What Security Issues Should You Worry About?

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First thing I tell my seminar attendees is “The chances of anything bad ever happening to you is very slim. So don’t worry about. However you should still put these systems in place.”

Are you a helicopter parent? An “alarmist”? Or Chicken Little: The sky is falling, the sky is falling! I heard somewhere along the line that 90% of what we worry about never happens. It might be even closer to 99%. But there is still that one percent that concerns.

Deciding what to worry about may be a conscious or unconscious (or sub-conscious) decision.

Often what we worry about comes from what we see and are fed in the media. It is well known that the nightly news is built on the premise “If it bleeds it leads”. Blood and guts is what sells airtime and newspapers.

These worries when confronted are often dumbed down by statisticians, researchers, some security professionals, social psychologists and are called “baseless paranoid fears”. Books written in this regard are designed to give perspective. My feeling is they are written simply to sell a contrarian idea to stimulate conversation (and sell books) and in reality the author is no less of a “worrier” than anyone else.

Perspective is good. Too much “worry” can have ill health affects and significantly detract from quality of life.

My gripe with the “Don’t worry, it’s a 1 in 10 million chance” mentality is that it fosters the “It can’t happen to me” syndrome which prevents people from taking responsibility for their security in the first place.

If you knew the statistical probability of the chances of your kid being shot at school or your child being kidnapped or even being struck by lightning and all were “slim”, would you take any less precaution to protect yourself or your family?

Would you stand next to a metal pole in a lightning storm? Would you drive without a seatbelt? Would you allow your 7 year old who is perfectly capable of navigating their way to school go by themselves even though the chance of them being kidnapped is extremely slim?

For many of the issues we worry about the chances of them happening might be 1 in a 100,000 or 1 in 10 million. Your chances of something bad happening may equate to the same statistics as winning the lottery, which is very slim, but you still might play the number.

Does it really matter what the odds are?

Every day someone somewhere wins the lottery. Every day someone somewhere is a victim of a heinous crime.

Knowing what I know I’m concerned about it all and I take the necessary steps to prevent what’s in my control. Do I worry?  Well, a part of my life’s energy goes into putting measures in place to prevent “bad”. If being proactive and taking responsibility is “worry” then yes. And I feel safe, secure and grounded without any nagging “paranoid” angst that detracts from the quality of life.

What’s so wrong with that?

Robert Siciliano personal security expert to Home Security Source discussing home security and identity theft on TBS Movie and a Makeover.

Leaked Social Security Numbers Put “Personal Security and Safety at Risk”

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Allen West, a Republican Congressional candidate, is speaking out after a mailing from the Florida Democratic Party releases his Social Security number and his wife’s federal employee number. “It’s an attack against me and I think it shows the weakness of the character of Ron Klein and definitely the Florida Democratic party, to put a person’s personal security and safety at risk,” said West, “And also affects my family as well.”

The Florida Democratic Party responded by stating, “We apologize for the oversight of not redacting this information from the public record included in the mailer,” and by offering West two years of identity theft monitoring, but West says he will not accept their money.

Meanwhile, in Virginia, a judge has ruled it is legal to post Social Security numbers on websites. Every city, state, and town has its own set of regulations determining the collection and management of public records, including birth, death, marriage, court, property, and business filings. Many of these documents include Social Security numbers. And many are posted on the Internet.

The Privacy Act of 1974 is a federal law that establishes a code of fair information practices governing the collection, maintenance, use, and dissemination of personally identifiable information in federal record systems.

Back in 1974, identity theft wasn’t an issue, so having your Social Security number on your driver’s license, school ID, and most other documents wasn’t a big deal. Then someone figured out how to use a Social Security number to pose as someone else, and from there, identity theft became big business.

When a judge rules that it’s okay to post Social Security numbers online, and a politician states that a similar act “puts a person’s personal security and safety at risk,” it’s clear that we have a systemic problem, one which the government is unlikely to solve.

It is important to observe basic security precautions to protect your identity. But you have no control over the security of your personal information when it is stored in government and corporate databases.

