Blogcritics Author: Ed Dickson

Twitter Users (Including Barack and Britney) Hacked and Phished

Ed Dickson — Tue, 6 Jan 2009 18:08:23 EST

Twitter has been the target of a phishing attack and Barack Obama's Twitter account was hacked over the weekend.
The Phishermen (and probably a few women) are always looking for fresh waters to hook some unsuspecting phish -- so it should be no surprise that Twitter is their latest target. After all, e-mail, cell phones, and Facebook have already been phished, along with countless desktops and laptops.According to a Symantec blog post, Twitter users are...

Richardson Steps Aside Because of a Scandal -- What Else is New?

Ed Dickson — Mon, 5 Jan 2009 00:30:50 EST

Richardson stepping down because of an alleged scandal isn't news. In fact, it is a sad testament to the way things have become.
In the second scandal in recent weeks -- where palms were allegedly greased to gain political favor -- New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson has announced he is withdrawing his nomination to be President-elect Barack Obama's Commerce Secretary because of a grand jury investigation into how one of his political donors won a lucrative state...

Fraudulent Checks Too Profitable for Criminals

Ed Dickson — Fri, 2 Jan 2009 19:53:08 EST

With all the emphasis on more electronic types of fraud, bad checks are not going away. In fact, technology is helping fuel a new check fraud boom!
Fraudulent checks, bank drafts, money orders, travelers cheques and gift cheques seem to be showing up all over the place. While a portion of these are passed by professional criminals -- who sometimes recruit people off the street to pass them -- a lot of people are being tricked into cashing them because they believed a (too good to be true)...

Who Hacked the Halls of Congress?

Ed Dickson — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 08:35:50 EST

The CSIS Commission on Cybersecurity for the 44th Presidency calls for more oversight on the threat hacking has become to our financial and national security.
Came across an interesting story about the halls of Congress being hacked in October 2006. Although no one knows or is saying, some speculate that the attack can be traced to the Chinese, who seem to get accused of hacking into a lot of government systems (worldwide). Of course, the Chinese officially deny these allegations. Shane Harris of the...

Keeping an ID Theft Victim's Information Private is Catching On

Ed Dickson — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 04:29:59 EST

Most identity theft protection services require you give them all your personal information and even power of attorney. One alternative to this is catching on.
Tom Fragala, CEO of Truston Identity Theft Services, started his MyTruston identity theft and recovery product based on the principle that he didn't believe an identity theft victim should have to give up their information to a third-party to protect themselves. After all, most of this information gets stored in a database, which is one of main...

Most Internet Scams Start with Spam

Ed Dickson — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 05:33:18 EST

With the holidays upon us, spammers will use a variety of means to steal from anyone who falls for the lures they send into inboxes.
I'm sure we've all noticed spam levels are slightly down, or that our spam filters seem to be working a little better. Nevertheless, spam continues to get through filters and for the next few weeks, a lot of it will have a holiday theme. Due to the sour economic situation, it's also likely going to take advantage of financial fears or the promise...

Is the CheckFree Hack a New Information Theft Trend?

Ed Dickson — Mon, 8 Dec 2008 01:25:22 EST

In a world of outsourcing financial and personal information to third-party providers -- will more and more people become victims of identity theft?
It was revealed earlier in the week that hackers had taken command and control of a free e-bill Web site called CheckFree.com. CheckFree offers their customers the ability to collect all their bills and pay them with a few clicks of a mouse. CheckFree is one the larger companies in e-payment business and serves about 24.7 million customers. Given...

How to Legally Buy Hot Merchandise

Ed Dickson — Fri, 5 Dec 2008 06:52:31 EST

If you want to buy some hot merchandise at almost too good to be true prices without putting yourself in jeopardy, read on!
Auction sites like eBay and Craigslist are frequently criticized for the amount of stolen and counterfeit items being sold on their sites. Even worse, stories about their customers being scammed have become Internet folklore. Now there is a site that openly advertises that it is selling stolen merchandise. Even better, when you buy hot merchandise...

Home Equity ID Theft Ring Points To A Bigger Problem

Ed Dickson — Tue, 2 Dec 2008 12:11:57 EST

Was it too easy for a multi-national gang to steal millions in home equity?
On Monday, Federal authorities informed the public of a series of arrests where identity theft was used to steal the equity out of homes. I guess we've already lost so much money in the mortgage crisis, they figured it wouldn't matter? The four arrested on Monday were Derek Polk, Oluda Akinmola, Oluwajide Ogunbiyi, and Oladeji Craig. The...

E-Cards with a Dangerous Twist Spotted on the Internet

Ed Dickson — Tue, 2 Dec 2008 06:57:14 EST

You are protected from this type of attack if you use a major anti-virus vendor like Websense or Symantec, but the best thing is to not download the malware in the first place.
With the holiday season upon us, spam campaigns of a malicious nature will start springing up bearing yuletide greetings. Just Yesterday, Websense sent out an alert that malicious software authors already are using social engineering techniques with a Christmas theme to compromise your home machine. The instance they are reporting uses spam e-mails...