The good news: Stolen identity prices are dropping. The bad: Yours is probably already stolen
Saturday, October 31st 2009 @ 5:25 PM (not yet rated)
"Thieves are stealing far more identities than they need," says security and privacy guru Bruce Schneier. The value of a stolen credit card number or other type of Personally Identifiable Information is going down because there's so much supply. It seems a bit strange to say it, but even if some of your identity is stolen by a hacker, it was likely not used, due to the fact that they are usually stolen in such large chunks.
Today, according to Bruce (click HERE for his article), thieves steal databases containing hundreds of thousands of credit card numbers, or more ,from businesses that have poor protection on their customer data. The criminals don't seem to be able to use them all yet - but I wouldn't count on them not coming up with a way to automate the systematic charging of a few dollars to each one, eventually.
This Dilbert cartoon shows how easy (or potentially funny) life can be in a country that turns a blind eye to criminal activity originating from within its borders. There are such places, but as Bruce points out, stronger data breach notification laws may help force businesses to better protect our personal information. So, will the price of a stolen identity go up in future if laws get stronger? Who knows. I just find the whole thing a bit bizarre.
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If your social media strategy doesn't consider risks, the joke will be on you [Dilbert]
Sunday, October 4th 2009 @ 7:47 AM (not yet rated)
We've only just started to uncover the many potential creative uses for new social media tools like Twitter. One day soon, if you haven't already, you'll encounter a brainwave - even if you currently see no use for these tools - that causes it all to make sense. Whether you think of it, or somebody else does, is irrelevant. If it can be done, somebody's going to do it. So, surely, with this whole "Social Media" thing being so young, your team had to have been the first to think of it. Your gut says it's time to take action.
Strike while the iron is hot... The early bird gets the worm... Victory goes to the swift... All the lights are turning green.
As groupthink sets in, you believe this new idea is going to revolutionize not only your business, but your entire industry. In one fell swoop, you will be a world leader.
You can't wait to get started. You'll even get Vince Offer to do an infomercial for you, leaving the Sham-Wow and Slap-Chop in the dust.
Now, here's the reality check. Just because it may be easy to implement doesn't mean it won't be challenging to see your vision succeed. Remember, the easier it is to implement, the more people will be trying something similar. It also means the bad guys know where the easy marks will be. It's been very easy for hackers and scammers to exploit the weak security in many social media sites to date. Depending on where the biggest value is, they will either attack you or your customers.
As happens with Dilbert's boss, you may not even know you are a victim, as long as you are distracted by the newness and ease-of-use of some of these tools.
On the other hand, you really should have a well thought-out social media strategy that includes considering how your business can be adversely affected by this whole trend - even if you or your business doesn't use it. Fraud based on fake identities is also growing quickly. (Facebook can't keep up with the number of fake profiles and pages, and Twitter rarely tries.) If you're not there with a recognizable and reliable presence, people may be duped into following a link to a site they think is yours, but isn't.
So, it's not as easy as it seems to make big wins out of social media tools; but you do have to go there - and in a responsible way - to avoid unexpected, but increasingly likely risks. Just make sure you spend time analyzing all the threats before taking the plunge.
| | I am now offering monthly briefings, tailored to organizations that want to build and sustain security awareness for staff. Just because your security team is too busy to do its own training and awareness doesn't mean you can't have an economical way to address human security risks. Please call or email me at the coordinates below...
Scott Wright
The Streetwise Security Coach
Join the Streetwise Security Zone at:
http://www.streetwise-security-zone.com/join.html
Phone: 1-613-693-0997
Email: scott@streetwise-security-zone.com
Twitter ID: http://www.twitter.com/streetsec
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