posted by
LaminatorX
on Wednesday March 19 2014, @07:53PM
from the sensative-and-I'd-like-to-stay-that-way dept.
from the sensative-and-I'd-like-to-stay-that-way dept.
sl4shd0rk writes:
"Although not as ubiquitous a name in digital security as Bruce Schneier, Brian Krebs has dealt (first hand in some instances) with much of the same related criminal activity. Krebs has some good tips worth reading for anyone interested in mitigating identity theft. If the infamous Target breach, and others like it, are any indication of how your sensitive customer info is 'secured' by retailers, it may be only a matter of time before your information is compromised."
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Tips from Brian Krebs - When Your ID Gets Pwned
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(Score: 5, Insightful) by d on Wednesday March 19 2014, @08:12PM
I'm getting the impression that the link "Bruce Schneier" from the summary should point there: http://www.schneierfacts.com/ [schneierfacts.com]
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Angry Jesus on Wednesday March 19 2014, @08:48PM
I think that a problem which encompasses more than just credit reporting is the modern idea that we are single individuals. It's the kind of idea that seems intuitively obvious on the surface, but the reality is a lot more complicated.
Just one out of countless examples: Who you are to your parents is not who you are to your spouse and that is not who you are to your kids. There are aspects shared across all the identities, but the important parts are the differences - like the doting father who ignores his wife believing she is a nag.
Similary, your mortgage is only peripheral to your credit cards and even less connected to your account with the local electric utility. Sure, data-mining can identify correlations in aggregate data but those correlations are only weakly accurate for any specific individual.
I'm not here to preach alternatives, maybe there shouldn't even be alternatives and we ought to just pull back on trying to minimize every single bit of risk out of the system because at some point all it really does is move it somewhere that isn't so measured - like all the unexpected costs to individuals who have had their "single identity" hijacked.
(Also the same thing goes for social-media accounts which try to tie all of your social identities into one [theverge.com] for their convenience.)
(Score: 5, Interesting) by SuperCharlie on Wednesday March 19 2014, @09:44PM
In the last 12 months, the wife and I have been re-issued compromised cards 3 times, once for the Target thing. It seems that if you have credit or debit cards that you should expect them to get digitally stolen. Luckily for us WE were declined before any money was taken, which makes me glad we had multiple accounts we could use for card transit times. We only use debit, no credit cards. (lookit me..whee no CC debt) I would suggest having at least 2 bank accounts so that if one is hosed, you dont go hungry or get surprised with an empty gas tank and no card that works.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Angry Jesus on Wednesday March 19 2014, @11:04PM
If you must use a card, credit cards are by far the better choice.
The law has much better protections for credit card users than debit card users.
When debit card fraud occurs, your money is stolen, when credit card fraud happens, it is the bank's money. While your bank may have policies for refunding debit fraud, none of them cover things like bounced-check fees from landlords and car loans nor do they do anything about the subsequent dings on your credit report.
The only type of person who should use a debit card is the type of person who can't qualify for a credit card.
I only use a credit card for online purchases and I only do so through disposable CC#'s like BoA's ShopSafe [bankofamerica.com], Citibank's Virtual Account Numbers [citibank.com] and Abine's MaskMe. [businessinsider.com]
(Score: 4, Insightful) by KilroySmith on Thursday March 20 2014, @12:17AM
Gotta agree. Having your debit card compromised on a Friday afternoon means that you could have no card, and no money left in your checking/savings accounts, until sometime next week when the Bank chooses to maybe compensate you. I've hard long arguments with my bank because they insist that my ATM card HAS to be a VISA Debit card; to me an exposure that I don't want to take.
For day-to-day expenses, I use a credit card (and I also have no credit card debt, at least after the 14th of every month when I pay it off). Between my wife and I, we have three credit cards - she carries two, and I carry two. If she loses her wallet (as she's done several times in the last 5 years), I have a credit card that she doesn't carry so I don't get stuck in Timbuktu on a business trip with all my credit cards cancelled. Similarly, if I lose my wallet, she has a card that I don't carry so she's not stuck somewhere.
The protections on Credit Cards are just too large to risk carrying/using Debit cards, IMHO, if you have the option.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by sjames on Wednesday March 19 2014, @10:16PM
There is no such thing as identity theft. It's just creditors trying to push their problems off to innocent 3rd parties.
If someone claims to be me and a bank stupidly hands them a wad of cash, that is the bank being careless and someone committing fraud against the bank. I am not actually involved. If the credit agencies treat that information as if it applies to me in any way, that's just libel, pure and simple.
The real answer is to make credit agencies quit libeling people and make the banks actually prove the validity of a debt before they are allowed to collect it.
As for those same agencies trying to sell me protection, that should be prosecuted under RICO just like any extortion or protection racket.
(Score: 2) by everdred on Wednesday March 19 2014, @11:46PM
Yep. This exactly.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 20 2014, @12:10PM
Mod parent post to 6!
(Score: 1) by MSC_Buff on Thursday March 20 2014, @02:17PM
This...x100.