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Do You Really Need Identity Theft Protection?

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I see plenty of articles disclaiming any form of identity theft protection and the related expenses. They have titles like, “Identity Theft Protection Doesn’t Work,” or, “Poor Man’s Guide to Identity Theft Protection.” Most of these articles have some degree of merit, but they usually miss the point.

The fact is, you can’t protect yourself from all forms of identity theft, and the types that you can guard against require a Rain Man-like focus. One way or another, it’s going to cost you time or money or both.

Identity theft protection detractors say, “Why pay a monthly fee when all you have to do is…”

Securely dispose of mail. The standard advice is to thoroughly shred preapproved credit card offers and anything that includes any account information. While this is good advice and should be heeded, it’s not going to protect you when your bank or mortgage company or utility provider tosses your information in a dumpster that is subsequently raided by identity thieves.

Opt out of junk mail and preapproved credit card offers. This is good advice and can be done at OptOutPrescreen.com. However, even if you opt out of new offers, others will still arrive. It’s inevitable. You also need to get a locking mailbox, but that still won’t fully protect you.

Get a P.O. box. This won’t protect you at all. Anyone who recommends this tactic doesn’t understand how identity theft occurs.

Check your credit for free at AnnualCreditReport.com. This is an excellent way to stay on top of your credit reports and keep tabs on what accounts may be open under your name. However, it’s only good for one credit report per bureau per year. You should really check your credit report monthly, and that isn’t cheap.

Set fraud alerts. Fraud alerts are a great layer of protection, but they expire every 90 days, and most people don’t bother to renew. Plus, fraud alerts only serve as a guideline for creditors, who are not required to contact you before issuing credit.

Get a credit freeze. This is a great way to help prevent new account fraud. I recommend this. But by itself, a credit freeze is not enough.

These are all layers of prevention that will help, but by themselves or even in combination, they cannot provide the same degree of protection offered by a reputable, full-service, paid product.

To ensure peace of mind and protect your most valuable asset, your identity—subscribe to an identity protection service, such as McAfee Identity Protection, which offers proactive identity surveillance, lost wallet protection, and alerts when suspicious activity is detected on your accounts. For additional tips, please visit http://www.counteridentitytheft.com

Robert Siciliano is a McAfee consultant and identity theft expert. See him discuss an identity theft “pandemic” on CNBC. (Disclosures)

Travel Security and Identity Theft Scams

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Traveling for business or pleasure is hectic, unnerving, not at all glamorous and often draining. Often, we say we need a vacation after a vacation. And when traveling, the last thing you need is to be ripped off. Things to consider:

Hotel Rooms

Hotel rooms are not secure. Just last week I entered a hotel room with somebody else’s stuff laid out on the dresser and on the bed. It’s happened to me dozens of times. Sometimes the clerk assigns the same room to two people, or the keys work in multiple rooms. Never ever leave anything of value in your room.

Rental Cars

My wife traveled to Spain, got off the plane, and rented a car, and drove off the lot. At the first stop sign, a man knocked on her passenger window and pointed, saying, “Tire, tire.” She put the car in park and walked over to the passenger side. The tire was fine and the man was gone. When she got back in the car her purse had disappeared from the front seat. Her driver’s license, passport, cash, and credit cards were all gone.

Identifying Documents

When traveling, consider carrying your essential documents in a money belt, or one that hangs from a lanyard around your neck, hidden under your shirt. You should always carry photocopies of your identification, but they won’t do you any good if they’re stored in the same purse that was just snatched from your rental car. One smart option is to scan all your pertinent documents in full color and upload them to a secure web-based encrypted digital vault.

Lost Wallet Protection

Never include your Social Security card in any of these documents. There simply isn’t a reason to have you SSN with you while traveling. Consider an identity theft protection service that includes Lost Wallet Protection: just one phone call helps you notify your bank, cancel your credit and debit card cards, and order replacement cards.

To ensure peace of mind before you travel—and year-round—subscribe to an identity theft protection service, such as McAfee Identity Protection, which offers proactive identity surveillance, lost wallet protection, and alerts when suspicious activity is detected on your accounts. For additional tips, please visit http://www.counteridentitytheft.com

Robert Siciliano is a McAfee consultant and identity theft expert. See him discuss identity theft on YouTube. (Disclosures)

Summertime Scams and Identity Theft

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For everything in life, there is a corresponding scam. Scammers spend their energy trying to separate hardworking, law-abiding citizens from their money, and they’ll take advantage of any opportunity to do so. The four seasons provide various opportunities for scams. Summers “hottest” scams include:

Stealing your mail. While you’re on vacation, your mailbox fills up with credit card offers and bank statements. The bad guy can steal this mail and use it to open new credit cards in your name, or to take over existing accounts.

