Category Archives: Identity Theft

“Smart” Cars and Hackers – We Should Have Seen This One Coming.

06 Wednesday Apr 2016

Posted by in Computer Forensics, Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, Cybersecurity, Identity Theft

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Markey Report Reveals Automobile Security and Privacy Vulnerabilities, by Sabrina I. Pacifici, BeSpacific Blog

http://www.bespacific.com/markey-report-reveals-automobile-security-privacy-vulnerabilities/

New standards are needed to plug security and privacy gaps in our cars and trucks, according to a report released today by Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.). The report, called Tracking & Hacking: Security & Privacy Gaps Put American Drivers at Risk and first reported on by CBS News’ 60 Minutes, reveals how sixteen major automobile manufacturers responded to questions from Senator Markey in 2014 about how vehicles may be vulnerable to hackers, and how driver information is collected and protected. . . .

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E-Filing Your Tax Return? Read This Before You Hit “Send.”

13 Saturday Feb 2016

Posted by in Cybersecurity, E-Filing, Encryption, Identity Theft, Internal Revenue Service, Legal Technology, Tax Law

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Hackers Trying to Steal Your Tax Refund With Stolen SSNs, by Angela Moscaritolo, PC World

http://bit.ly/1O8kgVv

[T]he IRS on Tuesday announced that hackers recently attempted to use some 464,000 stolen Social Security numbers and an automated bot to generate E-file PINs, which can be used to electronically file a tax return. The incident occurred last month, and the hackers were able to successfully access an E-file PIN with 101,000 of the SSNs.

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Last year, Turbo Tax temporarily halted e-filing for state returns across the U.S. after it found ‘an increase in suspicious filings and attempts by criminals to use stolen identity information to file fraudulent state tax returns and claim tax refunds.’

Seventh Circuit Denies Neiman Marcus’ Rehearing of Data Breach Class Action.

29 Tuesday Sep 2015

Posted by in 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, Appellate Law, Computer Forensics, Computer Virus, Cybersecurity, Identity Theft, Malware

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Seventh Circuit Denies En Banc Review For Data Breach Class Action, Privacy & Information Security Law Blog posted by Hunton and Williams

https://www.huntonprivacyblog.com/2015/09/29/seventh-circuit-denies-en-banc-review-for-data-breach-class-action/

Plaintiffs, Neiman Marcus cardholders, brought a class action against the store for damages caused by a 2013 data breach. Hackers accessed customers’ credit and debit cards, as well as other personal information. The Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, ruled that the individual Plaintiffs and the class action against Neiman Marcus lacked standing under Article III of the Constitution.

Plaintiffs appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. The link takes you to the Seventh Circuit’s opinion explaining how Plaintiffs prevailed and why it reversed and remanded the case. Neiman Marcus filed for rehearing. The Seventh Circuit followed its usual habit, and denied it.

The Seventh Circuit’s analysis of its reasons ruling that Plaintiffs had met the three requirements for Article III standing is well worth the read. An added bonus is the link to the 2014 edition of The Practitioner’s Handbook for Appeals to the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, -CCE

Westlaw Public Records Database Breached. Who Is Affected?

16 Sunday Nov 2014

Posted by in Cybersecurity, Encryption, Identity Theft, Legal Technology, Privacy, References, Research, Westlaw

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Westlaw Discloses Breach Of Public Records Database, by Sabrina I. Pacifici, BeSpacific Blog

http://tinyurl.com/pffqhny

News release: ‘West Publishing Corporation, a unit of Thomson Reuters, has notified the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office of a breach involving their Westlaw subscription-only public records database. In a letter dated November 4th to those affected, Senior Vice President Andy Martens explained that on October 14, they detected unusual search activity. Investigation revealed that some subscribers’ passwords had been compromised and used to access the database. The types of information involved included addresses, date of birth, and in some cases, driver’s license numbers and Social Security numbers. No bank account or credit card information was involved. In response to the breach, West removed external access to full sensitive identifiers in public records, forced a password reset on all public user accounts, and implemented  additional technological controls to detect and respond to searches of more limited public records that also appeared unauthorized. Federal law enforcement was also contacted. West offered those affected two years of free credit monitoring with Experian ProtectMyID Elite. Nine NH residents were notified. The total number of individuals notified was not indicated in their report to New Hampshire.’

Huge Cyberattack on JPMorgan Chase and Wall Street – How Far Does It Go?

