Fraud on the Internet increased by 33%
March 31st, 2009 - Posted by Robert Siciliano
Robert Siciliano is a NextAdvisor.com Expert Guest Blogger
It is a wild, wild web out there. Criminal hackers are going hog wild.
Credit card details for 19,000 Brits have been found on a cached Google page, where they had been accidentally published by fraudsters. Silly criminal hackers need to tighten up their data security controls and not publish sensitive data like that!
According to Reuters, fraud on the Internet increased by 33% last year, the first increase in three years, and is surging as the recession deepens.
Internet fraud losses reported in the United States reached a record high of $264.6 million in 2008, according to a report released by the Internet Fraud Complaint Center, which is run by the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center.
CNBC reports that online scams originating from across the globe—mostly from the United States, Canada, Britain, Nigeria and China—are gathering steam this year, with a nearly 50% increase in complaints reported to U.S. authorities in March alone.
About 74% of the scams were executed through e-mail messages last year, mainly spam, while about 29% 
used websites. But criminals have been increasingly tapping new technologies such as social networking sites and instant messenger services.
The report highlights one new identity-theft scam, involving e-mail messages that give the appearance of originating from the FBI, seeking bank account information, supposedly in order to help investigate money being transferred to Nigeria.
Recipients of the e-mails are told they could be richly rewarded if they cooperate. Duh.
Meanwhile, two scumbag criminal hackers were arrested while spying on children between the ages 
of 14 and 17 using the child's personal web cam. The degenerates worked together to extort money from teenagers in exchange for stolen images. They allegedly gained access to computers using a variety of e-mail addresses and screen names.
The Washington Post reports that experts have discovered a security hole in the computer code that powers the Conficker worm, an aggressive contagion that has spread to more than 12 million Microsoft Windows systems worldwide. Conficker is spawning new hacks such as scareware, as scammers take advantage of the huge interest in the impending "activation" of the Conficker super-worm by poisoning search engine results.
Protect yourself from scams. Invest in identity theft protection and secure your PC with anti-virus protection such as McAfee.
Stay tuned…
Robert Siciliano, identity theft speaker, discusses credit card scams here.
Robert Siciliano is CEO of IDTheftSecurity.com , an identity theft expert, professional speaker, security analyst, published author and television news correspondent. Siciliano works with Fortune 1000 companies and startups as an advisor on product launches, branding, messaging, representation, SEO and media. Siciliano's thoughts and advice on all these matters appear often in both the televised and print news media including CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, FOX, Forbes and USA Today. He has 25 years of security training as a member of the American Society of Industrial Security. He is the author of 2 books, including The Safety Minute: Living on High Alert; How to take control of your personal security and prevent fraud. He's also partnered with Uni-Ball to help raise awareness about the growing threat of identity theft and to provide tips on how you can protect yourself.
Doing my own taxes for the first time, with TaxAct
March 30th, 2009 - Posted by Caitlin
Last month, I blogged about choosing a tax preparation service. I ended up deciding to use TaxAct to help me file my own taxes for the first time in my life. And, for the most part, it turned out to be surprisingly easy!
First, I gather all the W-2s and other tax documents that I have received in the mail over the past few months. I click on the link in the NextAdvisor.com review, which takes me to the TaxAct website. I register with TaxAct, creating a username and password. I don't have to get out my credit card yet, because I won't need to pay until I'm done and ready to file, which is nice.
Countdown to Conficker
March 30th, 2009 - Posted by Robert Siciliano
Robert Siciliano is a NextAdvisor.com Expert Guest Blogger
Security officials around the world are anticipating the Conficker strike.
60 Minutes reports on everything we have discussed in these posts. Mainstream media has recognized that the Internet is infected with a cancerous virus. Criminal hackers are creating viruses which are infecting 
websites in record numbers, all in the name of money.
Security professionals are losing sleep as they race against the bad guys in anticipation of the next big breach.
Conficker is big news as it's infecting mainly corporate networks at an astonishing speed. An estimated 10-12 million PCs have already been impacted, and this sleeper cell is supposed to get its next set of updates on April 1st.
Like Al-Qaeda operatives living amongst us, cyberterrorists waiting for their next communique from a remote cave, Conficker waits to strike. 
Nobody knows what's going to happen on April Fools, but security professionals have a plan. Do you?
By all accounts, Conficker has the potential capacity to steal personal information or launch a massive denial of service attack which encompasses massive amounts of data, flooding the Internet and bogging down mainframe servers that distribute data to our inboxes.
