Thieves Can Now Phone It In
Feb
16
Written by:
2/16/2012
The article on the front page of the Saturday, February 11th New York Times caught my eye. I have a love-hate relationship with technology. I love it when it works, and hate it when I can’t figure out what went wrong or what to do next. The article, written by Nicole Perlroth, was about digital thievery and went on to describe how easy it is to have your personal and corporate information hacked via your smart phones and portable laptops. For the full article go to http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/11/technology/electronic-security-a-worry-in-an-age-of-digital-espionage.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all
When hackers gain access to your smart phone, they can access your contacts, and use your phone to listen in on your meetings by activating the phone’s microphone. You won’t even know it, because it doesn’t show up as a call. As for your laptop not only can they access the information on it, they can install software that will monitor and record your keystrokes. There go your user names and access codes. And when you get home and attach your phone or laptop to your home or corporate computer system they can leap to and access all the information you have on those systems. And you thought this stuff only happened in the movies.
According to the article current digital theft is big in China and Russia where revolves around industrial espionage. But who’s to say, as they do in the movies, “Coming soon to a phone near you” that it can’t happen to you. That is why more and more entities are instituting stricter IT policies. Instituting some of these policies within your family practices could help protect you from identify theft and loss of assets.
The article included some recommendations to protect yourself, your information and those you work for.
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Take “loaner” phones and laptops on international trips.
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Strip the information from the loaners prior to leaving, and again immediately after your return.
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Don’t store anything on the laptop – use an encrypted thumb drive.
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Don’t type in user names and passwords on the laptop or any other computer you may use while traveling. Instead copy and paste that information from your thumb drive. (The hacker’s programing can record keystrokes, but not information that is simply copied and pasted.)
Now we don’t all travel internationally or work for those high powered companies that are most frequently targeted for theft, but the tips above can be helpful in protecting your identify and your assets. Here are a few tips I’ve picked up along my travels. You may already know them, but refresher training is great. While these simple actions may not protect you from skilled technology thieves, they may protect you from “opportunist” thieves – you know the ones who may not break your car window to steal your car, but will take the car if you’ve left it unlocked with the keys in the ignition.
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Always be sure you have logged out of the programs you access from public/shared computers, such as those in hotels. I once sat down to a computer to print my boarding pass in the hotel’s business center, and found the computer was still logged into the prior user’s email. Because it was open, I was able to find out his name, billing address and information regarding the credit card he used to pay for his account (type of card, last four digits of the card, and the expiration date.) I was shocked! Lucky for him that I’m an honest person. I emailed him, from his own account, letting know he had left the computer open. I advised him to always log out, and shut down the computer. I then logged him out, and shut down the computer. I’ve always wondered what his reaction was when he got that email, and if he took my advice.
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Don’t sign into your airline account to print your boarding pass. Write down you ticket locator code, and use that to complete your online check-in. It is way too easy to accidently click that little button right below your login that asks “Remember your information on this computer?” And you don’t know if someone is monitoring your keystrokes.
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Log-off and then completely shut down the computer. This is especially important for public computers that required you to slide your credit card and pay for that computer access. If you don’t log-off and shut it down, you may be giving the next user a free ride and giving yourself a surprise when you get your credit card bill.
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Never give someone else access to your passwords.
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Be sure you know what you entity’s IT policy is, and consider instituting those rules at home.
One of the most important things I’ve learned in life is that I don’t know everything. And I’m always looking to learn more, so if you have some personal data protection tips you would like to share, please send them to me at tnorris@brsrisk.com.