Do you read your credit card bill? Really look at it? Crooks are counting on that not happening.
Identity Theft
Being a victim of identity theft is always a frustrating ordeal, but millions of Americans have to face an even more troubling scenario: Finding out that a criminal has applied for credit in the name of a deceased family member. A new study finds that, each year, the identities of some 2.5 million dead Americans [...]
For the past 12 years, the top category of consumer complaints fielded by the Federal Trade Commission has been identity theft. In 2011, this category made up 15% of all complaints. Crooks have many ways of stealing your personal data, and they’re getting even more inventive as the number of ways they can access your information grows.
As if it wasn’t disturbing enough that identity thieves are working around the clock to get their grubby paws on your credit card numbers, a recent investigation found that some brazen hackers are now angling to make off with consumers’ entire credit files. The methods they use show how poorly protected our data is — [...]
A security industry blog warned on Friday of a potentially “massive” data breach affecting as many as 10 million Visa and MasterCard accounts.
According to a new report and consumer survey from the Federal Trade Commission, many Americans don’t know what they’re entitled to if someone steals their identity. FTC data shows that, for more than a decade, the top category of complaints it handles is identity theft. So it’s disturbing that many of us don’t know what [...]
The value of consumers’ personal data online has been a hot topic lately. The astronomical $100 billion some analysts have suggested Facebook could be worth when it goes public stems from the fact that the social media powerhouse has reams of data on users’ chatting, browsing and buying habits. But we’re so short-sighted we won’t [...]
For years we’ve been told to keep drunken Facebook photos and racy wall posts private to avoid the judging eye of a potential employer, but now, according to MSNBC’s Red Tape blog, even that might not be enough.
As if there’s not enough stress around tax time, cybersecurity experts are calling attention to a growing problem: Identity thieves are using this event to snag unsuspecting taxpayers’ personal information.
The Zappos breach showed us that passwords may be the weakest link to protecting your online information. It’s a teachable moment. Here’s how to talk to the kids.
Zappos.com has taken pains to assure customers that their credit card information is safe after a data breach, which was reported over the weekend, compromised information of up to 24 million customers, including names, mailing and billing addresses, phone numbers, truncated credit card numbers and “cryptographically scrambled” passwords. But one cybersecurity expert says consumers shouldn’t [...]
