Ask just about any person on the street, and he or she will tell you that this title is an oxymoron.

Well, it is not an unwarranted assumption, for there are many who in good faith have paid for online autos and who have then been defrauded one way or another; and they will not only agree, but underscore, that indeed, yes, it is an oxymoron.

Online Auto Purchase — Nightmare Scenario No. 1

The 1968 Ford Mustang that a private seller in Michigan offered for a little more than Sanderson had planned to spend was the precise car he was looking for. Precisely. Color, options, wheels, the lot.

So, his planned spending rose the 20% needed to meet the seller’s price, and he answered, yes, yes, I want to buy this car.

The Michigan seller emailed back, nice to know you, and delighted to do business. Just to make sure you know this is on the up and up, we will snail mail you a Certificate of Inspection, as well as our routing number and bank account; into which you should deposit 50% (plus $1,200 delivery charge) before we’ll ship the car. We trust you to pay us the remaining 50% upon acceptance of the vehicle.

Sanderson was convinced this was all on the level—the seller even had his photograph on the site that sold the car; and once he received the Certificate of Inspection, he wired the 50% plus shipping.

And that was the last he saw of his money, or the car, or the seller.

The Certificate of Inspection turned out to be a forgery. The bank account he had wired the money to, by the time the police inquired, had been closed. No address for the seller, and Sanderson out a considerable amount of money.

Online Auto Purchase — Nightmare Scenario No. 2

Wilson, in his fifties and a prudent man by all accounts, and a lot more business savvy than Sanderson found the very thing he was looking for in Florida. A 1976 Jensen Interceptor series III saloon, hand-built in England. Wilson had been looking for one for years.

Not the color he’d like, but he could always have it repainted.

Not cheap—well, he didn’t expect it to be. Eight emails later, and they had agreed upon a price.

And the seller, bless his heart, a man as cautious as Wilson himself, suggested they use an online escrow service to make sure the deal would go through smoothly, to everyone’s satisfaction. He even recommended a great looking company called reliable-escrow.com to handle the transaction.

Wilson visited the site, and was impressed by the professional approach to the deal it presented. He felt reassured.

Everything was in place. As agreed he deposited 50% of the purchase price (a small fortune) in the escrow account—the balance to be paid upon acceptance. Then he waited, and waited, and waited.

By the time investigators got around to it, reliable-escrow.com no longer existed (it had been registered in Russia), and Wilson had lost his small fortune.

Online Auto Purchase — Nightmare Scenario No. 3

Money exchanges hands. Shipping arrangements are made. The car arrives. Yes, it is the same year, model and color as stated in the ad, but some of the other statements stretched the truth a little. New tires, for one—these had hardly any thread left. The left headlight did not work, neither did the air conditioning, nor the rear seatbelts. This list did go on.

When challenged the seller referred to the contract which did—darn it, there it was—have an as is clause, and the agreement, not the ad, was the legally binding document here.

The buyer ended up spending an additional $2,350 on a $4,000 car to make it drivable, with no recourse to collect.

Good Intentions

Good intentions—admirable things that all too often fall short of proper follow-through—even when present in spades at the outset of an online auto deal are no guarantee that it will go through in the same spirit. Something is usually overlooked, and when the proverbial push comes to shove, the seller just does not want to eat the extra $500, sorry.

And at the other end of the spectrum—when the intention all along is to defraud you—take another look at the first two scenarios (the third may or may not have started out in good faith).

Internet Fraud

Now, if these first two scenarios were rare, isolated occurrences, this article would have no business being written.

However, Non-delivery of items purchased online constitute an impressive 24.9% of all fraud complaints filed last year with IC3—The Internet Crime Complaint Center, a partnership between the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center (NWC3)—second only to Internet Auction Fraud, which was the most reported at 35.7%.

Vigilance

Therefore, when it comes to buying anything online from a private party—especially something as costly as an automobile—keep the following in mind:

·         Be aware that if a problem does occur, it will be more difficult to resolve if the seller is located outside the United States—laws can differ widely country to country;

·         Learn as much as possible about the seller, especially if the only information you have is an e-mail address;

·         Before you make a payment for any purchase, you should verify the seller’s identity and contact details in case there is a problem with the delivery of the item;

·         Ask the seller when delivery can be expected and whether the merchandise is covered by warranty if you need to exchange it;

·         Use registered or certified mail to enable tracing; this will eliminate claims that the parcel was sent but must have been “lost in the mail;”

·         Check that the seller information matches email, phone number and any bank account and location information;

And here is the most important advice of all:

·         If you have any doubts about the identity and integrity the of seller—and when it comes to high-ticket items such as automobiles, even if you have no doubts whatsoever, and if all intentions appear angel-like: use an escrow agent.

