Requests For Social Security Numbers Leads to Identity Theft

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Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Expert

A patient at a Washington state medical clinic was asked for his Social Security number numerous times. Many of us have endured this familiar process. Considering the recent buzz about identity theft, this patient became concerned about releasing his own sensitive personal data, and requested that the facility remove his Social Security number from their records. The clinic refused, the patient put up a stink, and was ultimately ejected from the facility. The clinic considered his request unreasonable, and a violation of their rules and regulations. So, who’s right and who’s wrong in this scenario?

One Saturday afternoon, years ago, my spouse and I went to a major chain that rents videos. Without naming them, let’s just say they rent some block buster movies. The account was under my wife’s name, but she didn’t have her card with her that day. Upon checkout, the pimply faced 17-year-old clerk said, “No problem,” and asked for her Social Security number, which appeared on the screen in front of him. I freaked out and was ejected from the store. So, who’s right and who’s wrong?

In both cases, the customer is wrong. That may not be the answer you were expecting. I was wrong and the patient was wrong.

In general, routine information is collected for all hospital patients, including the patient’s name, address, date of birth, Social Security number, gender and other specific information that helps them verify the individual’s identity, as well as insurance enrollment and coverage data. And due to federally mandated laws like HIPAA, they are careful to maintain confidentiality of all patient information in their systems.

Corporations such as banks, credit card companies, automobile dealers, retailers and even video rental stores who grant credit in any form are going to ask for your name, address, date of birth, Social Security number and other specific information that helps them verify your identity and do a quick credit check to determine their risk level in granting you credit.

The Social Security Administration says, “Show your card to your employer when you start a job so your records are correct. Provide your Social Security number to your financial institution(s) for tax reporting purposes. Keep your card and any other document that shows your Social Security number on it in a safe place. DO NOT routinely carry your card or other documents that display your number.” But beyond that they have no advice and frankly, no authority.

Over the past fifty years, the Social Security number has become our de facto national ID. While originally developed and required for Social Security benefits, “functionality creep” occurred. Functionality creep occurs when an item, process, or procedure designed for a specific purpose ends up serving another purpose, which it was never intended to perform.

Here we are decades later, and the Social Security number is the key to the kingdom. Anyone who accesses your number can impersonate you in a hospital or bank. So what do you do when asked for your Social Security number? Many people are refusing to give it out and quickly discovering that this creates a number of hurdles they have to overcome in order to obtain services. Most are often denied that service, and from what I gather, there is nothing illegal about any entity refusing service. Most organizations stipulate access to this data in their “Terms of Service” that you must sign in order to do business with them. They acquire this data in order to protect themselves. By making a concerted effort to verify the identities of their customers, they establish a degree of accountability. Otherwise, anyone could pose as anyone else without consequence.

So where does this leave us? I have previously discussed “Identity Proofing,” and how flawed our identification systems are, and how we might be able to tighten up the system. But we have a long way to go before we are all securely and effectively identified. So, in the meantime, we have to play with the cards we are dealt in order to participate in society and partake in the various services it offers. So, for the time being, you’re going to have to continue giving up your Social Security number.

I give up mine often. I don’t like it, but I do things to protect myself, or at least reduce my vulnerability:

How to protect yourself;

  • You can refuse to give your Social Security number out. This may lead to a denial of service or a request that you, the customer, jump through a series of inconvenient hoops in order to be granted services. When faced with either option, most people throw their arms in the air and give out their Social Security number.
  • You can invest in identity theft protection.
  • You can attempt to protect your own identity, by getting yourself a credit freeze, or setting up your own fraud alerts. You can use Google news alerts to sweep the net and take precautions to prevent social media identity theft.
  • Protect your PC. Regardless of what others do with your Social Security number, you still have to protect the data you have immediate control over. Make sure to invest in Internet security software.

Robert Siciliano, identity theft speaker, discusses the ubiquitous use of Social Security numbers.

What have you done in the past when asked for your SSN? Did you refuse? What happened?

Social Media Identity Theft Hits MLB Coach On Twitter

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Identity Theft Expert Robert Siciliano

The scourge of identity theft knows no boundaries. It can happen to anyone: rich, poor, good credit, bad credit. Victims include children, the elderly, celebrities and politicians, even the dead. Identity theft may include new account fraud, account takeover, criminal identity theft, business identity theft and medical identity theft. Most of these result in financial loss.

One form of identity theft that is particularly damaging to the victim’s reputation is social media identity theft. Social media identity thieves have various motivations. The most damaging type of social media identity theft occurs when someone poses as you in order to disrupt your life. This disruption can take on many forms. They may harass and stalk you or your contacts, or they may steal your online identity for financial gain.

