or divulging confidential information. While similar to a confidence trick or simple fraud, the term typically applies to trickery or deception for the purpose of information gathering, fraud, or computer system access; in most cases the attacker never comes…