Identity Theft Expert Robert Siciliano's Blog (143)

The Feast of the 7 Phishes

Being a “Siciliano” and having roots in Italy, namely Sicily, the little island at the bottom of the boot, we have a tradition where we celebrate “the vigil” (La Vigilia), with a Feast of the Seven Fishes (festa dei sette pesci).

It’s a day of cooking, eating and enjoying your favorite beverag

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Added by Identity Theft Expert Robert Siciliano on December 22, 2009 at 4:40pm — 1 Comment

Craigslist ATM I bought Causes Industry Stir

Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Expert

Apparently I raised a hackle or two. Seems my little stunt got the attention of industry insiders, and not all of them believe that I bought a

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Added by Identity Theft Expert Robert Siciliano on December 22, 2009 at 8:47am — No Comments

Lack of Laptop Security Leads to Identity Theft

Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Expert

In 2003, an estimated 1.5 million laptops were stolen worldwide. Today, that number has climbed to 2.6 million. That’s a 70% increase in just a few years. That’s one stolen laptop every 12 seconds.

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Added by Identity Theft Expert Robert Siciliano on December 20, 2009 at 2:39pm — No Comments

Identity Theft 2010 Top 10 Predictions

Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Expert

The

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Added by Identity Theft Expert Robert Siciliano on December 17, 2009 at 3:37pm — 2 Comments

Facebook Newest Portal for Social Media Identity Theft

Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Expert

Imagine trying to log into your online accounts one after the other and being locked out. At first you think the site you are visiting screwed up but then it keeps happening over and over again no matter where you go. Then you start receiving messages from friends and family asking you w

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Added by Identity Theft Expert Robert Siciliano on December 15, 2009 at 9:00am — 4 Comments

Child Identity Theft Protection

Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Expert

In a blog I guest contribute to called “NextAdvisor” they offer the following advice on child identity theft protection:

The following post in our Reader Question series is an actual user submitted question.

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Added by Identity Theft Expert Robert Siciliano on December 14, 2009 at 5:13pm — No Comments

Merchant Credit Card Transaction Monitoring

Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Expert

Security professionals intuitively think proactively. Our job is to predict and prevent what the bad guy will do next. My job specifically is to instill this mindset into you, the consumer, SMB or large corporate enterprise.

Bob Russo, General Manager and Rockstar of the

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Added by Identity Theft Expert Robert Siciliano on December 11, 2009 at 9:38am — No Comments

10 Tips to Secure Online Holiday Shopping

Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Expert

UK officials shut down an amazing 1200 online retailers who scammed millions from unsuspecting shoppers. Most of the sites originated from identity thieves in Asia who tricked victims into believing they were legitimate sites. Victims then lost money by entered the

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Added by Identity Theft Expert Robert Siciliano on December 9, 2009 at 6:45pm — No Comments

Holiday Temps Make The Best Identity Thieves

Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Expert

This is the absolute best time of the year to be a dishonest temporary worker. Holiday hustle and bustle overwhelms managers and supervisors and they can’t possibly see everything their employees are doing. It has been said that only 10 percent of employees are honest, 10 percent of employees will always steal and 80 percent will steal based on circumstances. Hiring

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Added by Identity Theft Expert Robert Siciliano on December 7, 2009 at 6:18pm — No Comments

MIT Says Handing Over Your Identity Data Protects You

Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Expert

Identity is a simple concept that has become a complex problem. It has become complex due to fraud. Fraud, motivated by money and the ease of obtaining credit and taking over an account. Because identity has yet to be effectively established, anyone can be you.

Currently, identity is generally established when a person p

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Added by Identity Theft Expert Robert Siciliano on December 2, 2009 at 6:27am — 1 Comment

Handwritten Signature is Stupid Authorization

Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Expert

Ever forge your husband’s signature? Wife’s? Parent’s? Client’s? Do you think the clerk behind the counter at Walmart is skilled in handwriting analysis? I’ve always viewed a signature as a totally ridiculous form of authentication and a total waste of my time. Signing my name has always been burden and a frustrating task.

