News sites across the internet, as well as local media, informed us that 1.2 billion usernames and passwords were stolen by an internet crime group located in a small city in south-central Russia. In addition to the usernames and passwords, over 500 million email addresses were also stolen and confidential material was obtained from 420,000 websites. The websites that were hacked included Fortune 500 companies as well as small internet sites.
Credit card fraud and identity theft have been in the news a lot over the last 6 weeks. It all started with the news that Target’s card processing systems were hacked resulting in the unlawful theft of 40 million customers’ account numbers and PINs. This data was sold on various black markets resulting in fraudulent purchases being made with fake credit and debit cards.
et me have a quick show of hands; how many of you have the same password for all your online accounts? That’s too many! One of the easiest practices to put into place to protect yourself from identity theft is to implement a password overhaul plan. We shop, bank, pay bills, communicate, share photos, update our status, network, and conduct business online.
Identity theft, and the fraud associated with it, is a growing problem in the US and across the globe. Out of 2.06 million complaints reported to the Federal Trade Commission, 370,800 were identity theft related. In Texas, the rate of identity theft complaints rose 17% from 2011 to 2012, or 28, 299 up from 24,162.
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