May 2021

May 20, 2021

COMPLACENCY MAKES HACKERS SUCCESSFUL

The danger of complacency makes hackers successful at phishing and ransomware. The recent Colonial Pipeline cyberattack forced Colonial to shut down the pipeline. The shutdown created widespread fuel shortages in 11 states and Washington, D.C. All pointing to the true vulnerability of our companies and the detrimental effects of being complacent. Complacency and phishing emails that spread malware are the main reason for the success of cybercriminals and ransomware attacks. According to a December 2020 Digital Guardian blog titled A History of Ransomware Attacks, “ransomware has been a prominent threat to enterprises, SMBs, and individuals alike since the mid-2000s.” Separately, according to the National Cyber Investigative Joint Task Force (NCIJTF), crimes such as financial fraud and identity theft are being exploited via the internet and technology through “the global cyber domain” every day. To address this “evolving cyber challenge,” the NCIJTF released this FBI-IC3 Ransomware PDF Fact Sheet to educate the public on the […]

May 17, 2021

What is a Credit Score?

Brian Thompson General, Identity Theft, Uncategorized

Most of you have heard of it, but what is a credit score? The most widely used scoring model in the United States and Canada is the FICO credit score. Developed in 1956 by a company called Fair, Isaac & Company (FICO), this model is designed to determine how likely you are to become 90 days late on any payment within the next twenty-four months. The model calculates the probability of loan delinquency. It does so by comparing patterns in your credit history against the patterns of millions of other consumers. FICO makes all these comparisons with software that uses complex equations and advanced analytics. The comparison evaluates all the data in your credit report and distills it into a standardized, three-digit score. But, let’s back up a minute. Where does all the credit report data come from? Each financial choice you make – how much you spend on credit, […]

May 6, 2021

Businesses Struggle with Rising Cases of Identity Theft

Brian Thompson Breach, Identity Theft

Each year your businesses struggle with rising cases of identity theft and it’s affecting everything. ID Theft can be detrimental to your employees, productivity, your reputation, revenue, and profit. You take all the necessary measures to secure your systems and prevent data breach incidents. But what about personal data stolen from elsewhere? Is your company being defrauded by that data? What can you do to prevent identity fraud despite business efforts to protect their information assets? What is happening? Insider solo hackers and criminal gangs steal millions of consumer records each year from companies around the globe. Bad actors take advantage of weaknesses in the system security and operations. The stolen information is traded on the dark web and used by identity thieves around the world to quickly defraud businesses, governments, and individuals. They, under someone else’s name: open new credit lines empty bank accounts seek expensive medical services receive […]