In the case of St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa, someone created a Twitter account in his name. La Russa is suing Twitter, claiming the impostor Twitter page damaged his reputation and caused emotional distress. The lawsuit includes a screen shot of three tweets. One, posted on April 19, read, “Lost 2 out of 3, but we made it out of Chicago without one drunk driving incident or dead pitcher.” Apparently, La Russa has had a drunk driving arrest and two Cardinals pitchers have died since 2002. One pitcher died of a heart attack, the other in a drunk driving accident.

There is no limit to the damage someone can do by using your name and picture in order to impersonate you online. In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, an 18 year old student was accused of posing as a girl on Facebook, tricking at least 31 male classmates into sending him naked photos of themselves, and then blackmailing some of these young men for sex acts.

Social media websites were created with the intention of bringing people together in a positive way, but we are beginning to see these sites being used in very sinister ways. The root of the problem is the fact that social media sites are all based on the honor system, with the assumption that people are honestly setting up accounts in their own names. There are few checks and balances in the world of social media, which means that you need to adopt a strategy from yet another form of predator to protect yourself.

There are hundreds or even thousands of social media sites, including Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and YouTube. Even your local newspaper’s website has a place for user comments, and most people would prefer to register their own names before someone else has done so on their behalf.

I have obtained over 200 user names pertaining to my given name in order to mitigate social media identity theft. This may sound obsessive, but the two examples given above are all the proof anyone needs to clamp down on social media. I’m on everything from Affluence.org to Zooomr.com. Some I use, others just have my profile and a link back to my website. I should also mention that there are some hazards involved in such a mission. You may experience a spike in spam, as I did, so I suggest creating an alternate email address. Furthermore, some websites make you join various groups that you don’t have much control over. I’m now a member of some masochistic fetish group of the opposite sex. Not exactly what I signed up for. So be careful.

The goal is to obtain your real first and last name without periods, underscores, hyphens, abbreviations or extra numbers or letters.

These tips bear repeating:

  1. Register your full name and those of your spouse and kids on the most trafficked social media sites, blogs, domains or web based email accounts. If your name is already gone, include your middle initial, a period or a hyphen. It’s up to you to decide whether or not to plug in your picture and basic bio, but consider leaving out your age or birthday.
  2. Set up a free Google Alerts for your name and get an email every time your name pops up online.
  3. Set up a free StepRep account for your name. StepRep is an online reputation manager that does a better job than Google Alerts does of fetching your name on the web.
  4. Consider dropping $65 on Knowem.com. This is an online portal that goes out and registers your name at what they consider the top 120 social media sites. Their top 120 is debatable, but a great start. The user experience with Knowem is relatively painless. There is still labor involved in setting things up and with some of the 120. And no matter what you do, you will still find it difficult to complete the registration with all 120 sites. Some of the social media sites just aren’t agreeable. This can save you lots of time, but is only one part of solving the social media identity theft problem.
  5. Start doing things online to boost your online reputation. Blogging is best. You want Google to bring your given name to the top of search in its best light, so when anyone is searching for you they see good things. This is a combination of online reputation management and search engine optimization for your brand: YOU.
  6. If you ever stumble upon someone using your likeness in the social media, be very persistent in contacting the site’s administrators. They too have reputations to manage and if they see someone using your photo or likeness they would be smart to delete the stolen profile.
  7. Or do nothing and don’t worry about it. But when some other John Doe does something stupid or uses your name in a disparaging way or for identity theft, and people assume that it’s you, remember that I told you so.
  8. Despite all the work you may do to protect yourself, you still need identity theft protection and Internet security software.

Robert Siciliano, identity theft speaker, discusses social media privacy.

mCrime; Hacking Mobile Phones for Identity Theft

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Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Expert

History indicates that we are at the forefront of an era in which criminal hackers develop tools and techniques to steal your money using your own cell phone.

Fifteen years ago, cell phones were so bulky and cumbersome, they had to be carried in bags or briefcases. Then they became chunky, heavy bricks. Calls dropped every other minute. Clearly, cell phones have evolved since then. Today’s cell phone is a lot more than a phone. It’s a computer, one that rivals many desktops and laptops being manufactured today. A cell phone can pretty much do everything a PC can do, including online shopping, banking, and merchant credit card processing.

The personal computer started out slow and stodgy, and was mainly used for things like word processing and solitaire. Today, PCs are fast, multimedia machines, capable of performing amazing tasks.

There are consequences to the rapid evolution of these technologies.

A decade ago, during the slow, dial up era, hackers (and, in the beginning, phreakers) hacked for fun and fame. Many wreaked havoc, causing problems that crippled major networks. And they did it without today’s sophisticated technology.

