But I am Protected?

[bluesdave]

Originally Posted by tw

Same people who also use the same password for everything.

I know that some people do, but I have two Net banking accounts (two banks), and each one has a unique id (one bank actually has two), that have nothing to do with my name. These ids must be entered along with the password. One of the banks uses a virtual keyboard for the password. So knowing the password alone, is not enough.

But I agree with you that some people are stupid enough to use the same password for everything. I try to mix mine up, and as far as I recall I do not duplicate a password.

Access Manager is a safe and secure *free* program that I use to store my personal information. It is a Windows program and requires the dot Net framework to be preinstalled, so I know that it will not be usable by everyone here, but many should be able to.

[Sundae]

Originally Posted by tw

Same people who also use the same password for everything.

Meanwhile, public computers are used frequently for anything. Even if not accessing financial records, that common password is obtained.

It's true in my case - I use the same password for virtually everything because I don't want to come back to something a year later and not be able to remember it. And then the username is taken, but I can't get the password sent to my email because that has changed, blahblahblah.

Although I have to point out, the worst someone can do with my details is impersonate me on a forum, get promotional cinema tickets or check train times. Not having a credit/ debit card means I look over my shoulder a lot less. I no longer have an internet banking account (when I did in the 90s the password was my first boyfriend's road name - no connection now!) and I was only ever asked two letters from it, as well as another security question.

The only place someone could do vindictive harm now is my ebay account - which has a separate password.

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by wolf

Speaking of data breaches ... anyone recall the TJ Maxx incident of '06 (someone hacked TJ Maxx's computers just past Christmas and mined all the credit card information)?

I don't know what the other carriers are doing, but Citibank just replaced the cards of every single one of their cardholders that ever made a purchase from TJ Maxx.

That sucks, my wife shops there.

[Flint]

I bought a djembe there, hand-carved in Ghana, with a genuine goatskin head. They were selling it as home decor.

[richlevy]

I just got this today. It's been tagged with a phishing label and includes a message from Panda with what looks like Polish. Thunderbird thinks it might be a scam.

[BigV]

Another lovely social engineering attack spotted recently, described here:

When you restart your PC after the Trojan is installed, the first image appears.

You can only choose only Yes or No. You can't run Task Manager or any other applications. If you choose No your PC will be shut down immediately. If you choose Yes you'll see the second image.

Now you may think "It can't be true. I have activated my legitimate copy of Windows. MS can't do such a thing!". Surely almost everyone will notice that something strange is going on, and hopefully very few people will actually become victims by inputting their credit card details. But unfortunately even the people who are not tempted to give up their information this time might well become victims the next time. After all, failure to follow the on-screen instructions results in your PC shutting down immediately.

This Trojan teaches us all a good lesson - Trust No One. This is the slogan from the TV show The X-Files, and very much applies when it comes to protecting your personal information. Sometimes the creators of Trojans attempt to impersonate Microsoft, a bank, or even a government organization. Whatever the warning or message says, we must make very sure it is genuine before giving up any personal details, financial or otherwise. It's far better to doubt a genuine request until proper verification is provided, than it is to blindly place your trust in a communique simply because it appears to have come from a trusted source.

There are weak links in the computer's applications, and hardware and also in the users. I'm not pointing fingers, at least I'm not excluding anyone, especially myself. Let's just all be safely paranoid out there, m'kay?

[tw]

Some companies are changing the way login occurs. For example, login name and password are not on the same page. Others are using graphic login selections. Some are now using internactive questioning for login.

Meanwhile, Kevin Mitnick of the famous book "Takedown" is no[w] doing commercials for an online ID security company. Suddenly the simple password - security from the 1960s - is starting to be replaced by other methods.

Meanwhile the same pathetic companies with completely unacceptable computer voting machines (ie Diebold, Sequoia Voting Systems, ES&S, etc ) have announced nothing.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Did you mean, now doing commercials?

[monster]

Some people just ask for internet trouble