adt home security source: Scummy Scammers and Targeted Attacks
- 08/16/10 07:34 PM
I make a portion of my living speaking professionally. That means I get on a platform and present in front of an audience on issues revolving around personal security and identity theft.
So when I got this email, I was so happy to see I was being invited to England to speak to the esteemed Middlesex University in England.
I had to shorten the dialog to keep in tune with your attention span.
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8:09am
SCAMMER: From: Professor Wayne Erickson <middlesexuniversityconference@gmail.com> Company: MIDDLESEX UNIVERSITY.
To: Respected Robert Siciliano, (I am ‘Respected”, NICE!)
Am Professor Wayne Erickson from the Middlesex University Here … (2 comments)
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adt home security source: Stalkers Exploiting Mobile Phones
- 08/13/10 08:59 AM
Mobile phone GPS (global positioning system) is often accurate in less than 100 feet. Many mobile apps work with GPS to inform you of local restaurants, banks, gas stations and attractions. Mobile phone GPS is also being used for driving navigation too, but I don’t find it as effective.
In this amazing age of progressive technology the uses seem unlimited. The good guy often finds out what he can do to improve his life with technology and the bad guy uses it to ruin others.
A U.S. Justice Department report last year estimated that more than 25,000 adults in the U.S. … (0 comments)
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adt home security source: Toddler Used As Decoy in Burglaries
- 08/10/10 07:47 PM
A confidence trick or confidence game (also known as a bunko, con, flim flam, gaffle, grift, hustle, scam, scheme, swindle or bamboozle) is an attempt to defraud a person or group by gaining their confidence. The victim is known as the mark, the trickster is called a confidence man, con man, confidence trickster, or con artist, and any accomplices are known as shills. Confidence men or women exploit human characteristics such as greed and dishonesty, and have victimized individuals from all walks of life.
Social engineering is the act of manipulating people into performing certain actions or divulging confidential information. While … (1 comments)
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adt home security source: Dumb Thief: How to Locate a Stolen iPhone
- 08/09/10 09:09 AM
With 20+ million iPhones on the market there is a good chance you have one. According to San Francisco police, the 31-year-old city resident rode a bicycle up to a woman and snatched an iPhone out of her hands, and then pedaled away.
Problem was, the woman was carrying the phone as part of a company’s demonstration of a real-time GPS tracking program. If the bandit would have taken a peek at the screen, he would have seen himself traveling across a map of San Francisco.
Using the tracking software enabled on the iPhone, the victim was able to tell a … (6 comments)
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adt home security source: Police After Con-man Impersonating Cops
- 08/08/10 06:20 PM
Our unending fascination with “Cops” must be due to the edgy dangerousness of their jobs. After all they are law enforcement officers who are often public bouncers and deal with the craziest of crazy situations. There’s also the whole “power of the badge” and the flickering blue lights that gives them authority over civilians.
It’s no wonder they have their own TV shows, movies and many dramas that depict them as both hero and villain.
With all the fanfare that comes with being a police officer, there is also the pressure of such an often difficult and stressful job. Next time … (2 comments)
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adt home security source: 100 Million Facebook Profiles Published via P2P
- 08/06/10 11:14 AM
Personal information on 100 million Facebook users has been scraped from the social media site and is being shared and download as a single file via what is called a Bittorrent. BitTorrent is a peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing protocol used for distributing large amounts of data.
Facebook takes on the issue is the data that was scraped wasn’t private at all. To a degree, I agree. The data is being shared through the site, it’s already public.
Here’s how it went down: a good guy hacker developed a program that went through all 500 million profiles and was able to skim … (2 comments)
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adt home security source: Apartments Likely Targets of Burglary
- 08/06/10 10:36 AM
According to the National Crime Prevention Council (NCPC), apartments are 85% more likely to be victimized by a burglary than any other form of housing.
There are many reasons why apartments are targeted for burglaries. Here are a few:
Problem: In an apartment setting the residents live among other people. One tenant in a complex who has a propensity for theft may target units within. When he knows you aren’t home, that’s when he breaks in.
