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Category Archives: ID Theft

5 ways to keep your data safe right now

Christopher Soghoian is a TED Fellow, and the principal technologist at the American Civil Liberties Union, where he monitors the intersection of federal surveillance and citizen’s rights. Before joining the ACLU, he was the first-ever technologist for the Federal Trade Commission’s Division of Privacy and Identity Protection, where he worked on investigations of Facebook, Twitter,… Continue Reading

Cisco 2015 Annual Security Report

New Threat Intelligence and Trend Analysis – “Despite advances by the security industry, criminals continue to evolve their approaches to break through security defenses. Attackers are realizing that bigger and bolder is not always better. The Cisco 2015 Annual Security Report reveals shifts in attack techniques, emerging vulnerabilities, and the state of enterprise security preparedness.… Continue Reading

Worldwide Threat Assessment of the US Intelligence Community – 2015

Statement for the Record Worldwide Threat Assessment of the US Intelligence Community, Senate Armed Services Committee, James R. Clapper, Director of National Intelligence February 26, 2015. Cyber Strategic Assessment – “Cyber threats to US national and economic security are increasing in frequency, scale, sophistication, and severity of impact. The ranges of cyber threat actors, methods… Continue Reading

Annual Report to Congress: Federal Information Security Management Act

Annual Report to Congress, February 27, 2015: “As cyber threats continue to evolve, the Federal Government is embarking on a number of initiatives to protect Federal information and assets and improve the resilience of Federal networks. OMB, in coordination with its partners at the National Security Council (NSC), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and… Continue Reading

Legislation to Facilitate Cybersecurity Information Sharing: Economic Analysis

Legislation to Facilitate Cybersecurity Information Sharing: Economic Analysis. N. Eric Weiss, Specialist in Financial Economics. February 23, 2015. “Data breaches, such as those at Target, Home Depot, Neiman Marcus, JPMorgan Chase, and Anthem, have affected financial records of tens of millions of households and seem to occur regularly. Companies typically respond by trying to increase… Continue Reading

Identity Theft Tops FTC’s Consumer Complaint Categories Again in 2014

News release: “Identity theft topped the Federal Trade Commission’s national ranking of consumer complaints for the 15th consecutive year, while the agency also recorded a large increase in the number of complaints about so-called “imposter” scams, according to the FTC’s 2014 Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book, which was released today. Imposter scams – in which… Continue Reading

IRS – Identity Protection: Prevention, Detection and Victim Assistance

“Identity theft places a burden on its victims and presents a challenge to businesses, organizations and government agencies, including the IRS. Tax-related identity theft occurs when someone uses your stolen social security number to file a tax return claiming a fraudulent refund. The IRS combats tax-related identity theft with an aggressive strategy of prevention, detection… Continue Reading

New GAO Reports – Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, Flood Insurance, Identity and Tax Fraud

Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board: Improvements Needed to Strengthen Internal Control and Promote Transparency, GAO-15-181: Published: Jan 20, 2015. Publicly Released: Feb 19, 2015. Flood Insurance: Status of FEMA’s Implementation of the Biggert-Waters Act, as Amended, GAO-15-178: Published: Feb 19, 2015. Publicly Released: Feb 19, 2015. Identity and Tax Fraud: Enhanced Authentication Could Combat Refund… Continue Reading

Analysis: It’s surprisingly easy to identify individuals from credit-card metadata

MIT News release: “In this week’s issue of the journal Science, MIT researchers report that just four fairly vague pieces of information — the dates and locations of four purchases — are enough to identify 90 percent of the people in a data set recording three months of credit-card transactions by 1.1 million users. When… Continue Reading

Legislation to Facilitate Cybersecurity Information Sharing: Economic Analysis

CRS – Legislation to Facilitate Cybersecurity Information Sharing: Economic Analysis. N. Eric Weiss, Specialist in Financial Economics. December 11, 2014. “Data breaches, such as those at Target, Home Depot, Neiman Marcus, and JPMorgan Chase, affecting financial records of tens of millions of households seem to occur regularly. Companies typically respond by trying to increase their cybersecurity by hiring consultants and purchasing new… Continue Reading

CIGI-Ipsos Global Survey on Internet Security and Trust

“The CIGI-Ipsos Global Survey on Internet Security and Trust, undertaken by the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) and conducted by global research company Ipsos, reached 23,376 Internet users in 24 countries, and was carried out between October 7, 2014 and November 12, 2014. The countries included: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Egypt, France, Germany, Great Britain,… Continue Reading

Experian Data Breach Resolution releases second annual data breach industry forecast

“Preventing and managing data breaches have become two of the highest priorities facing businesses today. To help executives plan ahead, Experian Data Breach Resolution announces the release of its second annual Data Breach Industry Forecast, a complimentary white paper outlining key issues and trends to watch for in 2015. Many evolving factors such as new threats, regulatory changes… Continue Reading