Solution: Get a mailbox that locks in order to prevent thieves from stealing your mail. Have a trusted friend retrieve your mail while you’re away. Opt out of prescreened credit card offers.

Credit card fraud. Paying with cash is so 1800s! Credit cards are convenient and cleaner than dirty dollars. Therefore, credit card fraud is so 21st century! When you are out and about, anyone who handles your credit card can steal your digits and make unauthorized charges, as can anyone on the other end of an online purchase.

Solution: Check your credit card statements as frequently as possible. I recommend that you review them weekly, at a minimum. Federal law requires that credit card companies allow you to refute unauthorized charges for up to 60 days. Keep your receipts and scrutinize those statements.

Internet cafe spyware. Anytime you use any PC other than your own, your identity is at risk. Spyware is software installed on a computer that records every keystroke, username, password, and website visited. Autocomplete is a browser function that remembers your passwords. Autocomplete on a public computer means potential identity theft.

Solution: If at all possible, avoid business center or Internet cafe PCs. Many mobile phones can function as a temporary replacement for a PC, and netbooks are cheap and easy enough to travel with. If you even encounter autocomplete on any computer, turn it off before browsing and always log out and shut down a browser before walking way.

To ensure peace of mind during summertime festivities—and year-round—subscribe to an identity protection service, such as McAfee Identity Protection, which offers proactive identity surveillance, lost wallet protection, and alerts when suspicious activity is detected on your accounts. For additional tips, please visit http://www.counteridentitytheft.com

Robert Siciliano is a McAfee consultant and identity theft expert. See him discuss spyware on Fox Boston. (Disclosures)

Man lived under stolen identity for more than a decade

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Identity cloning generally encompasses all types of identity theft. In most cases, the thief is intentionally living and functioning as the victim. The thief’s motivation may be to hide from the law, evade child support, or skirt immigration.

A man lived a quiet life with a steady job. But he wasn’t who he claimed to be. He was an identity thief. The ruse was so elaborate that his own girlfriend said she was unaware of it.

His victim lived hundreds of miles away and for over a decade, he was unaware that his identity had been stolen. When the victim applied for a passport for the first time, he learned that someone else already had a passport under his name, and had since 1996.

Prosecutors aren’t even sure of the perpetrator’s real name. The man claims he’s a German national who entered the country under his real name in 1983 via Mexico. He even got a birth certificate and a driver’s license.

In cases of identity theft, generally, the goal is to commit financial fraud. Kind of like a smash and grab. The thief comes in, wreaks havoc, makes a mess, destroys your credit, and then moves on to another victim. But with identity cloning, the person may actually pay the bills and live a decent life.

In some cases, though, that person may also be a sex offender or have other recurring legal troubles. Either way, at some point, there is inevitably a mess that needs to be cleaned up. Some people spend hundreds of hours, thousands of dollars, and face years of aggravation.

Our systems of identification rely on antiquated paper and plastic documents, often without photographs, coupled with ubiquitous numeric identifiers. Since the beginning and especially today, all forms of documentation are easily counterfeited. This means anyone can simply copy, scan, manipulate, and print a document, obtain your digits, and become you.

This means that your identity is anything but safe and secure. It is entirely vulnerable to attack, and may already be compromised.

Your best option is to lock it down in a way that makes it difficult for an identity thief to use it undetected, and in some cases makes your identity useless to a thief. And if your identity is ever compromised, McAfee Identity Protection fraud resolution agents work with you to restore your stolen identity.

Identity Theft Targets Hispanic Community

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Jose Marrero, who was born and lived his entire life in Puerto Rico, had no idea that someone else was using his name and Social Security number to charge thousands of dollars in Miami and Chicago. At least, not until the police showed up at his job to arrest him for car theft. Marrero told the Associated Press, “All of the information [on the warrant], all of it, the driver’s license, the Social Security, my address, was mine. I was shocked. I told them simply that it wasn’t me.”