Solution: Alarm it. Apartment security systems trump all other options. And keep your TV or radio on to give the impression you are home. Even … (1 comments)
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adt home security source: Cops Encourage Burglary Prevention
- 08/04/10 05:34 PM
Let it be known and publicly stated right here and right now that I love law enforcement. Even though I’ve been pulled over for various vehicular infractions, but I’m not bitter. I’ve encountered officers of the law that may have taken themselves a bit too seriously, but I’ve meet plenty of flight attendants who fit the same profile. We are all just humans trying to get through this thing called life. It’s all good.
In Fort Wayne Indiana the local Police Department responded to a string of home burglaries that they are calling ‘crimes of opportunity’ and offer suggestions on how … (7 comments)
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adt home security source: Home Invasions on the Rise During Summer
- 07/31/10 11:29 AM
“Home invasions are especially frightening because the robber may not care who is home or who gets hurt,” states News 12.
We’ve often discussed how the home invader lacks a certain gene that many of us have called “compassion”. A home invader thrives on the chaos, fear and panic of a home invasion and ultimately the invader doesn’t care if anyone gets hurt. Home invaders often take their act to another level and go far beyond “theft” and escalate to physical violence that involves beatings, rape and torture often resulting in murder.
In Richmond City GA, Richmond County reports at least … (0 comments)
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adt home security source: ATM Security Threats Increase
- 07/28/10 08:24 AM
ATM skimming alone is responsible for $350,000 of fraud daily exceeding a billion dollars in losses annually.
A recent news report of a skimming scam in Long Island, N.Y., netted thieves more than $200,000 from ATMs at five branches.
Skimming today is far more sophisticated than in the past. Skimmers can include blue tooth and texting technology that send the data to the criminal anywhere. Keypads can be compromised by devices that overlay the exiting pad and transfer the data remotely.
ATM scams and fraud go beyond skimming to crimes that are very physical such as ram raiding to remote malicious … (4 comments)
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adt home security source: Using a Honeypot to Snare Home Invaders
- 07/25/10 08:31 AM
What do you get when you cross a dozen federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents and the nation’s top city for home invasions with the myth of large quantities of cocaine? Answer: 70 arrested gun toting vicious home invaders.
The term Honeypot in technology refers to a trap set to detect, deflect, or in some manner counteract attempts at unauthorized use of information systems. In simpler terms a honeypot is a trap set for the bad guy that is so tempting, they can’t help themselves but attack.
Phoenix Arizona has had the distinction of being that famed city … (0 comments)
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adt home security source: Home Burglary News: Barefoot Bandit Busted
- 07/25/10 08:18 AM
Colton Harris Moore stole a bicycle at the age of 8 and never looked back. Now 6 ft. 5 in. and 19 years old, has been busted.
He was arrested in the Bahamas after a boat chase that came to a halt when cops shot out the boats motor.
This 19 year old has never taken a flying lesson but stole a plane in Indiana and crashed it off Abaco Island and he has been hunted ever since. Then, law enforcement suspected him of stealing a 44 foot boat from a marina in Abaco.
This young adult has achieved celebrity like … (0 comments)
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adt home security source: 10 of the Dumbest Criminals
- 07/24/10 11:43 AM
It’s impossible to write about home security and personal safety and not to come across with dumb criminal stories. Listverse did a great job of compiling the following; I did a decent job of summing it up:
1. – Dumb criminal robs a store at knifepoint and stole a pair of boots, gets away and then gets caught. At court he arrogantly puts his feet up on the defense table, wearing the same boots. Busted.
2. – Dumb criminal guy and two dumb criminal women in a department store stuffed their bags with curtains. As they all headed to separate exits … (30 comments)
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adt home security source: 10 Ways to Prevent Social Media Scams
- 07/20/10 06:31 PM
The trouble with social media revolves around identity theft, brand hijacking and privacy issues. The opportunity social media creates for criminals is to “friend” their potential victims in order to create a false sense of trust and use that against their victims in phishing or other scams.