Consumers should consider an identity theft protection product that offers daily credit monitoring, proactive identity surveillance, lost wallet protection, and alerts when suspicious activity is detected on your accounts. McAfee Identity Protection includes all these features as well as live help from fraud resolution agents if your identity is ever compromised. For more tips on protecting yourself, please visithttp://www.counteridentitytheft.com.

Robert Siciliano is a McAfee consultant and identity theft expert. See him discuss Social Security numbers as national IDs on Fox News. (Disclosures)

Just One Day in the Boston Globe

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Sometimes all you can do is shake your head and wonder how we have managed to get this far as a species. Scanning today’s paper I couldn’t help but notice the total mayhem that makes up one day of news. I bring this to your attention not to sensationalize or provide the “bad news” but to make you grateful for what you have and hopefully motivate you to go out and do something positive to help your community. It also might make you think twice about your personal safety.

October 6th 2010:

Hundreds mourn victim of Mattapan shootings

Simba Martin’s family huddled around his shiny, pewter-colored casket yesterday morning, their cries of grief filling the small red-brick church on Highland Street. Near the altar, a female relative shouted “why’’ repeatedly as she slumped in the embrace of a family member.

Death of Vt. woman is called a homicide

WATERBURY, Vt. — A body found in the woods Sunday by two bird hunters has been identified as that of a missing 78-year-old woman, and police called it a homicide yesterday.

Judge sets rules for N.H. slaying trial

CONCORD, N.H. — Three men who have acknowledged their roles in a deadly home invasion in which a woman and her daughter were stabbed and slashed dozens of times will be allowed to testify about the plot leading up it, a judge says.

Onetime serial arson suspect accused of setting office on fire

PLYMOUTH — A Brockton man who decades ago was a prime suspect in the torching of dozens of churches, VFW posts, and other buildings in the area south of Boston was accused yesterday of setting fire to a federal probation office Monday night.

Man allegedly stole more items from grandmother after theft

A Braintree grandmother’s house was robbed Monday afternoon, and police said that as they arrived to investigate, the victim’s grandson stole more items and tried to have a friend pawn them while blaming it on the original burglar.

1 student robbed, 1 nearly abducted

One Bay State College student was robbed and another was the victim of an attempted abduction in two separate incidents yesterday afternoon, police said. Boston police spokesman David Estrada said that at about 2:30 p.m. an 18-year-old student was walking out of a Subway restaurant on St. James Street when he was robbed by a man armed with a knife.

Man ordered held in statutory rape case

A 31-year-old Tewksbury man accused of raping a 14-year-old girl in August after sending her sexually charged text messages for a month pleaded not guilty yesterday, officials said.

Man sentenced for trying to lure teen

A Dorchester man already convicted of sex offenses against children was sentenced to up to five years in state prison and 10 years’ probation Monday for attempting to lure a 13-year-old girl who was on her way to school in 2009

Man convicted of killing three in 2007 Conn. home invasion

NEW HAVEN — A paroled burglar was convicted yesterday of killing a woman and her two daughters in a 2007 home invasion in an affluent Connecticut town and now could be sentenced to death.

Wow. Nuts! It can be a mad, mad, mad world sometimes. But being kind to someone takes less effort than being evil. Choose wisely. And please, think about home security and what systems need to be in place to protect your family.

Robert Siciliano personal security expert to Home Security Source discussing Home Invasions on Montel Williams. Disclosures

Personal Safety When Selling a Home

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Two real estate agents were killed in separate incidents in Ohio in the past two weeks.

“Police have confirmed the suspects in this week’s murder of a Youngstown OH realtor are not connected with the murder of a realtor in Ravenna OH the day after.”

“Meeting new clients, showing properties, holding open houses, letting strangers get into your car, and even your marketing may be jeopardizing your personal safety.

The root of the issue is that you have real estate agents with no formal security training who are then meeting with complete strangers at odd times of the day and in vacant homes. Real estate professionals put themselves at risk at so many points. The industry opens itself up to predators.”

Here are a few tips to protect you when selling a property.

Be suspect of everyone. There isn’t any benefit in being paranoid; however, being a little guarded can keep you from getting into a vulnerable situation. Don’t just be wary of a man showing up unaccompanied. Expect them to show up in a nice car, well dressed, maybe with a wife and kids tagging along. They might have a business card saying they are a doctor or a lawyer. Don’t let your guard down.