60 Minutes followed the example that I set on CNN, describing a Facebook hack by using a Morley Safer Facebook account that may be hacked with Conficker. The account begins to send messages to Morley's friends. Then Leslie Stahl, who is one of Morely Facebook friends, receives an email that appears to be from Morely's Facebook account. The message instructs him to click a link to watch a video. That video has a destructive payload that infects Leslie's machine and the virus replicates itself to all of Leslie's contacts. Now Morely and Leslie's PCs have a virus that records all their keystrokes. Bank accounts are cracked, credit card logins are stolen, the contents of their My Documents folders are copied and sent to Turkey and ultimately, their identities are stolen. People who don't have identity theft protection face years of dealing with creditors who accuse them of being bad debtors.
Malware is showing up on thousands of websites that are compromised in numerous ways and infecting computer users whose defenses are down.
Most attacks can be prevented with updated anti-virus software like McAfee. But with an estimated 15,000 new infections daily, it's difficult for average users to protect themselves unless they are automatically downloading virus definitions. And that may not be enough.
Criminal hackers come in all shapes and colors from every corner of the world. Russian hackers are often depicted as the best of the worst. These cybercriminals are often put on a pedestal in their communities, as they brag about their accomplishments, hacking wealthy 
Americans, stealing tens of thousands of dollars monthly and spending that money in their remote villages.
Russian authorities generally don't prosecute and may even employ criminals to steal from greedy Americans. As long as hate and money are motivators, foreign governments will groom and incite talented 14-year-olds into a life of crime.
This story is far from over.
Robert Siciliano, identity theft speaker, discusses online banking security here.
Robert Siciliano is CEO of IDTheftSecurity.com , an identity theft expert, professional speaker, security analyst, published author and television news correspondent. Siciliano works with Fortune 1000 companies and startups as an advisor on product launches, branding, messaging, representation, SEO and media. Siciliano's thoughts and advice on all these matters appear often in both the televised and print news media including CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, FOX, Forbes and USA Today. He has 25 years of security training as a member of the American Society of Industrial Security. He is the author of 2 books, including The Safety Minute: Living on High Alert; How to take control of your personal security and prevent fraud. He's also partnered with Uni-Ball to help raise awareness about the growing threat of identity theft and to provide tips on how you can protect yourself.
Notorious Israeli criminal hacker caught
March 26th, 2009 - Posted by Robert Siciliano
Robert Siciliano is a NextAdvisor.com Expert Guest Blogger
There is a battle going on round the clock, between the bad hackers and the good hackers. Most of the time, the good guys lose. Here we have an example of the bad guy actually getting caught.
At age 19, an Israeli criminal hacker named Ehud Tenebaum made news as "The Analyzer," (a great tag for a criminal hacker) after he cracked and penetrated the Pentagon, NASA and even Hamas computer networks. 
He then went silent and is believed to have embarked on a 10 year long international conspiracy to hack networks of United States and Canadian banks and other financial institutions. Losses are estimated at $10-12 million.
The Analyzer's hacking technique is believed to be "SQL injection," a tactic that I've blogged about previously, which exploits vulnerabilities in software development.
A forensic analyst who investigated breaches in both countries found a common thread in each hack. Servers in Virginia owned by HopOne, an ISP, were used as a routing point, receiving their commands from another set of servers at a Dutch hosting company.
Here's where Big Brother is watching, and in this case, for good reason.
Last spring, US investigators working with Dutch authorities requested that all data traffic from the Dutch servers on route to Virginia be intercepted through wiretapping and provided to authorities.
During this time, criminal hackers from all over the world used the stolen data to create ATM white cards and prepaid gift cards loaded with cash. They withdrew cash from ATMs on three continents to the tune of approximately $450,000.
According to Wired, the wiretapped traffic included email discussions between numerous criminal hackers, regarding their accomplishments. One email address, Analyzer22@hotmail.com, provided investigators with their smoking gun. The Hotmail address had Ehud Tenebaum's name and age registered along with it. Not too smart, E.T.
Ehud Tenebaum owned and operated a Canadian computer security company called Internet Labs Secure. One of the IP addresses used to access the Hotmail account was registered to Tenebaum's business. Tenebaum phoned home and got 
caught.
This is one example of high tech organized criminals taking advantage of numerous flaws in the technology we use every day.
Be warned, there are plenty more to take E.T.'s place. Chances are, someone moved right in where he left off.
