Skimmers found at Chase and WaMu ATMs

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April 9th, 2009 - Posted by Caitlin

A skimmer is a device that can be inserted over the card slot on an ATM. When you insert your debit or credit card, the device reads and stores the data embedded on the magnetic strip, including your name, card number and expiration date, as well as your card's encrypted verification code. An identity thief will plant skimmers on ATMs and return later to collect them. Then, he or she can use the collected data to create perfect clones of the cards, or simply use the account numbers to make purchases over the Internet. Sometimes, thieves who plant skimmers also include a camera, angled to record your pin code.

The Consumerist reports that three different ATM skimmers were discovered by bank patrons this past week, on Chase and WaMu ATMs. The Consumerist offers a few tips to ensure that you are not handing your sensitive data over to an identity thief the next time you withdraw cash. Look for these signs that identity thieves have tampered with an ATM that you are about to use:

• Slots that don't fit (and can be removed!)
• Multiple mirrors – one could be hiding a camera that records your PIN
• Strange ATM error messages
• The ATM looks different from the other ATMs around it
• Dummy brochure boxes with hidden cameras on them

To see images of the skimmers that were recently found, click through to the Consumerist post. And to learn about identity theft protection services, will help prevent and detect these types of scams, see our reviews and comparison chart.

How do we receive a list of retailers in the Citi Bonus Cash Centers?

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April 9th, 2009 - Posted by Joe

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: How do we receive a list of retailers in the Citi Bonus Cash Centers?

A: There are currently 574 retailers that provide special cash back bonuses as part of the Citi Bonus Cash Center. The full list of merchants as of April 9, 2009 is listed below. You can also see this list by visiting Citi's Bonus Cash Center online. You can also learn more about cash back credit cards from Citi and other credit card companies by visiting our cash back credit card reviews and comparison.

List of Citi Bonus Cash Center Merchants

1-800-CONTACTS 3%
1-800-FLOWERS.COM 8%
1-800-Petmeds.com 6%
1800PetSupplies 6%
6pm.com 2%
7 For All Mankind 2%
77kids 2%
A pea in the pod 4%
A&E 5%
Abebooks 2.5%
AC Lens 4%
Accor Hotels 1%
Ace Hardware 4%
Adidas 6%

Read the rest of this entry »

Conficker updates botnet with keylogger

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April 9th, 2009 - Posted by Robert Siciliano

Robert Siciliano is a NextAdvisor.com Expert Guest Blogger

It was just a matter of time until Conficker phoned home and sent its next set of updates to its global botnet. That day has come.

Conficker's botnet, which includes anywhere from 3 to 15 million PCs, has a peer to peer (P2P) feature that allows each PC on the network to talk to one another. Each PC has the ability to become the command server. This characteristic allows Conficker to fluidly update each PC on the network.

The latest variant shows that Conficker is updating via P2P, as opposed to pinging a website for its updates. This makes Conficker "self reliant."

A botnet is a robot network of zombie computers under the control of a single leader. The concept behind a botnet is strength in numbers. Botnets can attack websites, send spam, and log data, which can lead to data breaches, credit card fraud and identity theft, and ultimately clog a network until it shuts down.

CNET reports that researchers have observed Conficker making its first update, which they believe to be a keystroke logger, a form of spyware designed to log usernames and passwords. This new update also tells the zombies to seek other PCs that have not been patched with Microsoft's update. The worm also pings websites including MySpace.com, MSN.com, eBay.com, CNN.com and AOL.com in order to determine whether that PC has Internet access.

The Register reports that Conficker is now pinging what's known as a Waledac domain, which contacts a new server if the current one is blacklisted by ISPs for spamming. This allows the virus to download more updates.

In 2007 and 2008, the Storm Worm was thought to have infected over 50 million PCs. Waledac is using the same technology as the Storm Worm, which means two things. First, this may get ugly fast. And second, whoever is controlling Waledac must be the same criminal hackers that built Storm Worm.

All this means that Conficker is about as dangerous as a virus can be, with the best of the best technologies, both old and new. While the virus has yet to strike, it is definitely gearing up.

To protect yourself, be sure you have updated Internet security software, and consider an identity theft protection service.

Identity theft speaker Robert Siciliano discusses criminals using viruses to hack credit cards.

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.

Will Carbonite also backup programs and applications in a form that would allow them to be installed and run without the hassle of rebuilding ones pc in a crash?