Appointment Only. When placing ads, all advertisements should state “Appointment only” “Drivers license required” and “Pre Approval Documentation Required.” These are all hoops the bad guy may not want to jump through and you vetting out those who are “just looking” at the same time.

Use the Buddy System. When you set appointments always schedule around a spouse or friends availability so they can join you. There is always strength in numbers. If you have to go it solo, when someone walks in, say, “I’d be happy to show you the benefits of this home! In a few minutes my friend Rocco will be along to assist me,” creating the illusion of the buddy system.

ID and pre-qualify at your first meeting. When you are meeting at your property, get some form of identification. Also, it is to your benefit that a potential client buying a home is pre-qualified. Someone who is pre-qualified by a lender is less likely to be a predator.

Safe open houses. Spend a few minutes considering all the vulnerable points within the home and how you would escape if necessary.

Dress for safety and success. Don’t wear expensive jewelry. A $3-5 thousand-dollar diamond buys a lot of drugs. Dress professionally instead of provocatively.

Robert Siciliano personal security expert to Home Security Source discussing Real estate Agent safety on Inside Edition . Disclosures.

Law enforcement officers keep tough watch on sex offenders

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In Colorado law enforcement officers are scouring the state to make sure sex offenders aren’t hiding from the law.

“Operation Sheperd launched into action this month. Mesa County Sheriff’s Office Deputies and Grand Junction Police Department Officers are crisscrossing Grand Junction to make sure registered sex offenders are living where they reported they are. These officials randomly visit homes of offenders, some of them convicted of molesting children. It’s all to keep strict tabs on these offenders, so that they don’t escape the watchful eye of police. “We do take the verification of addresses seriously, and we do continually check,” says the Grand Junction Police Department.”

Verifying addresses and keeping tabs on a sex offenders whereabouts always keeps sex offenders in check. It is important that local law enforcement always has tabs on them due to the nature of their crimes. We hear too often that sex offenders are released then repeat their behavior. It is unfortunately a part of their nature.

Even though law enforcement is doing their job, you need to continually scan the internet and seek out sex offenders in your neighborhoods.

“Operation Sheperd has captured 180 sex offenders who were not complying with their registry so far. Officers across Colorado have completed nearly 4,000 checks on offenders.”

Wow. Sex offenders often don’t register because they don’t want to be found or because they are living in an area where they aren’t allowed to be, such as near a school or park. Based on these numbers you should never simply trust that your new next door neighbor is “good”. Bad comes in many different faces.

Robert Siciliano is a Personal Security Expert and Adviser to Intelius.com. For more information see Intelius at Sex Offender Check to reduce your chances of encountering a bad guy. See him discussing personal security on NBC Boston. (Disclosures)

Chicago: Homicides up, Citywide Crime Down 5.8 Percent

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Thanks to Al Capone the infamous gangster, The Windy City has long been known for organized crime dating back to the 30’s. In concentrated areas like big cities, crime is often a factor. But as proven in New York City, effective policing can reduce crime. Chicago seems to be making positive strides in managing its crime climate as well.

Law enforcement in Chicago just announced there was an 11.2 percent drop in violent offenses and 4.2 percent decrease in property crimes. However the 164 recorded homicides in 2010 are six more than last year at this time, an increase of 3.8 percent.

The Chicago Suntimes reported “Homicides have continued to challenge us,” their Chief said, adding that the department will continue to deploy officers to areas where there is a probability of violent crime. “The safest place for your children is in your home under your supervision,” he said.” Chicago police also seized 3,513 weapons, which were 189 more than last year. It breaks down to an average of nearly one weapon recovered an hour for the entire year so far.”

Imagine if they didn’t get those weapons off the streets.

They further reported there were nearly 2,000 fewer property crimes, a drop of more than 4 percent including a drop in theft at 9.8 percent and burglary at just under 1 percent.

Taking into account the small rise in murders, the overall drop in crime is impressive. Whether you are from a little town or a big city the most effective way to reduce crime is to take an individual responsibility in your own personal security by reaching out to local law enforcement and finding out what systems they may have in place and what kind of information you can bring back to your neighborhoods.