It was big news when someone had their Facebook account jacked by someone who impersonated the victim, claiming to have lost their wallet in the UK and begging for a money wire. Now it’s old news, but it’s still happening.
Register your full name and those of your spouse and kids on the most … (3 comments)
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adt home security source: “Grim Sleeper” Gets Nabbed
- 07/16/10 08:28 AM
In La La Land aka Los Angeles where everyone is a waiter or waitress and wants to be Tom Cruise or Julia Roberts, they captured a serial killer dubbed “Grim Sleeper” named as such due to the fact there was a lull in his murderous killing spree.
The Los Angeles Police Department had been hunting the man who had stalked South Los Angeles since 1985, killing at least 10 women. Lonnie David Franklin Jr. was at one time was an employee for the LAPD. Detectives pulled DNA from the crime scenes and had the information for years.
Recently the LAPD arrested … (0 comments)
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adt home security source: What is “Swatting” And How Do I Protect My Family
- 07/14/10 06:17 PM
Swatting is making prank calls to emergency services with the intent of sending those services to the victim’s home. Emergency services, such as a 911 operator may dispatch an emergency response team, and depending what the story is being told by the prank caller, the operator may dispatch a SWAT team. SWAT is Special Weapons and Tactics. Those are the guys and gals in all black with the headgear and big guns.
Caller ID spoofing technologies are used as a tool to disguise the caller and send law enforcement officers on bogus calls. Caller ID spoofing is the practice of causing … (5 comments)
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adt home security source: Highway Killer” Gets Life
- 07/14/10 04:12 AM
Evil takes many forms. One of its forms is as Adam Leroy Lane. Lane was a truck driver from North Carolina whose route traveled up and down the east coast and attacked or murdered women in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts.
Apparently when the urge struck, he’d veer off the highway and stalk neighborhoods and jiggle door knobs until he found one unlocked with a woman inside. In all the cases, the killer picked his victims at random and attacked them at their homes near interstate highways that he traveled.
In July of 2007 Lane was arrested after he broke into … (5 comments)
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adt home security source: Keeping Kids Safe Online
- 07/12/10 10:31 AM
It is no surprise that cybercriminals are taking advantage of the Internet and the people who use it. The Internet is like a bad neighborhood with bad guys around every corner. Any parent with an ounce of sensibility should recognize that when your child is on the wild wild web, they are at the same risk as they would be walking through the red light district in any big city.
I’m not saying this because I want to instill fear and panic, I’m bringing this up because sex offenders, pedophiles, criminal hackers and identity thieves treat the online world as if … (1 comments)
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adt home security source: Police Arrest Six People in Ritzy Robbery Ring
- 07/10/10 08:21 AM
Burglars broke into more than 50 homes in the high end areas of Miami and Palm Beach. Most of the victims were out to dinner and some were victims of home invasions.
The perps may have had a network in place of valets, waiters/waitresses or others who had an idea of who the victims were, their addresses and what their schedules were. Most importantly, someone on the inside of this network would inform the thieves when the victims would be gone from the home.
The thieves would enter the homes through locked or unlocked sliding doors generally in the back of … (2 comments)
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adt home security source: My Mexican Travel Security Ordeal
- 06/26/10 11:28 AM
Mexico has made the news over and over due to their “Narco Wars”. 10’s of thousands have been murdered and kidnapped in many of the border towns all the way down to Acapulco. So where do I vacation? Mexico. It’s an easy trip, its economically smart, it’s usually warm and sunny, the foods good, the people are great, and there’s always a good story to tell. I do my homework and understand where the risks are and aren’t.
I don’t stay in the border towns. That’s where a lot of the bad stuff is happening. Border towns are mostly landlocked, … (2 comments)
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I make a portion of my living speaking professionally. That means I get on a platform and present in front of an audience on issues revolving around personal security and identity theft.
;)
;)
;)
