We write a lot about data loss at American companies and financial institutions. Some of you might wonder why we spend so much time on Verizon losing the occasional CD, or the occasional Citibank security breach. Maybe you’re wealthy, with a million dollars in credit and a shimmering Porsche. Maybe you’ve got 75 bucks in your checking account and need to eat beans and rice until your next paycheck. Either way, cyber-crime tends to seem faceless, not really a threat to you personally.
security
Fry That Phish with PIRT
By 3.29.06
The next time you get an email from your bank, eBay, or even God, trying to scam your account information, don’t let your feelings get hurt, get PIRT: the Phishing Incident Reporting and Termination squad.
OfficeMax says, “No Evidence of Security Breach”
By 3.15.06
“Following an extensive review of its security systems, OfficeMax says it has no reason to believe it was the company that suffered the data breach that resulted in thousands of cases of debit card fraud,” in a CNET report pointed to us by reader John.
Why Airport Metal Detectors Won’t Pick Up Bullets
By 3.14.06
d be something the metal detector would pick up.”
Must Bookmark: Google IP Maps
By 3.13.06
You may have always heard how you can geographically pinpoint where an email came from using IP address but now GeoTool makes it possible for the layman.
Lone Bullet Empties Airplane
By 3.13.06
Passengers were removed from an Alaskan Airlines flight after a bullet was found in the cabin.
Citibank’s Statement on the ATM Crisis
By 3.6.06
Citigroup spokesperson Elizabeth Fogarty released the following statement to us regarding the ATM crisis:
Massive Citibank Alert: UPDATE
By 3.6.06
EXCLUSIVE: More dirt on the Citibank ATM failures. What happened after we posed as a concerned customer, as well as secret codes for hassling the Citibank public affairs department after the jump…
Massive Citibank Fraud Alert: UPDATE
By 3.6.06
Citibank may bee trying to keep this huge scandal so under wraps that they haven’t even disclosed it internally, leaving Citibank workers just as clueless as to why many customers can’t access their accounts in Canada, the UK and Russia. Is there a systemic security breach?
McAfee Loses Employee Data in Airplane Seat Pocket
By 3.1.06
As usual, the companies that we entrust to keep our computer security safe have proven to be barely capable of protecting their own employees from identity theft. In other words, McAfee has lost the personal information of 6,000 employees, including their names, addresses, stock options and Social Security numbers.
Chicago Seeks Mandatory Cameras for Bars
By 2.15.06
Chicago mayor Richard Daley has proposed a city ordinance that would require all bars open until 4 a.m. to install closed-circuit security cameras to monitor the comings and goings of patrons. The proposal includes measures that would eventually require all businesses open longer than 12 hours a day to do the same—all this, we should note, at their own expense. Never mind that the businesses already pay taxes to support a police force that, if these cameras are necessary, aren’t effective enough.
Target’s CSI: Minneapolis
By 2.10.06
We really enjoy it when readers send in not only tips, but punch lines, as well. Everything from this sentence on out is totally Friday Quote Madness.
Another Day, Another Quarter-Million Credit Card Numbers Made Public
By 2.2.06
Both the Boston Globe and the Worcester Telegram & Gazette distributed printed materials with last Sunday’s paper that included the credit and debit card numbers of nearly a quarter-million subscribers. Officials with the company have a hot line, (888) 665-2644, to which customers may call and begin to slowly berate the company for treating their personal information with disregard.