Attend neighborhood watch meetings that may be sponsored by the local police. Work to get everyone on the same page in regards to monitoring your neighborhood to seek out suspicious behavior and report incidents that may lead to crime. Take direct responsibility for yourself and your family by installing heavy duty locks, locking your doors, and install a home alarm system.

Robert Siciliano personal security expert to ADT Home Security Source discussing Home Security and Identity Theft on TBS Movie and a Makeover. Disclosures.

Social Network is Accused of Identity Theft

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Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Expert

The state of New York, Office of the Attorney General plans to sue the social-networking site Tagged.com for allegedly using deceptive e-mails in order to gain new users.

It is alleged that the social-networking service stole the identities of more than 60 million Internet users by sending e-mails to people saying that members of the site had tagged them in photos but the photos did not exist and that Tagged raided their private accounts.

The e-mails that people received appeared to come from their friends via the website as an offer to look at the friends pictures and join in. It is believed that Tagged, would then illegally get access to those new users’ e-mail address books and send out more messages without those users’ knowledge. Tagged will be sued for deceptive e-mail marketing practices and invasion of privacy, the office said.

In a statement by their CEO he said “Simply put, it was too easy for people to quickly go through the registration process and unintentionally invited all their contacts.”

I received the same emails from friends, people who were “duped”. I spoke to those people and understand it to be true that, it was too easy for people to quickly go through the registration process and unintentionally invited all their contacts.

I don’t believe identities were stolen at any level and that anyone using terms such as “stolen Identity” or “identity theft” are grossly mistaken, but “email harvesting” and a degree of spam and questionable marketing may have occurred.

Here is exactly what happened. A person receives an email saying their friend wants to show them a picture. They have to visit the site, sign in, and register to view it. In that process they are asked for their user name and password from their web based email account to invite more friends to their new account. Many people have done this in Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. The lie told is there is no picture to be seen. That’s deceptive marketing, not identity theft.

Criminal hackers have been using the same ruse to get people to log in to a spoofed Facebook account for the past year. Once logged in the user is requested to download a file to watch a video. This download has a virus that allows a full takeover of their account. It almost looks like Tagged took a page out of the criminal hackers book using the same ruse, but without the virus or the spoofed site.

The fact is whenever you register for a social networking site you are asked to plug in your credentials and invite your address book. Doing this is not a bad thing, unless the company you are trusting is a bad corporate citizen. That said; don’t provide any website your log in credentials to your web based email account if you don’t believe them to be 100% legit. Further, when you have web based cloud accounts that contain email and also have proprietary documents or files within that account NEVER GIVE THAT DATA TO ANY COMPANY.

All that said, regardless, you should still protect yourself from real identity theft.

Here is how;
1. Get a credit freeze. Go online now and search “credit freeze” or “security freeze” and go to consumersunion.org and follow the steps for the state you live in. This is an absolutely necessary tool to secure your credit. In most cases it prevents new accounts from being opened in your name. This makes the SSN useless to the thief.
2. Invest in Intelius Identity Theft Protection. While not all forms of identity theft can be prevented, you can effectively manage your personal identifying information by knowing what’s buzzing out there in regards to YOU.

Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Speaker discussing social network is accused of identity theft.

Scamming the scammers

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Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Expert

Scammers and even pedophiles are getting hacked by vengeful insidious opportunists.

Who doesn’t love vigilante justice? Some readers may remember Charles Bronson, an American actor who starred in the popular series Death Wish. Bronson played Paul Kersey, a man whose wife is murdered and whose daughter raped. In response, Kersey becomes a crime-fighting vigilante. This was a highly controversial role, as his executions were cheered by crime-weary audiences.

There is a certain amount of satisfaction when the victim becomes victor, exacting justice, and the predator that violates the law is sufficiently punished by the vigilante. Anyone who has ever entertained vengeance fantasies can relate. Of course, one doesn’t need to have been victimized in order to seek justice. Security guard David Dunn, played by Bruce Willis in the movie Unbreakable, avenges a crime committed against someone else.

