In a perfect world, consumers recognize authentic emails from fake, update their operating system, browser and anti-virus software, and have a healthy skepticism about the safety of the Internet.

The bad guys hate perfect, so we should be working with consumers to stop them.

I deal with the ugly aftermath of one type of cybercrime, helping consumers recover from identity theft. As a result, I am passionate about letting consumers know about online and real world sources of the crime.
Organizations like mine are joining forces to recruit consumers – who are also your customers and employees – in the fight against cybercrime. Expect to see major public education outreach in October as National Cyber Security Week, an initiative of the National Cyber Security Alliance, a month that also features Protect Your Identity Week, a coalition spearheaded by the National Consumer Counseling Association.

There are also professional organizations, like the Anti-Phishing Working Group and the Online Trust Alliance, that develop ideas and solutions to educate and arm consumers.

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The perps may have had a network in place of valets, waiters/waitresses or others who had an idea of who the victims were, their addresses and what their schedules were. Most importantly, someone on the inside of this network would inform the thieves when the victims would be gone from the home.

The thieves would enter the homes through locked or unlocked sliding doors generally in the back of the home. Their targets included high end jewelry, watches, gold and diamonds. Losses could be as high as 2 million dollars.

Getting the stolen jewelry back is often next to impossible. Jewelry is the quickest and easiest to fence.

“Police have dubbed the six people arrested for their participation in a burglary ring spanning three counties as the “Dinner Crew Set.” Home surveillance video captured one of the thieves in action — a masked man with a two way radio.”

It’s obvious that most of these homes did not have home alarms or home security cameras. Many of the

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It goes without saying that good and evil often do exist side-by-side. And much like the Chinese concept of the Yin and Yang — contrary forces that are interconnected in the natural world — so too does this exist in the identity theft world. Each week we highlight the “Worst Person” in identity theft; while contrarily we also highlight the “Best Person.” Yes, there are many hard working professionals who work tirelessly to fight identity theft, and they deserve all the recognition in the world.

And, this week, we would like to commend Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) Commissioner Gerald Bailey for leading the charge to arrest of 10 members of a criminal mortgage fraud and identity theft operation. The group i

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Protect Stored Information

Before a business can protect stored information which might be mobile and confidential in nature such as competitive business information or consumer personal information, they must know what information is vulnerable to exploitation and where they are. These are the first two steps of the Identity KAOS principles for protecting consumer identities. More people nowadays are storing confidential information, whether business or personal information, on their laptops and other types of storage devices which can be carried around for the convenience of accessing them when they are away from home or office. Some businesses might store payroll files and other sensitive documents while consumers might save account numbers and passwords on unprotected mobile storage devices to be accessed when needed.

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There are bargains and deals galore at online auction sites. There are also frauds galore. Avoid becoming a victim by following these 5 tips.

Tip #1 — Buy from Top-rated Sellers

If possible, buy from top-rated sellers. Most seasoned auction sites have a rating system for their sellers. For example, on EBay the top sellers have a blue ribbon by their name. This lets you know the seller has a good track record with the site and is a dependable seller.

Check the auction you’re interested in and see if they have any type of rating system or a comment section where disreputable sellers are reported.

Tip #2 — Know What You’re Bidding On

If you’re bidding on an object or product, you’re going to be familiar with it. But with online auctions, you need to take it one step further. Do some comparison-shopping. Know the going price.

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Welcome to the Friday’s Food for Thought post from the ITAC blog. As many of us are counting the hours down to a long holiday weekend, we thought we would discuss the importance of this holiday weekend and how safety should be paramount – for everything including your personal data. Of course, there are many stories about firework safety and how to combat the heat, which thankfully broke on the east coast. We even found a story about BBQ safety tips.

But, alas, we did not find any stories about tips for keeping your personal data safe over the holiday weekend. So, we decided to fill this editorial void. We have pulled some key information from the Protect Your Identity Now web site from the National Foundation for Credit Counseling that focuses on travel tips. Thi

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