In the U.S., a Puerto Rican’s identity is worth as much as $6,000, since it can be used to hide illegal immigrants. Like most personally identifying documents, Marrero’s were probably stolen from schools or church rectories.

Puerto Rican stolen identities have surfaced in immigration raids all over the country. “Birth certificates have become legal tender,” said Puerto Rico’s secretary of state. Here in the U.S. there are over 14,000 variations of the birth certificate. I personally have five versions of my own. That’s a stupid system.

Puerto Rico’s current solution is to void all existing birth certificates and have everyone reapply for new ones with better security, a plan that will make it harder to get fake documents in the future. But with millions of legal existing passports and driver’s licenses still valid, how is the real person identified?

The AP article states that the problem stems from the Puerto Rican tradition of requiring birth certificates to enroll in schools or to join churches, sports teams, or other groups. But the fact is, all Americans of every descent do the exact same thing. I remember having to bring my birth certificate with me to the YMCA summer camp. That’s why I have five, because we always needed duplicates for school, camp, even field trips!

Organized crime is likely involved in selling “tripletas,” consisting of a birth certificate, a Social Security card, and a driver’s license. Similarly, in criminal hacking communities, full sets of identifying information that can be used to steal an identity are packaged as “fullz” and sold for less than $100.

Victims face damaged credit, criminal records, and years of credit restoration. The time spent restoring one’s identity can potentially result in thousands of dollars in lost wages.

One victim, a 32-year-old married father of two whose credit has been ruined, told the AP that local authorities were dismissive: “They told me, ‘There are cases more important than that little case.’”

Not all identity theft can be prevented. However McAfee Identity Protection continually monitors your information and works to proactively protect you and will be there to assist you in the even your identity is compromised. Protect your most important asset, your identity.

Robert Siciliano is a McAfee Consultant and Identity Theft Expert. See him discussing illegal immigrant identity theft on Fox news. (Disclosures)

Choosing An Identity Protection Solution

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When making a purchase, word of mouth is often the best way to arrive at a comfortable decision. But what do you do when the product is weighty and complex, as with a mortgage, mutual fund, or insurance policy? You go to the experts, who know the ins and outs of an offering.

My expertise is identity theft protection. And frankly, I’m confused by what many other companies are offering. I understand the gist of most of what they do, but what they are best at is smoke and mirrors. There is a fundamental lack of transparency in the identity protection industry.

Identity protection, first and foremost, needs to be transparent. You should know what you are getting and what it does and why it is a benefit to you.

Most identity theft protection services offer “monitoring.” But they don’t say what they monitor or how they monitor or what benefit that monitoring will provide you. Monitoring can mean searching the web with readily available free search engines, or it can mean searching for your data on a specific set of websites. Monitoring can also refer to credit monitoring, in which the provider has a relationship with one or more credit bureaus and alerts you if there is activity on your credit report.

These services also say they will help you recover from identity theft, but in the fine print they tell you that recovery is limited to what they protect if their service fails.

An identity theft protection service should inform you when your personally identifying information, such as your name, Social Security number, or credit or debit card number, are used to commit fraud or other crimes.

Identity theft protection should keep pace with the evolving criminal landscape and involve multiple layers of proactive monitoring, detection, automatic alerts, and an intuitive customer experience.

McAfee Identity Protection includes:

– Daily 3-bureau credit monitoring to detect potential financial fraud

– Identity surveillance capabilities to monitor the Internet, change-of-address databases and public records for inappropriate uses of your personal information

– Immediate notifications, via email, SMS text, or your McAfee online account, if any suspicious activity is detected

– Lost wallet protection to make it easy to safeguard your credit and debit card accounts by canceling lost or stolen cards on your behalf and ordering replacements

– Unlimited credit reports from Experian to help you to stay on top of your credit history

– Unlimited phone support from dedicated fraud resolution agents, who’ll work with you to help resolve any identity issues – even issues that occurred prior to your enrollment in McAfee Identity Protection

– A product guarantee of up to $1 million that covers you if you are victimized by identity theft while subscribed to McAfee Identity Protection.

McAfee hopes to educate consumers about identity theft so that they can make informed choices on the ways to protect themselves. McAfee has launched a new website dedicated to consumer education at http://www.counteridentitytheft.com/. The site includes a tool to help consumers access their risk for identity theft and make necessary adjustments.