The Internet has spawned a new breed of opportunist predator. The anonymity of the web, coupled with the inherent naïveté of many computer users, along with development of new technology at a speed that outpaces the learning curve of most users, make confidence crimes easier than ever.

What I find most disturbing are parents with young families who allow their children full, unsupervised Internet access. Fox News reports that in the past 5 years, federal agents have set up honeypots of agents posing as minors to attract pedophiles and have caught upwards of 11,000 in their nets. If they caught 11,000, there must be multitudes that haven’t been caught. What most people don’t realize is that there are over a half million registered sex offenders in the United States, and over 100,000 more sex predators unaccounted for.

“Don’t talk to strangers” used to be the extent of our personal security training. Now, a stranger can be in your 12-year-old daughter’s bedroom at 2 am, chatting on his or her webcam, or even under the covers on the iPhone that he bought her in order to evade her parents’ grasp.

Now, a new form of vigilante justice is occurring: scammers are illegally scamming, blackmailing and extorting other scammers.

The FBI recently caught up with one couple who has been posing as minors, engaging sexual predators in explicit online conversations and then adding a twist. This tech savvy couple are also hackers who engage in black-hat activities. As the predators attempted to gain the trust of the supposed “minors,” the couple was actually gaining access to the predators’ computers, sending numerous files that, when opened, launched an executable and granted full and unauthorized access to the kiddy-fiddlers’ computer systems. After gaining access to the predators’ computers, the couple learned their names, addresses, family members’ contact information, places of employment, and the user names and passwords for all of their financial accounts. Once armed with this type of data, the fun began. The couple would access the pedophiles’ bank, eBay and Paypal accounts. They would also blackmail their victims, threatening to expose their deviant behaviors to anyone who would listen if they didn’t cough up some cash. In one instance, after financial demands were made and not met, the couple accessed the user name and password of a New York teacher who didn’t comply and posted the explicit chats to the teacher’s school’s intranet.

In another example, 3 men apprehended in Kentucky set up a fake child pornography website, then extorted money out of their customers. When arrested, the men confessed to the crime but claimed that they were doing it to punish child pornographers.

Call this blackmail, call it extortion, or call it vigilante justice. You decide.

Robert Siciliano, personal security and identity theft speaker discusses online predators.

Protect your identity and your child’s identity. Install McAfee security software on your PC to prevent predators from intruding. And install child monitoring software to watch your kids online.

I’m excited to work with uni-ball in 2009 in a partnership to help raise awareness about the growing threat of identity theft and provide tips for protecting yourself. Check out uniball-na.com for more information.

Identity Theft Speaker; Confickers Threat Hasn’t Waned www.IDTheftSecurity.com

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Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Expert

We are not out of the woods with this one.

Conficker’s rise and fall and the passing activity of the worm on April 1st has allowed researchers and anti-virus companies to better understand the virus and its impact. While April Fools was supposed to be the day of reckoning for Conficker, it wasn’t and still isn’t a joke.

Viruses often come with a trigger date, as pointed out by CNET. And while many fail to meet the media hype, they still can and often do cause millions or billions in damage.

The media does what it does and reports on the news. While they or even I may not always get the facts straight, the impetus is still there.

In a “Conficker Postmortem,” CNET examines the media frenzy and points to a humorous spoof that Wired ran, a fake live blog from the “Conficker Worm War Room.” CNET also points out that, “The New York Times called it an ‘unthinkable disaster’ in the making. CBS’s 60Minutes said the worm could ‘disrupt the entire internet,’ and The Guardian warned that it might be a ‘deadly threat’.”

The positive result of this media hype is that it brings attention to an ongoing problem for an audience that never considered themselves vulnerable to these issues. In my world, even Facebook friends and Twitter followers who had never reacted to previous posts on a plethoraof IT and personal security issues are finally starting to ask the right questions.

“Your mom’s virus,” as we knew it, has become a part of popular culture. In a sense, this is a good thing, because it’s now water cooler talk with the same level of buzz as Britney Spears going nutty. We in the security community couldn’t ask for more and better attention, that may potentially enlist an army of security moms. Thank you, Conficker!

