Did we waste too much time last week blaming TJX for the dark side of the Information Age?

With the (estimated) 45.7 million records being compromised in the TJX breach, everyone seems focused on placing blame on the retail industry.We seem to quickly forget that others, including institutions of higher learning, the financial services sector and even the government have been compromised pretty frequently, also. And even though massive data-breaches facilitated by hackers makes good press, the truth is that information is stolen on a less newsworthy basis, daily.Brad Dorfman (Reuters) might have put it all in perspective when he wrote:Consumers...

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FBI is going after Internet crime in Russia and Romania

A lot of experts believe that carder forums (selling stolen personal and financial details) are run overseas by Romanian and Russian organized crime.Nate Anderson (ars technica) wrote an interesting article about this, where he said:One American in Virginia, who goes by the Internet nick "John Dillinger," agreed to cooperate with "vendors" from Eastern Europe. These groups "acquired" credit card numbers, then sent them by e-mail and instant message to Dillinger, who then encoded them onto credit cards. He then took these credit cards to ATMs and...

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SIRAS – Smart technology that protects profit and privacy

Organized retail crime, according to RILA (Retail Industry Leaders Association), is a $34 billion a year problem. A study at the University of Florida conducted by Dr. Richard Hollinger suggests that 9 percent of all refund activity or $16 billion is fraudulent.At most merchants today, refunds are tracked with personal information. While this was effective...

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(Update: TJX data confirmed as used in Florida Case) Is the information being sold in carder forums being used in organized retail crime?

Underground carder forums (selling personal and financial information) are making it too easy to commit financial crimes. Symantec released a report showing that a credit-card number (with verification number) is sold for as little as $1 to $6. Complete information to take over an identity (government ID, social security number, bank account number, date of birth, etc.) costs about $14 to $18.Here is an example of how this stolen information might be used by criminals. I happened to run across a good example of this in the News-Press (Southwest...

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PIN pads replaced at Wendys to steal payment card details

More payment cards have been skimmed (financial details hijacked) as a result of PIN pads being replaced. This time the breach occurred at a Wendys in a busy part of Edmonton, Canada.A "Bluetooth" device was used in the phony PIN pads to transmit all the card details, using a wireless connection.The fraud was discovered when a large number of Edmonton cards started showing up with unusual activity in Montreal.According to the Edmonton Police, about 400 cards have been identified as having been compromised and used (cloned), but there could be more....

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Copy machines could store information useful to identity thieves

With copies of tax documents being made in massive numbers as the deadline grows nearer, we have something new to worry about.My daughter a.k.a (Quembel) passed this one on to me from the AP (courtesy of CNN):Consumers are bombarded with warnings about identity theft. Publicized threats range from mailbox thieves and lost laptops to the higher-tech methods of e-mail scams and corporate data invasions.Now, experts are warning that photocopiers could be a culprit as well.That's because most digital copiers manufactured in the past five years have...

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Auction Fraud Tops FBI's 2006 Internet Crime Report

The FBI's Internet Crime Report for 2006 has been released. It shows that 45 percent of the complaints are for auction fraud and that "old standards" like the Nigerian letter still hook victims.In fact, according to the report, the Nigerian Letter accounted for the highest median loss ($5,100).Other Internet crimes covered in the report are identity theft, investment fraud, cyberstalking, phishing, spoofing and spamming.The report indicates more crimes were reported to the FBI in 2006 than in any other previous year.While we might like to believe...

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A good argument for a federal law requiring disclosure of data breaches

An assistant professor at the University of Washington co-authored a study on data breaches (compromised personal and financial information), which reveals that the amount of compromised information out there could be a lot worse than anyone thought.From Physorg.com:If Phil Howard’s calculations prove true, by year’s end the 2 billionth personal record – some American’s social-security or credit-card number, academic grades or medical history – will become compromised, and it’s corporate America, not rogue hackers, who are primarily to blame. By...

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Civil Servants under scrutiny for credit card abuses

Senator Grassley (Iowa) is introducing legislation to counter what he calls massive abuse with government credit cards.He is quoted on his site as saying:Every time we open these GAO reports we find more outrageous spending. Internet gambling and a Yankees baseball game don’t seem to be appropriate uses of tax payer money. The federal agencies don’t seem to be stepping up, so our legislation helps put some common sense controls on these credit cards.The press release covers this in more detail:Grassley said the legislation would also stipulate...

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If you own a small business it pays to be aware of scams and exercise due diligence

Individuals and eBay warriors aren't the only people being targeted by advance fee and overpayment scams. Businesses, especially smaller ones, are now suffering losses with ever increasing frequency.The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners noted in their last report to the nation that small businesses suffer "disproportionate fraud losses," when they become a fraud victim.Part of the reason for this is large businesses employ people to deal with fraud. The other part of the reason is they can't afford the exposure (as well as) larger businesses...