Invest in identity theft protection. Install and update Internet security software such as McAfee. Check your bank and credit card statements online bi-weekly and make sure to refute unauthorized charges within a 30 to 60 day period.
Robert Siciliano is CEO of IDTheftSecurity.com , an identity theft expert, professional speaker, security analyst, published author and television news correspondent. Siciliano works with Fortune 1000 companies and startups as an advisor on product launches, branding, messaging, representation, SEO and media. Siciliano's thoughts and advice on all these matters appear often in both the televised and print news media including CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, FOX, Forbes and USA Today. He has 25 years of security training as a member of the American Society of Industrial Security. He is the author of 2 books, including The Safety Minute: Living on High Alert; How to take control of your personal security and prevent fraud. He's also partnered with Uni-Ball to help raise awareness about the growing threat of identity theft and to provide tips on how you can protect yourself.
Identity thieves launch worm on April Fools
March 26th, 2009 - Posted by Robert Siciliano
Robert Siciliano is a NextAdvisor.com Expert Guest Blogger
So far this year it is estimated that somewhere between 3 and 12 million computers have been compromised by the "Conficker" worm, also known as "Downup," "Downadup" and "Kido," possibly considered the largest known global botnet.
Microsoft and others are in a 24/7/365 battle with the makers of Conficker to see who ends up at the finish 
line first.
None of the PCs infected with Conficker are displaying any of the characteristics generally exhibited by the recent spate of viruses, offering a remote control component and often used to host spoofed websites and other malicious fraud related activities. At least not yet.
If Conficker reaches its full potential, it will result in data breaches, credit card fraud and numerous forms of identity theft.
It has been widely believed that Conficker is waiting for its next set of updates on April 1st, to unleash the endgame its writers had in mind.
The sense among security professionals is that Conficker will unleash an uncontrollable fury not yet seen or experienced by the security community.
Conficker duplicates like viruses of old and infects PCs that are unpatched and outdated. The virus scans the Internet, seeking and infecting unpatched computers. Conficker was built with encryption pirated from an MIT researcher and has the ability to circumvent anti-virus programs.
This level of technology has the ability to slip into external hard drives, thumb drives and any memory based peripheral. When that same peripheral is plugged into another PC, that PC is also infected.
Many PCs in Asia have rogue versions of Windows, and are largely unpatched due to Microsoft not allowing updates.
Update your Microsoft Windows ASAP. Make sure you have up to date Internet security software, such as McAfee. Stay away from rogue websites and be careful what 
you click.
As stated in a previous post, Microsoft offered a global bounty for the arrest and prosecution of whoever created and released the Conficker virus.
Even with the security community vigorously trying to defend PCs globally, in early March, millions of Conficker-infected PCs were upgraded into a peer to peer network, which makes the botnet even more dangerous by giving each infected PC commanding authority over others. This means that every PC has the capability of running every other PC on the botnet.
The anticipation among researchers leading up to April 1st is much like that which was felt prior to 
midnight on December 31st, 1999. The Y2K "bug" was considered a clicking time bomb for all major computer applications.
Much has been done to avert a Conficker disaster, but nobody knows for sure what will happen. April 1st is a day of foolery, but this year it may also be a major breakthrough for hackers, good or bad, to see who is top dog.
See Robert Siciliano, identity theft speaker, discussing viruses in peripherals here.
To learn more about the best and most powerful Internet security software, check out NextAdvisor.com's reviews and comparison chart.
Robert Siciliano is CEO of IDTheftSecurity.com , an identity theft expert, professional speaker, security analyst, published author and television news correspondent. Siciliano works with Fortune 1000 companies and startups as an advisor on product launches, branding, messaging, representation, SEO and media. Siciliano's thoughts and advice on all these matters appear often in both the televised and print news media including CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, FOX, Forbes and USA Today. He has 25 years of security training as a member of the American Society of Industrial Security. He is the author of 2 books, including The Safety Minute: Living on High Alert; How to take control of your personal security and prevent fraud. He's also partnered with Uni-Ball to help raise awareness about the growing threat of identity theft and to provide tips on how you can protect yourself.
Scareware scares up millions for identity thieves
March 25th, 2009 - Posted by Robert Siciliano
Robert Siciliano is a NextAdvisor.com Expert Guest Blogger
If one could have a favorite scam, for me it would be "scareware." My reasoning for this is thats it's one of the few scams that actually gets through to me. My defenses are pretty good, but I still see scareware. They've even taken my blog posts and used my name to launch scareware in Google News Alerts. I got some criminal hacker's attention and he created scareware in honor of lil' ole me!