Still, Conficker is the most sophisticated virus to date and is still waiting to strike, which can very well lead to major data breaches and identity theft. As the virus continues to call home for the yet to be delivered update, researchers have determined an estimated 3.5 to 4 million PCs are infected on the Conficker botnet, which is the most powerful and dangerous aspect of Conficker.

Overall totals of infected computers may still be between 10 and 15 million. Many of those have a dormant virus that has the capability to wreak havoc, or that may have already been rendered impotent by anti-virus providers and IT administrators who have taken advantage of numerous solutions by McAfee and others.

What the public needs to understand is this infection is anything but over. The virus phones home every day looking for its next set of updates, which could still have catastrophic results if the virus ever reaches its full potential.

The risk here is that a virus of this kind has technology that can disable anti-virus software and that prevents access to numerous websites which provide automatic security updates, including Windows.

Today, Brian Krebs from the Washington Post points out the similarity’s to Y2K potential bug, just as I did last week. “In one sense, the response to Conficker could be compared to that of Y2K: A great deal of smart people threw a whole lot of resources and energy at a fairly complex problem and managed to turn a potentially very ugly situation into a relative non-event.”

The attention that Conficker brought upon itself has rallied security professionals to be on their highest guard, which is exactly where they should be.

See Robert Siciliano, identity theft speaker, discussing hacking for dollars.

I’m excited to work with uni-ball in 2009 in a partnership to help raise awareness about the growing threat of identity theft and provide tips for protecting yourself. Check out Uniball.com for more information.

Identity Theft Expert and MyLaptopGPS: Recessionary Economic Circumstances Can Greatly Increase Effects of Laptop Computer Theft

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(BOSTON, Mass. – March 2, 2009 – IDTheftSecurity.com) Amid conflicting research and predictions about the likelihood that organizations will invest in security technology this year, laptop computer security firm MyLaptopGPS today noted that the loss to thieves of mobile computing equipment can be financially catastrophic in a recessionary economy. Widely televised and quoted personal security and identity theft expert Robert Siciliano encouraged organizations everywhere to invest in MyLaptopGPS’ laptop GPS and data retrieval technology; such action can shield their budgets from the financial fallout that typically follows laptop theft.

“Recessions have a way of prompting action that will ultimately save money,” said Siciliano. “Paying attention to computer security and taking simple steps to improve it, such as employing a laptop GPS tool, are among the few activities that can truly deliver a return on investment in this regard. Just as smart organizations always tend to the security of their computer networks and mobile computing assets, the smartest organizations invest in these areas during economic downturns and thus avoid the financial catastrophe that data breaches not only bring, but also amplify when economic conditions are bad.”

CEO of IDTheftSecurity.com and a member of the Bank Fraud & IT Security Report‘s editorial board, Siciliano leads Fortune 500 companies and their clients through presentations that explore security solutions for businesses and individuals. Author of “The Safety Minute: 01” and a longtime identity theft speaker, he has discussed data security and consumer protection on CNBC, NBC’s “Today Show,” FOX News Network, and elsewhere.

Several factors not only exacerbate the pain of laptop theft during a recession, but also in fact might be causes. On Feb. 5, for instance, Forrester Research’s Theanalystview predicted that companies experiencing layoffs this year will want to invest in technology designed to secure or recover data-housing computer assets — any number of which can go missing along with the disgruntled former employees who still have access to them.

Even so, at least one industry sector is seeing cutbacks in security spending: “64 percent of retailers have cut security projects as a result of the economic downturn, and 36% expect budget cuts next year,” according to a Feb. 27th report by ComputerWeekly, which cited a recent Consumer Business Security Survey from Deloitte.

“In a recession, it’s all the more damaging to experience a several hundred thousand dollar data breach,” said MyLaptopGPS’ chief technology officer, Dan Yost, who invited readers to visit the MyLaptopGPS blog. “During economic downturns, organizations must very carefully nurture and protect what they already have because they just don’t have the resources to go out and invest in new computer equipment. This is where an incredibly low theft rate comes in handy — and saves money.”