Meanwhile, the dot-com boom and bust occurred. Then, as e-commerce picked up speed, high speed and broadband connections made it easier to shop and bank online, quickly and efficiently. Around 2003, social networking was born, in the form of online dating services and Friendster. PCs became integral to our fiscal and social lives. We funneled all our personal and financial information onto our computers, and spent more and more of our time on the Internet. And the speed of technology began to drastically outpace the speed of security. Seeing an opportunity, hackers began hacking for profit, rather than fun and fame.

Now, iPhones and other smart phones have become revolutionary computers themselves. For the next generation, the phone is replacing the PC. AT&T recently announced that they’ll be upping the speed of the latest version of their 3G network, doubling download speeds. It has been reported that the next iPhone will have 32 gigabytes. That’s more hard drive than my three year old laptop.

So naturally, criminal hackers are considering the possibilities offered by cell phones today, just as they were looking at computers five years ago.

Two things have changed the game: the speed and advancement of technology and spyware. Spyware was created as a legitimate technology for PCs. Spyware tracks and records social network activities, online searches, chats, instant messages, emails sent and received, websites visited, keystrokes typed and programs launched. It can be the equivalent of digital surveillance, revealing every stroke of the user’s mouse and keyboard. Parents can use spyware to monitor their young children’s surfing habits and employers can make sure their employees are working, as opposed to surfing for porn all day.

Criminal hackers created a cocktail of viruses and spyware, which allows for the infection and duplication of a virus that gives the criminal total, remote access to the user’s data. This same technology is being introduced to cell phones as “snoopware.” Legitimate uses for snoopware on phones do exist: silently recording caller information, seeing GPS positions, monitoring kids’ and employees’ mobile web and text messaging activities. Criminal hackers have taken the snoopware and spyware technology even further. Major technology companies agree that almost any cell phone can be hacked into and remotely controlled. Malicious software can be sent to the intended victim disguised as a picture or audio clip, and when the victim clicks on it, malware is installed.

One virus, called “Red Browser,” was created specifically to infect mobile phones using Java. It can be installed directly on a phone, should physical access be obtained, or this malicious software can be disguised as a harmless download. Bluetooth infared is also a point of vulnerability. Once installed, the Red Browser virus allows the hacker to remotely control the phone and its features, such as the camera and microphone.

While this may sound improbable, I’ve consulted and appeared on television (Tyra Banks and Fox) with an entire family that seems to have been victimized by every aspect of snoopware. The Kuykendalls, of Tacoma, Washington, found that several of their phones had been hijacked in order to spy on them. They say the hacker was able to turn a compromised phone on and off, use the phone’s camera to take pictures, and use the speakerphone as a bug. Ever since the program featuring the Kuykendalls’ story aired and continues to repeat, I’ve received dozens of emails from people around the world who have experienced the same thing. Many of these people seem totally overwhelmed by what has happened to them, and some are beginning to suffer financial losses.

If history is any indication of the future, mobile phones, just like computers, will soon be regularly hacked for financial gain. Prepare for mCrime in the form of credit card fraud, identity theft and data breaches.

Some Internet security software providers are beginning to offer software specifically for mobile phones. In the meantime, identity theft protection services are one line of defense against the latest cybercrime techniques.

Robert Siciliano, identity theft speaker, discusses hacked cell phones.

Typosquatting on Twitter and other social networks

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Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Expert

Typosquatting, which is also known as URL hijacking, is a form of cybersquatting that targets Internet users who accidentally type a website address into their web browser incorrectly. When users make a typographical error while entering the website address, they may be led to an alternative website owned by a cybersquatter. This can lead to financial or social media identity theft. Phishing is the criminally fraudulent process of attempting to acquire sensitive information such as user names, passwords and credit card details by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication.tvviter

Scammers recently created a website imitating Twitter.com, and have been sending phishing emails to millions of users, many of whom click on the link contained within the emails, which sends them to the phishing site, where they enter their user names and passwords in order to log in.

The site is Tvviter.com, spelled with two V’s instead of a W. This is a form of “TypoPhishing”. I doubt anyone is going to inadvertently typo two V’s, but it’s certainly a creative ruse by the criminal hackers. This website is currently live. Assuming that your browser is up to date, it should alert you to the fact that Tvviter.com is a suspected phishing site.  Tweet.ro is another phishing website, which my up to date browser did not warn me about. Notice that neither web address is hyperlinked here. I would not suggest playing around on these sites. At any time, the creators can easily introduce malware to these sites, and then onto your outdated operating system or browser in the form of a “drive by” hack, which ultimately leads us back to identity theft and fraud.

tvviter1If you decide to play in the devil’s den, you are bound to get burnt.

Forward this blog post to your contacts. Let people know, so that they won’t be fooled. This scam may stick if the site isn’t taken down by the time this warning is read. Don’t get hooked. And protect yourself with Internet security software and identity theft protection.