Ultimately, you want to make an informed decision and invest in identity theft protection from a trusted provider. McAfee is one of the world’s largest and most trusted names in digital security. Protect your most important valuable asset — your identity — with McAfee Identity Protection.

MCAFEE, INC. LAUNCHES THE FIRST COMPREHENSIVE PERSONAL IDENTITY PROTECTION PRODUCT FROM A LEADING SECURITY COMPANY

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SANTA CLARA, Calif., July 14, 2010 – McAfee, Inc. (NYSE: MFE), the world’s largest dedicated security company, today announced that it has launched McAfee® Identity Protection, one of the most comprehensive and easy to use identity protection services on the market. The product features proactive identity surveillance which keeps consumers’ identities safe by providing multiple layers of protection, including monitoring the major credit reporting agencies and public records as well as Internet scanning for indicators of identity theft.

Javelin Research reports that individuals who took six or more months to detect fraud suffered more than 14 times the cost of those victims who discovered fraud in its early stages.1 McAfee Identity Protection alerts users of potential threats to their identities, ultimately saving them both time and money.

“There have been more victims of identity theft in the last year than any other time in the past six years2 and consumers repeatedly rank identity theft as a top concern because of the substantial remediation costs,” said Todd Gebhart, executive vice president of McAfee consumer, mobile and small business. “To address this market need, McAfee has created a product that is truly customer-focused and proactive. We put victims first, offering a best-in-class fraud resolution service that provides unlimited support, and the strongest collection of identity monitoring and alerting capabilities in the industry. In combination with a McAfee PC security suite, McAfee Identity Protection offers complete personal and online identity protection.”

Industry Statistics

  • 59 percent of identity theft happens through lost or stolen wallets and criminals ‘dumpster diving’ to get financial records and other sensitive personal information3
  • The average fraud amount per victim is $4,8414
  • 50 percent of victims do not discover  that someone has stolen their identity for  several months or years, according to the 2009 ITRC Aftermath Study
  • For as little as $20, criminals can purchase a fake Social Security card at “ID mills” around the country5
  • Every year, the Social Security Administration (SSA) receives eight to nine million earnings reports where the name doesn’t match the Social Security number6

Consumers at Risk:  McAfee Identity Theft Risk Assessment Tool Findings

McAfee also released findings from its Identity Theft Risk Assessment Tool, a free service that can help consumers determine how they are leaving themselves and their identities at risk. McAfee evaluated responses over a nine-month time frame with more than 5,743 participants:

  • 47 percent of respondents carry their Social Security card with them at all times. Experts say this is alarming, as lost/stolen wallets account for a large portion of identity theft
  • 88 percent of consumers have responded to emails and instant messages from people they do not know. McAfee Labs researchers warn against this, as cybercriminals develop elaborate scams to steal consumers’ information through email scams

McAfee Identity Protection Key Benefits

McAfee is the only company to offer a full range of identity protection services including credit and public records monitoring, Internet scanning, alerts, lost wallet protection, identity restoration services, a $1 million product guarantee, and Internet security products to address online identity theft.

Comprehensive Detection: The proactive identity surveillance capability constantly scans multiple sources for indicators of identity theft. This includes millions of Internet black market sites, chat rooms, blogs, and emails where identity thieves obtain stolen personal information. Additional monitoring of public records and change of address databases assists in the early warning of potential identity theft.  McAfee Identity Protection also includes daily monitoring of all three major credit bureaus (Experian, Equifax and TransUnion) to quickly detect and alert consumers to any red flags associated with their credit file such as new account creation or delinquent payments.  

Effortless Protection Against Theft: McAfee Identity Protection is designed to give consumers an effortless way to protect themselves and quickly resolve issues associated with their identity. The product will alert users by email or text when potentially suspicious activity is detected, and lost wallet protection helps users safeguard their credit/debit card accounts by assisting customers in canceling and ordering replacement cards.  McAfee Identity Protection also allows customers to stay on top of their credit reports with unlimited access to Experian credit reports.

Complete Resolution and $1 Million Product Guarantee: Dedicated fraud resolution experts work with consumers beginning to end to help fix identity theft issues. McAfee Identity Protection is designed to provide peace of mind and also includes a $1 million product guarantee if the product fails and a subscriber is ever victimized while his or her membership is active.

Easy to Use: Leveraging McAfee’s expertise in creating consumer-friendly security products, McAfee Identity Protection features an intuitive interface that clearly displays users’ personal identity health as well as actions required. The Web-based McAfee Identity Protection requires no software installation and is available anywhere with an Internet connection.