Web pages may be infected or built to distribute scareware. The goal is to trick you into clicking on links. After landing on a page, pop-ups bombard you and warn that your PC is infected with an Ebola-
like virus and your PC will die a horrible death with fluids running from all ports if you don't fix it immediately for $49.95.
Shutting off this pop-up is often difficult and any buttons you press within this pop-up could mean downloading the exact virus they warned you of. BRILLIANT!
Criminals are even using Google Ads, and have posted ads on well known sites such as E-Harmony and Major League Baseball.
I'm online all day, every day and do a ton of research, which means I click lots of links, and see scareware often. If I wasn't aware of IT security and what this ruse was about, I'd have been bilked of $49.95 long ago. Many people take the bait, more than you can imagine.
Studies show that organized criminals are earning $10,000.00 a day from scareware! That's approximately 200 people a day getting nabbed. Some "distributors" have been estimated to make as much as $5 million a year. 
What makes the scam so believable is there is actual follow through of the purchasing of software that is supposed to protect you. There is a shopping cart, an order form, credit card processing and a download, just like any online software purchase.
The software is sometimes known as "AntiVirus2009" "WinFixer," "WinAntivirus," "DriveCleaner," "WinAntispyware," "AntivirusXP" and "XP Antivirus 2008." These are actually viruses or spyware that infect your PC, or just junk software that does nothing of value.
A report by the Anti-Phishing Working Group, released in March 2009, found 9,287 bogus anti-malware programs in circulation in December 2008 – a rise of 225% since January 2008. That's simply because the scam works so well.
Teams of criminal hackers each have their own tasks and responsibilities. Team 1 creates pages loaded with scareware and works those pages into the search engines, while others infect legitimate websites. Team 2 creates the junky or spyware-ridden software you are scared into buying. Team 3 creates the infrastructure 
to process your credit card.
Protect yourself. Invest in anti-virus software, such as McAfee. Make sure your browser has a pop-up blocker turned on, to avoid having to be "scared." If you get a pop-up, you can close it by clicking the red X in the upper right corner, just don't click on anything in the body of the pop-up. I suggest shutting down your entire browser, however, to be safe.
Make sure your PC is updated with critical security patches and most of all, be smart.
See Robert Siciliano, identity theft speaker, discuss Ransomeware, a form of scareware here.
Robert Siciliano is CEO of IDTheftSecurity.com , an identity theft expert, professional speaker, security analyst, published author and television news correspondent. Siciliano works with Fortune 1000 companies and startups as an advisor on product launches, branding, messaging, representation, SEO and media. Siciliano's thoughts and advice on all these matters appear often in both the televised and print news media including CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, FOX, Forbes and USA Today. He has 25 years of security training as a member of the American Society of Industrial Security. He is the author of 2 books, including The Safety Minute: Living on High Alert; How to take control of your personal security and prevent fraud. He's also partnered with Uni-Ball to help raise awareness about the growing threat of identity theft and to provide tips on how you can protect yourself.
450,000 website hacks every day
March 23rd, 2009 - Posted by Robert Siciliano
Robert Siciliano is a NextAdvisor.com Expert Guest Blogger
You could be surfing the net without a care in the world, when you get a virus.
IBM Internet Security Systems discovered 50% more web pages infected in the last quarter of 2008 than in the entire year of 2007.
The infection is called a SQL injection. According to Wikipedia, a "SQL injection is a code injection technique that exploits a security vulnerability occurring in the database layer of an application."
In other words, a SQL injection is a virus or bug that effects an application that is not properly coded or secured. There are many different configurations of various software used to build and run a website. An example would be the common WordPress blog platform that many use and that has been found to be vulnerable. This 
is just one of hundreds of applications that can be hacked in this way.
In 2005, a now defunct 3rd party payment processor called CardSystems suffered a SQL injection, compromising a reported 40 million credit cards.
Since that time, criminal hackers have multiplied their efforts. SQL injections have evolved in their purpose and sophistication. Originally meant as a tool to attack a merchants database and steal data, the attack was reconfigured last summer to install viruses on users' computers that contain a remote control component.
Matt Chambers with Corporate IT Solutions says, "Web applications are one of the most outward facing components a corporation contains in its network design, and one of the least protected. Applications typically take input information and send it to a database for storage and processing. We interact with these kinds of applications every day, whether its a signup form or a login page for a favorite networking site."