05 Sunday Oct 2014

Posted by in Computer Forensics, Cybersecurity, Encryption, Identity Theft, Legal Technology

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Hackers’ Attack Cracked 10 Companies in Major Assault – NYT, by Matthew Goldstein, Nicole Perlroth, and David E. Sanger, New York Times, posted by Sabrina Pacifici, BeSpacific Blog

http://tinyurl.com/o3vf8fq

We have heard of other hacks on that stole information from credit/debit cards and other financial and personal data. This is far more serious. It was first discovered in July, and the investigation is ongoing.  Initial reports of the damage and who caused it have changed as the investigation progresses. -CCE  

‘The huge cyberattack on JPMorgan Chase that touched more than 83 million households and businesses was one of the most serious computer intrusions into an American corporation. But it could have been much worse. Questions over who the hackers are and the approach of their attack concern government and industry officials. Also troubling is that about nine other financial institutions — a number that has not been previously reported — were also infiltrated by the same group of overseas hackers, according to people briefed on the matter. The hackers are thought to be operating from Russia and appear to have at least loose connections with officials of the Russian government, the people briefed on the matter said. It is unclear whether the other intrusions, at banks and brokerage firms, were as deep as the one that JPMorgan disclosed on Thursday. The identities of the other institutions could not be immediately learned. The breadth of the attacks — and the lack of clarity about whether it was an effort to steal from accounts or to demonstrate that the hackers could penetrate even the best-protected American financial institutions — has left Washington intelligence officials and policy makers far more concerned than they have let on publicly. Some American officials speculate that the breach was intended to send a message to Wall Street and the United States about the vulnerability of the digital network of one of the world’s most important banking institutions.’ . .  .

Canvas Fingerprinting – The Online Computer Tracking Device Almost Impossible To Block.

23 Wednesday Jul 2014

Posted by in Computer Forensics, Cybersecurity, Identity Theft, Legal Technology

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Meet the Online Tracking Device That is Virtually Impossible to Block, by Julia Angwin, ProPublica

(This story was co-published with Mashable.)

http://tinyurl.com/mbqqrw

Update: After this article was published, YouPorn contacted us to say it had removed AddThis technology from its website, saying that the website was ‘completely unaware that AddThis contained a tracking software that had the potential to jeopardize the privacy of our users.’  A spokeswoman for the German digital marketer Ligatus also said that is no longer running its test of canvas fingerprinting, and that it has no plans to use it in the future.

A new, extremely persistent type of online tracking is shadowing visitors to thousands of top websites, from WhiteHouse.gov to YouPorn.com.

First documented in a forthcoming paper by researchers at Princeton University and KU Leuven University in Belgium, this type of tracking, called canvas fingerprinting, works by instructing the visitor’s Web browser to draw a hidden image. Because each computer draws the image slightly differently, the images can be used to assign each user’s device a number that uniquely identifies it.

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Like other tracking tools, canvas fingerprints are used to build profiles of users based on the websites they visit — profiles that shape which ads, news articles, or other types of content are displayed to them.

But fingerprints are unusually hard to block: They can’t be prevented by using standard Web browser privacy settings or using anti-tracking tools such as AdBlock Plus.

The researchers found canvas fingerprinting computer code, primarily written by a company called AddThis, on 5 percent of the top 100,000 websites. . . .

10 Top Law-Related TED Videos.

20 Sunday Jul 2014

Posted by in Bad Legal Writing, Computer Forensics, Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, Computer Virus, Copyright, Criminal Law, Cybersecurity, Digital Millenium Copyright Act, Discovery, Encryption, Evidence, Finance and Banking Law, Fraud, Google, Government, Identity Theft, Intellectual Property, Law Office Management, Legal Technology, Legal Writing, Legalese, Malware, Management, Patent Law, PC Computers, Plain Language, Presentations, Search Engines, Trial Tips and Techniques, Trojans, Video

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Top 10 Legal TED Talks, by Tim Baran, Legal Productivity Blog

http://www.legalproductivity.com/op-ed/top-10-legal-ted-talks/

Have you heard of TED? It began in 1984 as a conference and now covers a wide range of topics in more than 100 languages.  Think of it as a massive brain trust that shares great ideas and information.