McAfee Identity Protection is priced at $109.99 for an annual subscription, or $9.99 on a monthly basis for an individual account. Consumers can also select the family option which includes coverage for the subscriber, another adult in the household and children for an annual subscription of $199.99 or $16.99 on a monthly basis. McAfee expects to offer product bundles of McAfee Identity Protection with McAfee core security products in the second half of this year.

McAfee Identity Protection was co-developed with Experian’s ProtectMyID.com™, a leading, full-service provider of identity theft detection, protection and fraud resolution. McAfee is not a credit repair organization and McAfee Identity Protection is not a credit repair service. McAfee Identity Protection cannot remove legitimate credit history information from a consumer’s credit report.

McAfee Taps Identity Theft Expert Robert Siciliano

McAfee also announced it has recruited leading identity theft expert and author, Robert Siciliano, as a McAfee consultant and identity protection expert. Mr. Siciliano consulted on the development of McAfee Identity Protection product, and will continue to team with McAfee to drive awareness about identity theft risks. Consumers can read his blog at www.mcafee.com/id-theft-expert.

“I’ve been in the business for more than two decades and I’ve watched identity thieves become increasingly savvy and relentless,” said Siciliano. “The tales I’ve heard would boggle your mind. Most of the time, consumers don’t even know they’ve been victimized, making the damages more devastating and increasing the hours it takes to resolve the issue. In some case, it can take up to three years to clear your name. Consumers have to wake-up to the dangers.”

Identity Theft – Common Consumer Errors

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The major problem that consumers face today is a fundamental lack of understanding of what identity theft actually is. Most people think of identity theft as when someone uses your credit card without your permission. Fraudulent credit card use is certainly a multibillion dollar problem, but it’s only one small part of the identity theft threat. A comprehensive understanding of what identity theft and what it is not empowers citizens to make informed decisions about how they should protect themselves.

People who have been victimized by identity theft often have a difficult time functioning as a result of their circumstance. Some deal with minor administrative annoyances whiles others suffer financial devastation and legal nightmares.

No one is immune to identity theft:

A woman contacted me who was previously a very successful real estate agent and the president of her local real estate group. She had climbed the ranks from sales to broker/owner and oversaw dozens of employees. A former boyfriend stole her Social Security number and his new girlfriend used it to assume her identity. Over the course of five years the ex-boyfriend and his new girlfriend traveled the world on stolen credit and destroyed the real estate agent’s ability to buy and sell property. Her real estate license was suspended and her life was turned upside down.

Awareness is key:

Do you carry your Social Security number or a Social Security card in your wallet? Do you provide this number to anyone who asks for it? The most commonly dispensed advice in response to these questions is: don’t carry the card and don’t give out the number. But in reality, there are many times when you have to use your Social Security number. Because this number is our primary identifier, we have to put it at risk constantly. Refusing to disclose your Social Security number under any circumstances is like refusing to eat because the food might be bad for you. There are always risks. The key is managing those risks and making smarter decisions.

Do you know what ATM skimming is? Have you seen a skimmer? Have you been phished? Would you know what a fraudulent auction looks like? Do you put your name on a “stop delivery list” when you travel? Do you know how to update the critical security patches in your computer’s operating system? Do you know if the doctor’s office your child just went to has done background checks on all the employees who handled your and your child’s Social Security number? Most people struggle to answer questions like these.

We live in a technologically dependant time and we rely on all these tools and modes of communication, and most people do not understand the risks. The good news is, I do. And McAfee does. And what we do is keep you informed of your options, so that you know how to protect yourself and your family.

The most important thing you can do right now is not worry about this stuff. But you do need to take some time to educate yourself.

Download McAfee’s eGuide,“What You Need to Know to Avoid Identity Theft.”

Take five minutes to assess your risk of identity theft. Fill out the Identity Theft Risk Assessment Tool to get your “risk profile.”

Identity Theft Expert; Conficker Virus Countdown

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Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Speaker

News of Conficker out of control then under control is everywhere.

60 minutes reports on everything we have discussed in these posts. Main stream media has recognized the Internet has a cancerous virus and is infected. Criminal hackers are creating viruses infecting webpages in record numbers all in the name of money.

Security professionals are losing sleep as they race against the bad guys in anticipation of the next big breach.