The attack on the user's PC is simple. This type of attack is often called a "drive-by," because sometimes all the user needs to do is surf the site. Many of the attacks take place during common web task such as watching videos, listening to music or downloading files.
The unsuspecting PC user surfs an infected site and bam, code is injected onto their PC and they are infected. Their PC becomes part of a "botnet," which is a robot network of computers specifically designed for hacking.
Bots, the infected PCs, are also known as zombies. Zombies, as a result of the SQL injection, generally have a virus installed that gives the hacker control from anywhere in the world. The "botnet" can consist of 10 PCs, 10,000 PCs or into the hundreds of thousands. Studies show there are potentially millions of zombies globally, all part of numerous botnets. 
Lax security practices by consumers and small businesses are giving scammers a base from which to launch attacks. Botnet hackers set up phishing websites targeting well known online brands. They send junk mail emails and install redirection services to deliver viruses, malware and keyloggers.
USA Today reports IBM Internet Security Systems blocked 5000 SQL injections every day in the first two quarters of 2008. By midyear, the number had grown to 25,000 a day. By late fall, attacks climbed to 450,000 daily.
The key to identity theft protection and preventing your computer from becoming a zombie is to engage in every update for every browser and media player that you use, keeping your operating system updated and using anti-virus software such as McAfee Total Protection. You should also consider an identity theft protection service.
See identity theft speaker Robert Siciliano discuss SQL injections here.
Robert Siciliano is CEO of IDTheftSecurity.com , an identity theft expert, professional speaker, security analyst, published author and television news correspondent. Siciliano works with Fortune 1000 companies and startups as an advisor on product launches, branding, messaging, representation, SEO and media. Siciliano's thoughts and advice on all these matters appear often in both the televised and print news media including CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, FOX, Forbes and USA Today. He has 25 years of security training as a member of the American Society of Industrial Security. He is the author of 2 books, including The Safety Minute: Living on High Alert; How to take control of your personal security and prevent fraud. He's also partnered with Uni-Ball to help raise awareness about the growing threat of identity theft and to provide tips on how you can protect yourself.
Identity thieves target small business
March 20th, 2009 - Posted by Robert Siciliano
Robert Siciliano is a NextAdvisor.com Expert Guest Blogger
Up until now, identity thieves have been hunting elephants. But that may soon change.
According to this study, small to medium size businesses (SMB's) are the criminal hackers next target. This should come as no surprise, as large enterprise networks have gradually become better at defending themselves.
Over the past few years, criminal hackers have acted like hornets, attacking and swarming unassuming enterprise networks. Big business has responded by allocated billions of dollars in funding for technology and talent to thwart their sting.
In 2009, enterprise defense is the best it has ever been. It's still lax, but now the path of least resistance has become SMB's. Your mom and pop shops simply don't have the resources, including deep pockets, to keep up.
Studies by the International Council for Small Business show that one fifth of small businesses aren't even equipped with basic defenses, such as McAfee security software. Furthermore, as many as 60% don't even have wireless encryption activated. What is most disturbing, but not surprising to this security analyst, is two thirds don't have any type of security plan in place.
According to poll responses, these same SMB's overwhelmingly believe that they aren't targets, that only big businesses need to worry. However, this same study shows that 85% of fraud related to criminal hacks occurs within this exact group.
The National Retail Federation stated that Level 3 businesses are only 60% compliant and Level 4's are even less secure.
PCI Compliance, a Visa based organization that regulates merchants in order to prevent credit card fraud, recognizes retailers at different levels. Level 1 retailers process 6,000,000 Visa transactions per year, Level 2 retailers process 1,000,000 to 6,000,000, Level 3 retailers process 20,000 to 1,000,000, and Level 4 retailers process fewer than 20,000.
Many security issues stem from the SMB's lack of resources, coupled with their shift to online transactions and the handling and storage of their own data.
Some say that the responsibility of handling these transactions should be shifted back to the banks.
One additional recommendation for these Level 3 and 4s is to adopt a strategy in which the merchant never handles the credit data at all. The merchant would have an online shopping cart, but the credit card transaction would be diverted to the bank server, without ever being touched by the merchant.
I'm one of those Level 4 merchants and this is the strategy that I use. All orders are taken online and nobody aside from the bank handles client credit card data. PCI compliance is a breeze – no hiccups.
While this is practical for some SMB's, it doesn't work for others, so those retailers need to get their act together immediately, because criminal hackers are watching.
See identity theft speaker Robert Siciliano discuss data breaches here.