Robert Siciliano, identity theft speaker, discusses phishing.

How to prevent social media identity theft

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Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Expert

Two words: you can’t. However, there are several things you can and should do in order to manage your social media identity, which may prevent social media identity theft. What exactly is social media identity theft? It’s a form of cybersquatting using social media sites.

If you’ve ever attempted to join a social media, more commonly known as a social networking site, or applied for an email account, and found that your first and last name were already taken, that may or may not have been social media identity theft, or cybersquatting.

There may be someone out there who shares your exact name and happened to register first, or else there is someone out there who took your name so that you can’t have it, or who wants to sell it back to you, or wants to pose as you and disrupt your life. These are all possibilities.

The most damaging possibility occurs when someone wants to pose as you in order to disrupt your life. This disruption can take on many forms. They may pose as you in order to harass and stalk you, or to harass and stalk people you know. Or they may steal your social media identity for financial gain. Throughout my years working in the field of financial crimes and identity theft, I’ve seen plenty of social media identity theft that led to financial loss. The thieves use a combination of email and social media to extract funds from others, or to open new accounts.

There are hundreds, or maybe even thousands, of social media sites (Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, YouTube), web-based email providers (hotmail.com, gmail.com, yahoo.com) and domain extensions (.com, .net, .biz). Then there are all the blog portals, such as WordPress and Blogspot. Even your local online newspaper has a place for user comments, and most people would want to register their own names before someone else comments on their behalf.

Social media websites offer the option to provide your real name as well as a user name. The user name may be a fun chat handle or an abbreviation of your real name. The key is to give your real name where requested and also to use your real name as your user name. Even if you don’t plan on spending any time on the site, or to use the domain or email, you want to establish control over it.

The goal is to obtain your real first and last name without periods, underscores, hyphens, abbreviations or extra numbers or letters. Your ideal name, for example would be twitter.com/RobertSiciliano, RobertSiciliano.com, orRobertSiciliano@anymail.com. This strategy won’t prevent someone else from registering with your name and adding a dot or a dash, but it trims down the options for a thief.

Some names are very common, or are also owned by someone famous. If that applies to your name, you can still take actions to manage your online reputation. If there is any uniqueness to your name or the spelling of your name, it’s still a good idea to claim your name in social media and work toward managing your online reputation.

Understand that your name is your brand. Your name is front and center on every document you sign and every website that shows up when your name is searched. The phrase, “All I have is my good name,” has never rung truer than today. If you are a writer, blogger, personality of any sort, or anyone who “puts it out there,” you probably already know enough to do these things. But there is more to do.

If someone, perhaps a potential employer or mate or client, searches your name on Google Web, Google Blogs or Google News, what will they find? Will it be someone else posing as you? Will it be a picture of you doing a keg stand? Or will it be you in your nicest outfit, accepting an award for an accomplishment? Either way, you need to manage your online identity and work toward preventing social media identity theft.

This isn’t an easy task. Nor is it fun. It can be time consuming and almost overwhelming. But I believe that the long term rewards are worth it.

  1. Register your full name and those of your spouse and kids on the most trafficked social media sites, blogs, domains or web based email accounts. If your name is already gone, include your middle initial, a period or a hyphen. It’s up to you to decide whether or not to plug in your picture and basic bio, but consider leaving out your age or birthday.
  2. Set up a free Google Alerts for your name and get an email every time your name pops up online.
  3. Set up a free StepRep account for your name. StepRep is an online reputation manager that does a better job than Google Alerts does of fetching your name on the web.
  4. Consider dropping $65 on Knowem.com. This is an online portal that goes out and registers your name at what they consider the top 120 social media sites. Their top 120 is debatable, but a great start. The user experience with Knowem is relatively painless. There is still labor involved in setting things up and with some of the 120. And no matter what you do, you will still find it difficult to complete the registration with all 120 sites. Some of the social media sites just aren’t agreeable. This can save you lots of time, but is only one part of solving the social media identity theft problem.
  5. Start doing things online to boost your online reputation. Blogging is best. You want Google to bring your given name to the top of search in its best light, so when anyone is searching for you they see good things. This is a combination of online reputation management and search engine optimization for your brand: YOU.
  6. If you ever stumble upon someone using your likeness in the social media, be very persistent in contacting the site’s administrators. They too have reputations to manage and if they see someone using your photo or likeness they would be smart to delete the stolen profile.
  7. Or do nothing and don’t worry about it. But when some other John Doe does something stupid or uses your name in a disparaging way or for identity theft, and people assume that it’s you, remember that I told you so.
  8. Despite all the work you may do to protect yourself, you still need identity theft protection and Internet security software.

Robert Siciliano, identity theft speaker, discusses social media privacy.