Conficker is big news as its infecting mainly corporate networks at an astonishing estimated 10-12 million PCs and this sleeper cell is set to get its next set of updates April 1st.

Like Al Queda operatives living amongst us, cyber terrorists waiting for their next communiqué from a remote cave, Conficker waits to strike.

Nobody knows what’s going to happen April Fools, but security professional have a plan. Do you?

By all accounts Conficker has the potential capacity to steal data or launch a massive denial of service attack which encompasses massive amounts of data, flooding the Net, bogging down mainframe servers that distribute data to our inboxes.

60 Minutes used the example of what I did on CNN describing a Facebook hack and used a Morley Safer Facebook account that may be hacked with Conficker and begins to send messages to Morleys friends. Then Leslie Stahl who is a Morely “friend” receives an email looking like it’s from Morelys Facebook account to click a video. That video has a destructive payload that infects Leslies machine and the virus replicates itself to Leslies contacts.

Now Morelys PC has a virus that records all his keystrokes and Leslie is just as vulnerable. Bank accounts are cracked, credit card log-ins are stolen, the contents of their My Documents folders are copied and sent to Turkey and identities are stolen. People who don’t have any identity theft protection face years of dealing with creditors who accuse them of being bad debtors.

Malware is showing up on thousands of websites compromised in numerous ways and infecting computer users whose defenses are down.

Most attacks can be prevented with updated anti virus like McAfee or others. But with an estimated 15,000 new infections daily it’s difficult for the every day user to protect themselves unless they are automatically downloading virus definitions. And that may not be enough.

Criminal hackers come in all shapes and colors from every corner of the world. Russian hackers are often depicted as the best of the worst. These cyber criminals are often put on a pedestal in their communities as they brag about their accomplishments, hacking wealthy hacker Americans and stealing 10s of thousands of dollars monthly and spending that money in their remote villages.

Russian authorities generally don’t prosecute and may even employ criminals to steal from greedy Americans. As long as hate and money are motivators, foreign governments will groom and incite talented 14 year olds into a life of crime.

This story is far from over.

Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Speaker discusses online banking security here

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 Expert; Anatomy of a Hack

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Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Expert

There is a battle going on round the clock, between the bad hackers and the good hackers. Most of the time, the good guys lose. Here we have an example of the bad guy actually getting caught.

At age 19, an Israeli criminal hacker named Ehud Tenebaum made news as “The Analyzer,” (a great tag for a criminal hacker) after he cracked and penetrated the Pentagon, NASA and even Hamas computer networks.

He then went silent and is believed to have embarked on a 10 year long international conspiracy to hack networks of United States and Canadian banks and other financial institutions. Losses are estimated at $10-12 million.

The Analyzer’s hacking technique is believed to be “SQL injection,” a tactic that I’ve blogged about previously, which exploits vulnerabilities in software development.

A forensic analyst who investigated breaches in both countries found a common thread in each hack. Servers in Virginia owned by HopOne, an ISP, were used as a routing point, receiving their commands from another set of servers at a Dutch hosting company.

Here’s where Big Brother is watching, and in this case, for good reason.

Last spring, US investigators working with Dutch authorities requested that all data traffic from the Dutch servers on route to Virginia be intercepted through wiretapping and provided to authorities.

During this time, criminal hackers from all over the world used the stolen data to create ATM white cards and prepaid gift cards loaded with cash. They withdrew cash from ATMs on three continents to the tune of approximately $450,000.

According to Wired, the wiretapped traffic included email discussions between numerous criminal hackers, regarding their accomplishments. One email address, Analyzer22@hotmail.com, provided investigators with their smoking gun. The Hotmail address had Ehud Tenebaum’s name and age registered along with it. Not too smart, E.T.

Ehud Tenebaum owned and operated a Canadian computer security company called Internet Labs Secure. One of the IP addresses used to access the Hotmail account was registered to Tenebaum’s business. E.T. phoned home and got caught.

This is one example of high tech organized criminals taking advantage of numerous flaws in the technology we use every day.

Be warned, there are plenty more to take E.T.’s place. Chances are, someone moved right in where he left off.

Invest in identity theft protection. Install and update Internet security software such as McAfee. Check your bank and credit card statements online bi-weekly and make sure to refute unauthorized charges within a 30 to 60 day period.

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 Robert Siciliano discussing credit card hacks here