It is projected by many economists that the downturn in our nation’s financial status is only going to get worse in 2009. A few business owners and entrepreneurs have been turning the financial crisis into big profits and some say they are preying on instability. Mortgage company owners have opened mortgage restructuring companies, and debt […]
Online business attracts more buyers each year. The internet has become a way to eliminate the costly overhead associated with retail store fronts. Internet sales are expected to rise by as much as 11 percent in 2009. With a greater number of merchandise being sold on the internet, businesses are more susceptible to fraud and […]
Password security is important within your online network security and knowing the different types of identity theft is great, but what are the best ways to prevent identity theft? Many believe that PCI compliance does not affect them because they are not a payment processor or don’t run a gateway. This is a common mistake and can […]
Part one of this series talked about identity thieves wanting your password, and we discussed ways to protect against having your passwords compromised. Securing your password seems to be only 25 percent of the battle these days. Many network security attacks and breaches, like the Heartland Breach, occurred from within. So it is important to be PCI […]
The word “hacker” is often associated with the terms crime and fraud. However, hackers can be a good defense against online fraud, such as the “white hat” hackers that work to prevent fraud and fight identity theft. Unfortunately, white hat hackers aren’t as common as criminal hackers. It is important to first understand what different types of […]
The Federal Trade Commission announced that “creditors” will not have to worry about fines associated with non compliance with Red Flag Rules until May 1st 2009. A creditor is defined as any entity that extends, renews, or continues credit and any entity that regularly arranges for the extension, renewal, or continuation of credit. For example, mortgage brokers, […]
In 2005, a credit card giant was brought down by a massive security breach. It was said that at least 68,000 MasterCard account numbers were taken from the CardSystems database and that approximately 40 million cards of various brands were exposed. Since this breach, we have implemented PCI DSS and have come a long way […]
FACTA (Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003) allows consumers to be able to obtain a free credit report once every twelve months from each credit reporting agency. More importantly, the act was created to help reduce identity theft. With the state of our current economy, credit card and identity theft is on the […]
Back in 2005, many of us in the merchant services industry were in the thick of the CardSystems security breach. The Federal Trade commission claims “this is the largest known compromise to financial data to date”. Millions of dollars in fraudulent purchases were made with the stolen data. Processors, like the one I was working […]
