419 Million Facebook Account IDs and Phone Numbers Exposed

September 6, 2019 | By: John Burcham
Posted in: Breach and Scam News

What Happened? – On Wednesday, September 4th, 2019, security researchers discovered an unprotected server containing over 419 million records of Facebook users. The server was not password protected, giving anyone access to the database consisting of millions of Facebook users’ unique Facebook ID and connected phone numbers. Some records included the user’s name, gender, and …

Three Back to School Scams Targeting College Students

August 26, 2019 | By: John Burcham
Posted in: Breach and Scam News

Children of every age are susceptible to identity theft — they make highly desirable targets with untapped credit histories and no debt, especially kids under eight years old. But as children grow older, begin to establish their own credit, and head off to college, they increasingly fall for scams that can lead to loss of …

Small Businesses Must Demand More from their Banking Relationship

August 19, 2019 | By: John Burcham
Posted in: Business Protection

Many Small to Medium-Sized Businesses (SMBs) rely on their bank for all their checking and credit needs. But could they be doing more? A recent study by J.D. Power discovered only 37% of small business banking customers believe their bank appreciates their business, and 32% say their bank understands their business. A strong relationship is …

Are Mobile Payments Right for You? Stay Safe When Paying with Your Phone

August 12, 2019 | By: Angela Murphy
Posted in: Personal Protection

Using Your Phone as Your Wallet – If you are a frequent Starbucks visitor, you may have been an early adopter of the Starbucks app and been quickly introduced to mobile payments, or the “pay with your phone in-store” concept, when it was launched in 2011. A report by eMarketer says you were not alone, …

Three Financial Scams Targeting Your Identity

July 29, 2019 | By: John Burcham
Posted in: Breach and Scam News

There’s more than money at stake when it comes to a financial scam; consumers’ identities are also under attack. Opportunities that offer a large amount of money for minimal participation or investment are typically red flags, and there’s likely a criminal working to steal your money or personal information. Fraudsters pulling off imposter scams — …

Building Barriers Against the Top Three Business Fraud Threats

July 22, 2019 | By: Eugene Bekker
Posted in: Business Protection

**Originally published July 7, 2015, updated July 22, 2019**Fraudsters are always in the market for a lucrative new target. So, what’s the most information-rich, security-poor victim they can exploit? A small business, of course.According to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), an organization on average loses a whopping 5% of their revenue to fraud each year …

5 Tips on How to Talk About Identity Fraud With Your Current or Potential Employer

July 16, 2019 | By: Donna Parent
Posted in: Personal Protection

Identity Crime Can Impact Your Career – You may never be prepared for the moment you discover your personally identifiable information (PII) has been fraudulently used to steal your money, your tax refunds, or create an entirely new synthetic identity. Once discovered, identity fraud can take hundreds of hours and months of work to recover.

Risk of Identity Theft is a Costly Proposition for SMBs

June 18, 2019 | By: Steve Turner
Posted in: Business Protection

Much like individuals, businesses can be victims of identity theft. However, unlike personal identity theft, it is often unclear how a Small and Medium-Sized Business (SMB) can recover from the financial and reputational impact. Business identity theft occurs when criminals impersonate a company to target its funds, file fraudulent tax returns, take out loans, or …

Evernote Security Flaw Leaves 4.6 Million Users Vulnerable

June 13, 2019 | By: John Burcham
Posted in: Breach and Scam News

What Happened? – On Wednesday, June 12th, 2019, a flaw within Evernote’s Google Chrome extension code was reported, which created a security vulnerability impacting 4.6 million consumers and companies. The organizational software app’s extension defect, discovered by security company Guardio, opened the door to potential harvesting of user data by bad actors, including authentication data, …