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April 9th, 2009 - Posted by Joe

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: Will [Carbonite] also backup programs and applications in a form that would allow them to be installed and run without the hassle of rebuilding ones pc in a crash?

A: By default Carbonite only backs up your data and files in the Documents and Settings folder or your User's folder of your Windows PC, depending on whether you have XP or Vista. It does not backup a disk image. You can manually set the software backup to include program files, system files, and temporary files. Some applications could be reinstalled just by restoring them from Carbonite's site.

However, Windows locks some system files during operation that would be needed to restore the operating system and some applications. Backing up and restoring these files, like the registry, would require other programs or scripts to be run to extract these locked files for backup. Of course, you would have to load a new operating system on the computer and the Carbonite program before you could access and download the files that had been saved to your Carbonite account.

You can learn more about Carbonite by visiting our comparison and reviews of online backup services.

Can we buy one subscription of Carbonite to back up both our computers?

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April 9th, 2009 - Posted by Joe

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: Both my wife and I are retired, use different computers for our home uses and from the same site. We also share emails accounts. Question. Can we buy one subscription [of Carbonite] to back up both our computers?

A: Carbonite is priced on a per computer basis. That means that each computer that needs to be backed up will need a separate subscription. If you have two computers that you would like to backup then you will need two Carbonite subscriptions. We would still advise purchasing two subscriptions of Carbonite even if you share the same email account because there are likely other important files on each of your computers that should be backed up.

We believe that Carbonite is an excellent value at just $54.95 per year per user. That works out to just about $9.20 per month for two users which is likely significantly less then you would spend in time and money on replacing lost files, music and videos in the case of a hard drive failure.

To learn more about Carbonite and other online backup services, please visit our reviews and comparison.

Do the Virgin Islands use seperate credit reporting practices and bureaus?

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April 9th, 2009 - Posted by Joe

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: Do the Virgin Islands use seperate credit reporting practices and bureaus?

A: No. The U.S. Virgin Islands use the same credit reporting agencies and practices as the rest of the United States and its territories. These practices are mandated by Federal laws such as the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).

You can learn more about credit report services by visiting our credit report monitoring reviews and comparison.

How much will it cost me to file with TurboTax?

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April 9th, 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: So, I will have to pay a federal fee of $49.95 and a state fee of up to $39.95 to file? I will be using the [TurboTax] Home & Business program for the first time.

A: The prices listed on the comparison chart refer to our suggested TurboTax package, the Deluxe package, which does cost $49.95 for the federal return, plus $39.95 for a state return. The Home & Business package is more expensive, because it offers a wider range of features and tools in order to handle more complex financial situations. For the Home & Business package, the federal return fee is $99.95, plus an additional $39.95 for a state return. Like many other tax preparation services, TurboTax has raised their prices as April 15, the tax filing deadline, approaches.

To learn more about TurboTax and to compare it with other online tax preparation services, see our reviews and comparison chart.

Most popular web browsers are no match for socially engineered malware

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April 9th, 2009 - Posted by Caitlin

Though web-based malware is nothing new, its method of transmission often continues to evolve ahead of detection methods. According to Trend Micro, 53% of malware is currently delivered via Internet downloads, which indicates that social engineering techniques are being used to threaten to users' sensitive information. In response to this escalating problem, NSS Labs conducted the information security industry's first-ever comprehensive evaluation in early 2009 to determine how well certain web browsers were able to protect consumers against socially engineered malware.

As it turns out, there's a lot of room for improvement. The company's recently published report lists evaluation findings for the following 6 browsers:

• Apple Safari (version 3)
• Google Chrome 1.0.154
• Microsoft Internet Explorer (version 8, RC1)
• Microsoft Internet Explorer (version 7)
• Mozilla Firefox (version 3.07)
• Opera 9.64

After 12 days of testing, researchers found that Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 offered the most protection by far, detecting 69% of malware sites prior to user exposure. In second place was the Mozilla Firefox 3.07 browser, which only managed to catch 30% of malware sites. Next in line was Apple Safari 3, which detected 24% of socially engineered malware sites, then Google Chrome 1.0.154, which found a mere 16% of these sites. The poorest performers proved to be Opera 9.64, which protected users from only 5% of malware sites, followed by Microsoft Internet Explorer 7, with a disappointing 4% detection rate.

In addition, researchers discovered that only 7% of these malware sites were detected by all 6 of the test browsers, while 11% went completely undetected.