Each of the law-related TED talks listed in this article are worthwhile on their own: (1) four ways to fix a broken legal system; (2) eliminate legalese by using plain English; (3) how to beat a patent troll; (4) how the Internet will change government; (5) laws that choke creativity; (6) copyright law; (7) why eyewitnesses get it wrong; (8) how technology could make crime worse; (9) the Internet and anonymity online; and (10) how great leaders inspire. -CCE

The Hole In Mobile Security Making Your Phone An Easy Target.

15 Sunday Jun 2014

Posted by in Android Phones, Cell Phones, Cybersecurity, Encryption, Fraud, Identity Theft, iPad, iPhones, Legal Technology, Malware, Tablets

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Here’s One Big Way Your Mobile Phone Could Be Open To Hackers, by Steve Henn, All Tech Considered, NPR

http://tinyurl.com/l2re8ll

Despite the fact that every major Internet provider has added some kind of encryption to its services over the past year, tracking your online traffic is easier than you think.

And you don’t have to be the target of the hacker or the NSA for your traffic to be intercepted. There is a hole in mobile security that could make tens of millions of Americans vulnerable.

Unsecure Wi-Fi networks have been a well-known vulnerability in the tech industry for years. They can let even the most unsophisticated hacker capture your traffic and possibly steal your identity. . . .

The Mashable Hit List.

13 Sunday Apr 2014

Posted by in Android Phones, Apps, Cell Phones, Clouds, Computer Virus, Disaster Preparedness, Dropbox, Emails, Encryption, Google, Heartbleed, Identity Theft, Law Firm Web Sites, Law Office Management, Legal Blogs, Legal Technology, Malware, Office Procedures, Passwords, PC Computers, Search Enginges, Technology, Using Social Media

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The Heartbleed Hit List: The Passwords You Need to Change Right Now, The Mashable Team

http://mashable.com/2014/04/09/heartbleed-bug-websites-affected/

If you wondered whether any main specific websites are affected, such as Yahoo, this list will help you.  It will also help explain the Heartbleed bug,  and why you should pay attention to what it is. If you want to know whether your specific bank was compromised, this list may not answer all your questions. So, if you’re not sure whether you should change your password, go ahead and do it.

Even better, find a password manager in this list of the best of the best from PC Magazine by Neil J. Rubenking — http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2407168,00.asp. If you use one password for more than one website — and lots of people do — this is a good solution and a wise move regardless of the Heartbleed bug. -CCE

 

How Target Missed Malware Alarms and Blew It.

14 Friday Mar 2014

Posted by in Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, Consumer Law, Credit Repair, Criminal Law, Finance and Banking Law, Identity Theft

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Missed Alarms and 40 Million Stolen Credit Card Numbers: How Target Blew It, by Michael Riley, Ben Elgin, Dune Lawrence, and Carol Matlack, Bloomberg  Businessweek Technology

http://tinyurl.com/njsy4rm

The biggest retail hack in U.S. history wasn’t particularly inventive, nor did it appear destined for success. In the days prior to Thanksgiving 2013, someone installed malware in Target’s (TGT) security and payments system designed to steal every credit card used at the company’s 1,797 U.S. stores. At the critical moment—when the Christmas gifts had been scanned and bagged and the cashier asked for a swipe—the malware would step in, capture the shopper’s credit card number, and store it on a Target server commandeered by the hackers.

It’s a measure of how common these crimes have become, and how conventional the hackers’ approach in this case, that Target was prepared for such an attack. . . .

IRS Service Is Going From Bad To Worse.

20 Monday Jan 2014

Posted by in Fraud, Government, Identity Theft, Internal Revenue Service

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Why IRS Customer Service Is Bad (And May Get Worse), by Allison Linn, CNBC

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101339980

[G]iven its limited resources, the IRS said that in 2014 it will stop preparing tax returns for people who need help, such as those who are elderly or disabled. The agency also plans to answer only “basic” tax law questions, and only during the normal filing season through April 15. Instead, it will direct people to the website and other automated sources of information.  . . .

How To Protect Yourself Against Identity Theft.

13 Monday Jan 2014

Posted by in Fraud, Identity Theft

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Tax Identity Theft Awareness Week, Consumer Information, Federal Trade Commission

http://tinyurl.com/o4wt6c9

As more news about the personal information stolen from Target, identity theft is a valid concern. -CCE

Tax identity theft happens when someone uses your Social Security number to get a tax refund or a job. Find out what you can do about it, and how you can help others during Tax Identity Theft Awareness Week.