Identity Theft Online

Hackers and Cyber Criminals Wage War Against Hollywood

Lets face it. We love to hate celebrities. To us average earthlings, they seem to live a life of privileged that is further cushioned by an industry and a public that caters to their every need, and many times we simply enjoy a bit of schadenfreude when it comes to celebrities. Who hasnt enjoyed watching Charlie Sheens public meltdowns?

Well, the FBI is reportedly investigating a hacker group who is taking schadenfreude to the next level by attacking phones and computers of stars and stealing nude photos and other personal items. The latest victims whose nude photos have been stolen and posted online are Scarlett Johansson and High Sschool Musical star Vanessa Hudgens.

Heres some more on this story from the NYC Fox News affiliate:

As many as 50 celebrities could be victims of a hacker ring, TMZ reported Thursday, citing sources who claim the FBI is conducting a wide-ranging investigation into a hacking ring that is attacking stars accounts for the thrill.

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Check Your Password Security

Passwords are the bane of the security community. We are forced to rely on them, while knowing they’re only as secure as our operating systems, which can be compromised by spyware and malware. There are a number of common techniques used to crack passwords.

Dictionary attacks: These rely on software that automatically plugs common words into password fields. Password cracking becomes almost effortless with a tool like John the Ripper or similar programs.

Cracking security questions: When you click the “forgot password” link within a webmail service or other site, you’re asked to answer a question or series of questions. The answers can often be found on your social media profile. This is how Sarah Palin’s Yahoo account was hacked.

Simple passwords: When 32 million passwords were exposed in a breach last year, almost 1% of victims were using “123456.” The next most popular password was “12345.” Other common choices are “111111,” “1234567,” “12345678,” “123456789,” “princess,” “qwerty,” and “abc123.” Many people use first names as passwords, usually the names of spouses, kids, other relatives, or pets, all of which can be deduced with a little research.

Reuse of passwords across multiple sites: Reusing passwords for email, banking, and social media accounts can lead to identity theft. Two recent breaches revealed a password reuse

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Tags: Security

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Traveling For Winter Vacations? Think Security

Contrary to what some might suggest, I’ve never thought it was a good idea to place your name on a “stop mail” list at the post office. Because some crack head postal employee now has a list of opportunities.

It’s the same thing with stopping delivery of your newspaper. Once you are on that list, it is known you are away.

The best case scenario for both issues is to have a trusted friend, family member or neighbor grab your mail and newspaper for you.

Never list your vacation plans on social media. The last thing you need to be doing on Facebook is telling the world you are 2000 miles away.

Put lights on timers to give your home the “lived in look”. ADT Pulse™ does all this form you.

Do all the fundamentals like invest in a home alarm system that sends an alert to local law enforcement that your house has been broken into. Studies show as many as 25% of all American homes are equipped with a home security system. Monitoring is generally a buck a day.

Set yourself up with home security cameras. Mine can be a

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Social Security Numbers Easily Cracked

It is easier than ever to guess or predict an individual’s Social Security number, which puts us all at a greater risk for identity theft.

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have developed a reliable method for predicting Social Security numbers, using information from social networking sites, data brokers, voter registration lists, online white pages, and the publicly available Social Security Administration’s Death Master File.

Originally, the first three numbers on a Social Security card represented the state in which a person had initially applied for their card. Numbers started in the northeast and moved westward. This meant that people born on the East Coast were assigned the lowest numbers and those born on the West Coast were assigned the highest numbers. Before 1986, people were rarely assigned a Social Security number until age 14 or so, since the numbers were used for income tracking purposes.

The Carnegie Mellon researchers were able to guess the first five digits of a Social Security number on their first attempt for 44% of people born after 1988. For

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Tags: Security, Social Security

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Is Your iPhone Telling Too Much?

In the world of cell phones, the iPhone can currently be considered the king. Tens of millions of people have these devices, which serve not only as phones but as game consoles, schedulers and mini Web browsers. A lot of people get online with their iPhones and then use programs called applications, or apps, to access popular programs like Twitter, Facebook and Google. There are also thousands of other apps available, and basically anyone can create one and sell it or give it away on the iTunes app store.

When you use a program on your regular computer, there is often an option that lets you block the program from storing information about you; for instance, to opt you out of receiving email alerts. A lot of iPhone apps do not have such a feature. In addition, it is easy for the owner of an app to trace your iPhone’s serial number, which ultimately leads back to you.

Some apps can also store the following: *The model of your iPhone *The operating system you use *The versions of the app you downloaded *Whether your phone is jail broken *When you log on or off of the app *Your current exact location

While there have been no high profile cases of identity theft occurring due to a malicious iPhone app, the technology is still pretty new and there is no telling what can happen in the future. T

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Tags: Iphone, Iphone Telling

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