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Category Archives: ID Theft

Phishing Activity Trends Report – 1st Qtr 2013

“The APWG Phishing Activity Trends Report [published July 23, 2013] analyzes phishing attacks reported to the APWG by its member companies, its Global Research Partners, through the organization’s website, and by e-mail submissions to [email protected]. APWG also measures the evolution, proliferation , and propagation of crimeware by drawing from the research of our member companies.… Continue Reading

Five indicted in NJ for largest known data breach conspiracy

News release: “A federal indictment made public today in New Jersey charges five men with conspiring in a worldwide hacking and data breach scheme that targeted major corporate networks, stole more than 160 million credit card numbers, resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars in losses and is the largest such scheme ever prosecuted in… Continue Reading

FTC Issues Revised Business Guide on ‘Red Flags’ Identity Theft Rule

News release: “The Federal Trade Commission has issued revised guidance designed to help businesses comply with the requirements of the Red Flags Rule, which protects consumers by requiring businesses to watch for and respond to warning signs or “red flags” of identity theft. The guidance outlines which businesses – financial institutions and some creditors –… Continue Reading

EFF – How to Enable Two-Factor Authentication on Twitter (And Everywhere Else)

EFF, Parker Higgins: “Twitter rolled out two-factor authentication last week, joining a growing group of tech companies to support the important security feature. Two-factor authentication can help mitigate the damage of a password breach or phishing attack…Twitter has named its two-factor authentication system “Login Verification,” and its announcement provides a straightforward guide on how and why to use… Continue Reading

2013 Data Breach Investigations Report

“Verizon’’s 2013 Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR) provides truly global insights into the nature of data breaches that can help organizations of all sizes to better understand the threat and take the necessary steps to protect themselves. The breadth and depth of data represented in this year’s DBIR is unprecedented. It combines the efforts of… Continue Reading

IRS Releases the Dirty Dozen Tax Scams for 2013

News release: “The Internal Revenue Service…issued its annual “Dirty Dozen” list of tax scams, reminding taxpayers to use caution during tax season to protect themselves against a wide range of schemes ranging from identity theft to return preparer fraud. The Dirty Dozen listing, compiled by the IRS each year, lists a variety of common scams… Continue Reading

FTC Releases Top 10 Complaint Categories for 2012

Identity Theft Tops List for 13th Consecutive Year in Report of National Consumer Complaints “Identity theft is once more the top complaint received by the Federal Trade Commission, which has released its 2012 annual report of complaints. 2012 marks the first year in which the FTC received more than 2 million complaints overall, and 369,132,… Continue Reading

Mandiant Exposes APT1 – One of China’s Cyber Espionage Units & Releases 3,000 Indicators

By Dan Mcwhorter on February 18, 2013 -“Today, The Mandiant® Intelligence Center™ released an unprecedented report exposing APT1′s multi-year, enterprise-scale computer espionage campaign.  APT1 is one of dozens of threat groups Mandiant tracks around the world and we consider it to be one of the most prolific in terms of the sheer quantity of information it has stolen. Highlights… Continue Reading

"Carnegie Mellon researchers devise grammar-aware password cracker"

News release: “When writing or speaking, good grammar helps people make themselves be understood. But when used to concoct a long computer password, grammar — good or bad — provides crucial hints that can help someone crack that password, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have demonstrated. A team led by Ashwini Rao, a software engineering… Continue Reading

Proposed Rulemaking – IRS Truncated Taxpayer Identification Numbers

“This document contains proposed regulations that create a new taxpayer identifying number known as an IRS truncated taxpayer identification number, a TTIN. As an alternative to using a social security number (SSN), IRS individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN), or IRS adoption taxpayer identification number (ATIN), the filer of certain information returns may use a TTIN… Continue Reading

Hacker Intelligence Initiative, Monthly Trend Report #13

Monitoring Hacker Forums ADC Monthly Web Attacks Analysis, October 2012: “Imperva analyzed one of the largest-known hacker forums with roughly 250,000 members, as well as other smaller forums. Using search capabilities, we analyzed conversations by topic using specific keywords. We found: SQL injection is now tied with DDoS as the most discussed topic. Both topics… Continue Reading