Brian Thompson

The Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) published the 2022 ITRC Consumer Impact Report last week. It details a new scam known as “social media account takeover fraud,” in which cybercriminals and ID theft criminals hijack Facebook and Instagram accounts to steal personally identifiable information (PII). Account takeover fraud (ATO), is when a fraudster successfully accesses your bank account, credit card account, cell phone account, utility account, Social Security account, or reward/loyalty card account. This occurs when malicious actors attempt to take control of an account using weak passwords, phishing, hacking, and/or credential stuffing. What is happening… Social media account takeover attacks have increased by more than 1,000% in the past 12 months, according to the ITRC. The results of a quick survey of victims who reported a social media account takeover are included in the 2022 Consumer Impact Report. The victims who participated in the micro-survey stated the following: 85 […]

ISP’s are spying on your family. But what’s an ISP and why should I care? An ISP, or Internet Service Provider, is a company that lets you access the internet from home, usually via a monthly subscription. It’s like a cable company, but instead of connecting you with TV channels, an ISP connects you to the internet. An ISP may sell one or more types of internet service, also called connection types. Your Internet Service Provider (ISP) is the first connection point between the Internet and your computer. And you should know that ISPs represent one of the many potential threats to online security. After all, you connect to the outside world through their network. Your IP address is the one they assign to you for the duration of your session. Is my ISP really spying on me? In a word, yes. Your ISP is likely looking at the websites […]

Unfortunately, scammers often see students as easy targets for identity theft.  Assuming, as young adults, they are less knowledgeable about identity theft and fraud. Often, students are more likely to fall victim to identity fraud and a lot of that has to do with the environment they are in, the way they communicate, and the information they have to share with the school. With these 7 student identity theft protection tips, students will be better prepared as they embark on their college life. 7 Student Identity Theft Protection Tips Don’t overshare. Social media can make it easy for a scammer to learn personal details about you. Be careful what information you share on these sites because you never know who might see your posts. Your birthday, address, previous schools, and even your pets’ names could be used to gain access to your passwords and accounts if you’ve used them as […]

Schools across the nation are kicking off the new school year,  and students are targeted for Identity Theft and Fraud schemes!   Schemes that we never worried about in the early 2000s.  Student life was simple,  desktops were for papers, no smartphones, no social media, and socializing was actually in person!  That is not today’s reality Now more than ever, devices, Social Media, and advanced schemes have increased the risk for students. Risks that now are more prevalent due to the majority of students having constant connectivity.   A significant increase in phony LinkedIn, Facebook, and other social media friend requests placing many students at risk coupled the daily inundation of information/misinformation has given cybercriminals an endless resource to implement their attacks.  It’s not just college kids though… K-12 districts across the U.S. have become targets as well.   The worst-hit states include: New York with 89 Texas with 79 Illinois and Ohio […]

Thanks to the Internet, jobs that we used to have to do from the confines of an office can now be done at home. Even before COVID led many of us to work from home, millions of us already worked remotely. And that trend doesn’t seem like it will slow down any time soon. BUT home wifi isn’t safe from hackers. There are good reasons for that, since remote work has many benefits for workers, as well as fewer overhead costs for employers. After a large chunk of the working population got a taste of working from home, many decided that they liked it. However, working remotely has its own problems and challenges, especially in terms of network security. Your home network is probably not protected by the same rigorous cybersecurity protocols that corporate networks have access to. So, either the company or the employee needs to take steps to […]

Parenting kids is hard enough, parenting kids with social media is another thing… Without clear guidance from us as parents, and education on the consequences of oversharing, our kids can open themselves to damages we can’t even predict. This is an enormous challenge, but a challenge worth understanding and taking on. Strong boundaries and education around social media are important as data thieves, and other criminals, don’t consider age a deterrent. In fact, a child’s information has more value to an identity thief than an adult because they have clean credit files and typically a longer length of time before discovery, creating even more damage. Helping our kids to understand what they are doing, what impacts their social media behavior has in the long term is more important than ever. If our job is to equip them to face this world without us, we have to ensure they are aware […]