For consumers, the study and its results not only highlight the importance of throwing out old assumptions regarding the transmission of malware, but the continuing need for vigilance when it comes to securing personal data. Although no precaution is foolproof, the best approach is to stay up to date on the continuing evolution of identity theft tactics combined with effective Internet security software that will catch any threats that manage to slip past your browser.

Employee turnover often equals business data breaches

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April 8th, 2009 - Posted by Caitlin

The phrase "employee turnover" is closely linked with the word "unemployment" in the minds of most workers these days, but on the employer side, data breaches are an equally worrisome issue. This is according to a recent national survey conducted by the Ponemon Institute, which found that employee turnover commonly results in significant business data losses.

The Symantec-sponsored report of these survey findings revealed that 59% of employees who left a company for any reason had stolen business data prior to their departure, even though 79% admitted that they violated company rules by doing so. Even more disturbing, 67% of these survey respondents actually used the data they stole, exploiting the former company's confidential information in order to secure a new job. 68% of respondents had future plans to use their former company's stolen data.

According to the survey results, most stolen data involved email communications. The survey revealed that 65% of respondents had taken email lists and 64% had pilfered old emails, while another 38% admitted to sending company data as email attachments to their personal accounts.

Other common types of stolen business information included computer history and hard copy files (62% of respondents), CDs and DVDs (53%) and small USB drives (42%). The rarest type of stolen company data was source code, which was taken by just 3% of respondents.

Unsurprisingly, the survey results also found that disgruntled employees were almost three times as likely to steal company information (61% ) than employees who liked and respected the companies they left (26%).

The report of these survey findings concluded with tips for preventing employee turnover-based data theft, advising companies to take steps that included:

• Conducting an assessment of potential data loss immediately after an employee leaves the company
• Creating or maintaining corporate policies, clearly stating that former employees will be no longer be allowed to access or use any proprietary or confidential company information once they leave
• Implementing a day-to-day monitoring system to keep track of every employee's access to network and system resources in order to discover data breaches at the time they occur and prevent any further damage from occurring

Data breaches can lead to identity theft, among other cyber crimes. To learn more about protecting yourself from data loss and identity theft, see our reviews and comparison charts for identity theft protection and online backup services. You may also be interested in NextAdvisor.com's guide on how to deal with a lost or stolen laptop.

I am trying to select the best credit report monitoring service for my needs and have questions. Can I call you?

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April 8th, 2009 - Posted by Joe

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: I am trying to select the best credit report monitoring service for my needs and have questions. Can I call you?

A: We would love to be able to address individual questions for each person who visits our website. Unfortunately, it would literally be impossible for us to do so given the many hundreds of thousands of consumers that visit our site each month. So we try to focus on having as much detailed information as possible on our website about each service.

When it comes to selecting a credit reporting service there are a couple of things to consider depending on whether your primary goal is to:

• Monitor your credit for any changes as cheaply as possible.
• Receive specific information about your current credit health (particularly if you are going to be applying for a loan in the near future).
• Have on-going access to as much information about your credit as possible.

If you are looking for a cheap way to monitoring your credit, then FreeCreditReport.com is probably your best bet. While this service only provides access to your Experian credit reports and scores (versus all three reports and scores like some other services), it does monitor your credit file at all three bureaus (Experian, Equifax and TransUnion) and alerts you as soon as any changes are posted for just $12.00 per month. This ensures that you can address any negative changes to your credit reports at the earliest possible moment.

If you are in the process of securing a loan or credit of any sort, we would suggest signing up for Equifax with Score Power. Not only does this service provide three bureau monitoring, it also gives you access to your FICO score (based off of your Equifax credit file) which is the type of credit score that most lenders use when make lending decisions. Equifax with Score Power also offers a free three bureau credit report and free FICO score when you sign up for a 30 day free trial, as well as unlimited Equifax credit reports for paying members (the service costs $14.95 per month after the free trial period).

Finally, if you want access to credit report and score data from all three credit bureaus plus three bureau credit reporting monitoring, then we would suggest Identity Guard. This service also has some great features, like free Internet security software for your PC, that will help protect your identity online and in the real world. Identity Guard offers free credit reports and scores from all three bureaus when you sign up for a 30 day free trial, then just costs $14.99 per month thereafter. You will receive all three credit reports and credit scores each quarter as a paying member.

You can learn more about these services and others by visiting our comparison and reviews of credit report monitoring services.