We have all seen the movie “Catch Me If You Can” about Frank Abagnale Jr.’s exploits into check fraud and professional impersonation.  Amazing to believe that he actually studied and passed the Louisiana State Bar Exam (in two weeks mind you) without ever going to law school, but we digress.  You may recall that the ending was rather nice:  Abagnale ends up working for the FBI then ultimately earns “millions a year” as a consultant to banks.  Not a bad way to go…lead a life of crime, then use your expertise to score the big bucks with a legitimate job.

So, with the rise of the hacker nation, are there hundreds, perhaps thousands, of young Frank Abignale’s out there who the government should hire?  We have often said the the most bleeding-edge hackers are one-step-ahead…wouldn’t you want to hire the guy that is smarter than you, one step ahead and always elusive?  This would be a good thing for government in our new cyber war, right?

According to NextGov, the Department of Homeland Security is unable to hire “friendly hackers” and other computer whizzes as consultants because of outdated policies that Congress and the White House must reform.   Yesterday, the Aspen Inst

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Around 13,000 current and former students of Chapman University and its affiliate, Brandman University had their personal information exposed last week.  The university said an electronic document containing sensitive information such as Social Security numbers, student identification numbers and financial aid information was discovered by a Chapman student on February 15^th.

Chapman University discovered that the document had accidentally been placed in a nonsecure location.

Shari Waters, Chapman’s chief information officer, said in a statement released Tuesday that the university has found “no evidence that any personal data was appropriated or misused” and that the slip-up appeared to be an “isolated incident.”

Chapman University has contacted all of the students listed in the document and is offering identity protection service to the students

Whether you’re a road warrior or simply own multiple PCs and want access to all your data from anywhere, here are a few easy ways to do it, and one not so easy option.

All of these options are secure, as long as you don’t leave a remote PC logged into your account, or log in from a PC that is already infected with spyware or a virus. I only log in from trusted PCs like my own laptop.

LogMeIn gives you remote access to your PC or Mac from any other computer with an Internet connection, for free. Just install LogMeIn on the computer you want to access, and then log into your account from any other computer. You’ll be able to see your desktop and use all your applications, as if you were sitting right in front of your home computer, even if you’re across town, across the country, or across the world. LogMeIn Full Article…

The Department of Defense proclaims, “The national security depends on our defense installations and facilities being in the right place, at the right time, with the right qualities and capacities to protect our national resources.” But by relying on Social Security numbers as primary identifiers, this same organization puts the identities of soldiers and their families at risk.

Last month, four West Point professors released a journal article arguing, “Despite the Defense Department’s recent advances in protecting personally identifiable information such as Social Security numbers, the military continues to have a ‘cultural disregard’ for PII.” The professors also pointed out that since the first digits of a Social Security number can be deduced based on birth year and location, restricting use to the last four digits does not adequately preclude identity theft.

In 2007, an Office of Management and Budget memo ordered agencies to eliminate all nonessential uses of Social Security numbers, and the Department of Defense is currently working on limiting its use of the numbers.

If you are a soldier or have a family member away on leave, there are two ways to protect yourself or your family member:

1. Place an “act

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We all know that things aren’t always what they seem. On the surface the world of Disney seems like the idyllic place where dreams actually come true, especially if you wish upon a star (makes no difference who you are). Though the unfortunate reality of the Disney empire is that it is a money-making business that charges exorbitant amounts of money for people to enter their theme parks. And well, we have all heard the stories from friends (or friends of friends) who worked for Disney. Let’s just put it this way — not all dreams come true in the Disney empire.

Now that we have gotten our Disney-bias out of the way. Let’s discuss something happening with Disney and identity theft. The Walt Disney Co. was sued in federal court in Santa Ana today in a class action lawsuit that alleges the company-issued employee badges that left workers vulnerable to identity theft. The emp

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The personal health data for about 1.7 million New York City patients and hospital workers was stolen from an unlocked van in Manhattan.  The van belonged to the city’s medical vendor, GRM Information Management Services.

The 20 years worth of electronic files were stored on magnetic tapes that contained personal information and protected health information of patients, contractors and vendors.  The personal information included names, addresses and Social Security numbers. Thos

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