Robert Siciliano is CEO of IDTheftSecurity.com , an identity theft expert, professional speaker, security analyst, published author and television news correspondent. Siciliano works with Fortune 1000 companies and startups as an advisor on product launches, branding, messaging, representation, SEO and media. Siciliano's thoughts and advice on all these matters appear often in both the televised and print news media including CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, FOX, Forbes and USA Today. He has 25 years of security training as a member of the American Society of Industrial Security. He is the author of 2 books, including The Safety Minute: Living on High Alert; How to take control of your personal security and prevent fraud. He's also partnered with Uni-Ball to help raise awareness about the growing threat of identity theft and to provide tips on how you can protect yourself.
Your identity is in the hands of fools
March 19th, 2009 - Posted by Robert Siciliano
Robert Siciliano is a NextAdvisor.com Expert Guest Blogger
Every week we learn of a new hack, another breach, more credit cards stolen and another identity theft victim.
Many have blamed "the bad guy" or criminal hackers for all the problems in the security world. And while the bad guys are certainly a problem, they are a small part.
The people responsible for their own physical or computer security or the security of others are often the guilty ones.
You wonder why your credit card company sent you a new card? Because some baboon didn't do his job and you were compromised. 
Chances are, we could look at 7 out of 10 data breaches and point to someone who didn't properly flip a switch or lock a door.
In a recent poll of companies with 1000 or more employees, when asked to define the most important measures for protecting confidential data, nearly half of all respondents said, "communicating and training users on confidential data security policies."
And when asked to rate their organizations performance with regard to, "communicating and training users on confidential data security policies," more than one-fourth of security professionals gave their organization a rating of either "fair" or "poor."
24% of North Americans ranked themselves as "poor," as well as 38% of Europeans. I suspect the North Americans are just lying, and are just as lax. I read the papers and see the data. Pleeeeze. I have my eye on you, Focker. 
Security is not entirely an IT problem. There are many policies in place regarding physical security that must be observed. If these policies were followed properly, breaches would be significantly reduced.
One plain and simple example is dumpster diving. How prevalent are shredders? I've gone though four. After the computer and the copy machine, a shredder should be the most used home or office appliance.
Here is a video of a dumpster diver, who also happens to be a security professional, who spent three minutes in the dumpster of a local bank. He found a laptop, wire transfers and Social Security Numbers. That's not an IT problem. That's a stupid-lazy-people problem.
How is anyone supposed to feel secure and protect their own identity when others, who are responsible for our security, aren't doing their jobs?
The best way to protect yourself from identity theft is with an identity theft protection service. To learn more about these types of services, see NextAdvisor.com's reviews and comparison chart.
See Robert Siciliano, identity theft speaker, discussing the failure to secure a wireless connection and subsequent exposure of 45 million credit cards here.
Robert Siciliano is CEO of IDTheftSecurity.com , an identity theft expert, professional speaker, security analyst, published author and television news correspondent. Siciliano works with Fortune 1000 companies and startups as an advisor on product launches, branding, messaging, representation, SEO and media. Siciliano's thoughts and advice on all these matters appear often in both the televised and print news media including CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, FOX, Forbes and USA Today. He has 25 years of security training as a member of the American Society of Industrial Security. He is the author of 2 books, including The Safety Minute: Living on High Alert; How to take control of your personal security and prevent fraud. He's also partnered with Uni-Ball to help raise awareness about the growing threat of identity theft and to provide tips on how you can protect yourself.
Can I print my credit report?
March 19th, 2009 - Posted by Caitlin
The following post in our Reader Question series is an actual user submitted question. To maintain the integrity of the original question, we do not edit or change reader questions in any way.
Q: Can the Equifax report be printed? About how many pages will it be? I have an ink jet printer and am worried about running out of ink. Can it be saved as a PDF or other printable document, and emailed to a friend for printing on another (office laser) better printer?
A: Yes, any credit report can be printed. The length will vary depending on your personal information and the format of the particular credit report, but you can probably expect it to be somewhere around 10-20 pages. The easiest way to print it from a different computer would be to go to log into the Equifax member center on that computer and access your credit report from there.
However, most credit reports, including those provided by Equifax, are designed to be viewed on screen rather than printed. Unless you have been asked to provide a paper credit report in order to secure a loan, there is no real benefit to printing one out. And if you do provide a paper credit report to a lender, you should be mindful of the risks involved in circulating a document containing so much sensitive personal information.
To learn more about Equifax and other credit report services, see our reviews and comparison chart.
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