The rate of laptop theft for computers equipped with MyLaptopGPS’ Internet-based laptop GPS tool is just 0.4 percent, or 32 times lower than the average. Additionally, Yost pointed to SafeRegistry™, a comprehensive system from MyLaptopGPS for inventorying entire fleets of mobile computers, as well as a full line of highly renowned SafeTags™, which are police-traceable property tags designed to secure iPods™, cell phones, BlackBerry™ devices and other mobile property.

Yost’s expertise has been featured twice in CXO Europe. Furthermore, in December of 2008, he and Siciliano co-delivered a presentation titled “Information in the Modern Age: Maintaining Privacy in an Era of Medical Record Identity Theft” at the 4th Annual World Healthcare Innovation & Technology Congress in Washington, D.C., where Former U.S. Congressman Newt Gingrich delivered the keynote address.

Readers who belong to LinkedIn® are encouraged to join the MyLaptopGPS group there. Featured in Inc. Magazine and TechRepublic, MyLaptopGPS maintains the Realtime Estimated Damage Index (REDI™), a running tally of highly publicized laptop and desktop computer thefts and losses and these losses’ associated costs. A log of these high-profile laptop thefts is available at MyLaptopGPS’ website.

Readers may download a demo of MyLaptopGPS. They also have the opportunity to read one of two reports tailored to the type of organization they run.

MyLaptopGPS combines Internet-based laptop GPS tracking with other functionalities to secure mobile computing devices. A user launches MyLaptopGPS’ features remotely, protecting data even while the machine is in a criminal’s hands. Once connected to the Internet, the software employs laptop GPS to silently retrieve and then delete files from machines as it tracks the stolen or missing hardware — at once returning the data to its rightful owner and removing it from the lost mobile computing device.

YouTube video shows Siciliano on a local FOX News affiliate discussing the importance of securing mobile computing devices on college campuses, where laptop theft can run rampant. To learn more about identity theft, a major concern for anyone who’s lost a laptop computer or other mobile computing device to thieves, readers may go to video of Siciliano at VideoJug.

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About MyLaptopGPS

Since 1984, Tri-8, Inc. (DBA MyLaptopGPS.com) has specialized in complete system integration. From real-time electronic payment processing software to renowned mid-market ERP implementations, the executive team at MyLaptopGPS™ has been serving leading enterprises and implementing world-class data systems that simply work. With MyLaptopGPS, Tri-8, Inc. brings a level of expertise, dedication, knowledge and service that is unmatched. MyLaptopGPS’ rock-solid performance, security, and reliability flow directly from the company’s commitment to top-notch software products and services for 25 years.

About IDTheftSecurity.com

Identity theft affects us all. Robert Siciliano, CEO of IDTheftSecurity.com and member of the Bank Fraud & IT Security Report‘s editorial board, makes it his mission to provide consumer education solutions on identity theft to Fortune 500 companies and their clients.

A leader of personal safety and security seminars nationwide, Siciliano has been featured on “The Today Show,” CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, “FOX News,” “The Suze Orman Show,” “The Montel Williams Show,” “Maury Povich,” “Sally Jesse Raphael,” “The Howard Stern Show,” and “Inside Editio
n.” Numerous magazines, print news outlets, and wire services have turned to him, as well, for expert commentary on personal security and identity theft. These include Forbes, USA Today, Entrepreneur, Woman’s Day, Mademoiselle, Good Housekeeping, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Times, The Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, United Press International, Reuters, and others.

Visit Siciliano’s Web site, YouTube page, and blog.

The media are encouraged to get in touch with any of the following individuals:

John Dunivan
MyLaptopGPS Media Relations
PHONE: (405) 747-6654 (direct line)
jd@MyLaptopGPS.com
http://www.MyLaptopGPS.com

Robert Siciliano, Personal Security Expert
CEO of IDTheftSecurity.com
PHONE: 888-SICILIANO (742-4542)
FAX: 877-2-FAX-NOW (232-9669)
Robert@IDTheftSecurity.com
http://www.idtheftsecurity.com

Brent Skinner
President & CEO of STETrevisions
Zoominfo profile
LinkedIn profile
Brent Skinner’s Blog
PHONE: 617-875-4859
FAX: 866-663-6557
BrentSkinner@STETrevisions.com
http://www.STETrevisions.com

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identity theft, laptop gps, laptop theft