Nobody seems to know when a h

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Added by Identity Theft Expert Robert Siciliano on November 30, 2009 at 5:08pm — No Comments

The Twelve Scams of Christmas,” or Popular Online Attacks This Holiday Season Pt IV of IV

Robert Siciliano identity theft expert

Cybercriminals Take Advantage of the Holiday Season, Aiming to Steal Consumers’ Money, Identities and Financial Information

As cybercriminals begin to take advantage of the holiday season, McAfee, Inc. revealed the “Twelve Scams of Christmas” – the twelve most dangerous online scams that computer users should be c

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Added by Identity Theft Expert Robert Siciliano on November 29, 2009 at 10:02am — No Comments

The Twelve Scams of Christmas,” or Popular Online Attacks This Holiday Season Pt III of IV

Robert Siciliano identity theft expert

Cybercriminals Take Advantage of the Holiday Season, Aiming to Steal Consumers’ Money, Identities and Financial Information

As cybercriminals begin to take advantage of the holiday season, McAfee, Inc. revealed the “Twelve Scams of Christmas” – the twelve most dangerous online scams that computer users should be c

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Added by Identity Theft Expert Robert Siciliano on November 29, 2009 at 9:44am — No Comments

The Twelve Scams of Christmas,” or Popular Online Attacks This Holiday Season Pt II of IV

Robert Siciliano identity theft expert

Cybercriminals Take Advantage of the Holiday Season, Aiming to Steal Consumers’ Money, Identities and Financial Information

As cybercriminals begin to take advantage of the holiday season, McAfee, Inc. revealed the “Twelve Scams of Christmas” – the twelve most dangerous online scams that computer users should be cautious of this h

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Added by Identity Theft Expert Robert Siciliano on November 25, 2009 at 9:00pm — No Comments

The Twelve Scams of Christmas,” or Popular Online Attacks This Holiday Season Pt I of IV

Robert Siciliano identity theft expert

Cybercriminals Take Advantage of the Holiday Season, Aiming to Steal Consumers’ Money, Identities and Financial Information

As cybercriminals begin to take advantage of the holiday season, McAfee, Inc. revealed the “Twelve Scams of Christmas” – the twelve most dangerous online scams that computer users should be c

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Added by Identity Theft Expert Robert Siciliano on November 24, 2009 at 7:46pm — 1 Comment

SWATting, Using Technology To Hurt

Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Expert

Swatting is making prank calls to emergency services. In the field of information security, swatting is an attempt to trick an emergency service (such as a 911 operator) to dispatch an emergency response team, gener

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Added by Identity Theft Expert Robert Siciliano on November 23, 2009 at 7:47pm — 2 Comments

Hackers Indicted for Jacking Comcast

Robert Siciliano identity theft expert

One hacked email address led to the defacement of Comcasts homepage. When the hackers called Comcasts technical contact to let him know all 200 Comcast domain names and Comcast homepage were vulnerable, he hung up on them.

It has not been disclosed how the email was compromised, but there are many ways it could be. Wired/CNN

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Added by Identity Theft Expert Robert Siciliano on November 21, 2009 at 5:52pm — No Comments

Money Mules Facilitate Identity Theft and Fraud

Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Expert

Mules are relatively unaware people who get hooked into a “small business” or employment that is a function of a criminal enterprise. The mules often respond to “help wanted” ads from online job placement sites. Shipping scams are a common tactic criminals use in which they employ mules to receive goods bought with stolen credit card numbers, who then ship to people who buy them in o

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Added by Identity Theft Expert Robert Siciliano on November 19, 2009 at 5:44am — No Comments

I Bought an ATM off Craigslist for $750 w/1000 CC#s on it. Yup.

Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Expert

After the Vegas DEFCON ATM debacle where hackers hacked hackers by setting up a fake ATM in front of the facilities security office, I needed to see how stupid easy it was to buy and ATM and just set it up anywhere. So my search began.

I started looking on e-bay and found plenty of new and used ATMs ranging from $500-2500 but quick

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Added by Identity Theft Expert Robert Siciliano on November 17, 2009 at 8:42pm — 2 Comments

Twitter Phish Identity Theft Scam

Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Expert

I’ve been getting the same “direct message” from several of my Twitter followers. Apparently, their accounts have been hacked, because it’s a phishing message that says, “ROFL this you?” and contains a shortened URL.

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Added by Identity Theft Expert Robert Siciliano on November 15, 2009 at 7:35pm — No Comments