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Mike Rothman's book on being an effective CSO

Mike Rothman (CSO type and blogger) is now a published author in his own write.What I like about his blog (in Security Incite) is that it takes a balanced approach to computer security (protecting information). His blog considers the technological, as well as, the social aspects of protecting information.In my opinion, he takes a balanced (holistic)...

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What a santuary city (Los Angeles) thinks of BofA and their no SSN credit-card product

Just read an interesting article from the Los Angeles Business, which indicates that 74 percent of the respondents in an informal poll are against Bank of America's "no SSN needed" credit-card product.Pretty interesting since in Los Angeles, even the LAPD (Los Angeles Police Department) can't ask if someone is there legally, or not.A lot of people seem to be upset that this financial product will help enable illegal immigration and make it (easier) to commit identity theft and credit card fraud.Criminals and a lot of illegal aliens are already...

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Nigerian (419) fraud is a worldwide problem

Nigerian (419) fraud is showing an alarming increase in India (900 percent) in one year. Pramit Pal Chaudhuri of the Hindustan Times is reporting:The world's most widespread financial fraud, the Nigerian 419 scam, is finding new pastures in Asia. India is the third fastest growing market with the defrauders' earnings from Indians increasing nine-fold in one year, says a report by the Dutch firm Ultrascan Advanced Global Investigations.Almost every cellphone and email user has been solicited by a 419 con man. The best-known ploy is a message claiming...

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FBI alerts the public about a growing trend in mortgage fraud

According to the FBI, mortgage fraud is a growing issue. To back this up, they are saying:Mortgage Fraud Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) referred to law enforcement by financial institutions increased from 17,127 SARs in Fiscal Year 2004 to 35,617 SARs in Fiscal Year 2006, reflecting estimated losses of $946 million. FBI Mortgage Fraud investigations have focused on large-scale frauds perpetrated by organized crime and industry insiders, including attorneys, brokers, appraisers, and realtors. Since September 2002, the number and types of investigations...

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Ruby Tuesday serves a blow to credit card skimmers

Ruby Tuesday is doing something about credit card fraud. They announced yesterday that they will be introducing an ultra-secure (encrypted) credit card system to protect their customers from fraud.The AP is reporting:The system, which is expected to be in all the restaurant chain's 900 locations by April, leaves no credit card information at the restaurant and is instead sent to the bank in encrypted form. The system is said to help prevent identity theft. Criminals (some say of the organized type) have been targeting a lot of unprotected information,...

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It pays to be observant when paying with your credit card

Dishonest employees at your local restaurant, or store might be making a little spending money selling your card information. Leaving your card unattended (even for a couple of seconds) can make you a victim.An interesting video on YouTube (posted by kamranakhtar) shows why.You Tube video, here.This video was first shown on the TechEBlog, as far as I can te...

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Organized retail criminals sell their ill-gotten proceeds in many places

Organized retail crime is becoming a "buzz word" within the retail security industry. Because of this fact, many large retailers employ dedicated specialists to deal with the issue.Some estimates (RILA) reflect that this could be a $34 billion a year problem.I've seen a lot of recent stories about merchandise being fenced on auction sites. Although, this is a big problem, stolen goods are fenced in other places, also.WKYC news (Ohio) is reporting that 19 homes and business were recently raided, illustrating how organized some of this activity can...

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Should recent prosecutions for fraud in Katrina remind us of something?

Bruce Alpert, of the Times Picayune did an excellent article about a lot of recent prosecutions for fraud in the aftermath of the hurricane disasters.One woman, LaWanda Williams collected $267,377.15 in an identity theft scheme using several other people's information.I wonder if any of the people (who had their information stolen) were denied benefits, as a result of LaWanda's activities?And LaWanda is just one example of people's greed. FEMA and Army Corps of Engineers officials, Red Cross employees and many others took advantage of the situation.In...

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Bank's Telephone ID Spoofed in Vishing Scam

People in Jefferson City, Missouri are receiving fraudulent telephone calls soliciting their personal and banking information. Even worse, their caller ID reflects that the call is coming from a bank.A new term (vishing) is being used to describe this kind of fraudulent activity. Scams over the telephone are nothing new, but many experts believe that VoIP technology is making the problem worse.Michelle Brooks, of the News Tribune is reporting:More than 1,000 people in the Jefferson City area received a prerecorded phone message Wednesday that sought...

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Internet Spammers fail to keep CastleCops down

CastleCops, the all volunteer site dedicated to fighting phishing, fraud and dastardly deeds on the Internet is back in action. The site had been under a massive DDos attack for the past couple of weeks.Paul Laudanski (CastleCops founder) announced the sites return to action via an e-mail to the community tonight.Brian Krebbs (Washington Post) did an interesting post about the attack on his blog, where he quoted Robin Laudanski (Paul's better half and co-founder) as saying:"I take [the attacks] as a compliment because if we weren't putting a dent...

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