An escrow agent or company is an independent third party that holds payment in trust until the buyer receives and accepts the item from the seller. While this service does incur a fee, it protects the buyer because the third party will hold the money until the goods have been received in good condition, inspected, and accepted; and only then releases the funds to the seller.

Internet Escrow

The principle and process of Internet escrow is the same as with buying and selling real estate—where, of course, the escrow company is deemed indispensible due to the amounts involved.

·         The buyer or seller opens an account with the online escrow company;

·         The prospective buyer of an item sends payment by wire transfer, check or credit card to the escrow company;

·         The escrow company verifies that the funds indeed do exist, or that the buyer is who he represents himself to be and is in possession of the credit card, if used;

·         Once this checks out, the escrow company asks the seller to ship the merchandise;

·         Merchandise is shipped, and seller submits tracking information;

·         Once the shipping site shows the merchandise as delivered the escrow company double checks to ensure the buyer has the goods in hand;

·         The buyer now has an agreed-upon amount of time to either accept the goods or return it to the seller;

·         Once accepted by the buyer, the escrow company releases the funds to the seller, less any processing fees and commissions.

Straightforward enough. If, that is, you are dealing with a legitimate online escrow company.

Fighting the Fighter

But the world, as we know, likes to throw us curves; and in this instance the curve comes in the guise of escrow fraud.

Handling, as it does, substantial amounts of money, the bona fide escrow company is often itself a target of fraud—where look-alike phishing sites try to con you into providing them your confidential financial information; and where the escrow company concept itself is flagrantly abused by criminals who set up fraudulent escrow sites where money will only travel one-way: you guessed it, away from you.

In fact, the problem of fake on-line escrow sites is now so severe that some reputable and legitimate escrow sites have simply thrown in the towel.

Buyer Guardian, for example, recently shut its doors due to Internet fraud stealing their business, and posted the following note on their site: “We are sad to report that after careful and lengthy consideration we have made the decision to cease operations at BuyerGuardian.com. This is a very difficult decision, and one that is made primarily due to the rapid growth of online escrow fraud.”

Many of these apparently bona fide escrow companies, established for the sole purpose of enriching the criminal, are set up off-shore—predominantly in Russia or China—where lax cyber crime laws (and sometimes questionable cooperation with U.S. authorities) makes it more difficult to shut the sites down and bring the perpetrators to justice.

Enter: Escrow.com

Actually, Escrow.com entered this fray nearly ten years ago during the dot-com boom and has since shown itself to be the online escrow company to turn to for secure and fraud-less auction and other online sales/purchase transactions—with the credentials and staying power to prove it.

Licensed by the state of California—as well as by the States of Idaho and Arizona, who require separate licenses—Escrow.com is the only on-line escrow company credentialed to serve every state of the Union, and who indeed does so 24/7.

While Escrow.com will handle transactions of any size, it may not make financial sense to turn to them for low cost items since their transaction fee is $25, and their commission is $63 per $1,000 value of the transaction if payment is by credit card and $32.50 per $1,000 for wire transfers.

But, if you value your sleep, Escrow.com would be indispensible for any transaction of $250 on up.

Peace of Mind

Michigan-based telecomclassifiedads.com, which buys and sells expensive telecommunication switching equipment concurs, and would not, according to Mickey Fivenson, complete any online transactions without Escrow.com.

“I use Escrow.com for all my equipment transactions, and without them I would not be in business. It’s as simple as that.

“I deal with buyers and sellers on a daily basis who do not know each other and who live in different parts of the world. Escrow.com is the only way I can complete a transaction between them.

“As a result, after five years of doing business through Escrow.com I have never had anything but satisfied customers.”

Dave Kurko of RPM Auto Wholesale in Pleasant Hill, CA could not agree more:

“Escrow.com provides a safety net for both seller and buyer, delivering certainty in an uncertain world.

“Most people understand the concept of escrow, particularly if they have bought and sold real estate in a jurisdiction that uses an escrow company rather than an attorney to settle a real estate transaction; in fact, we have modeled our transaction on the real estate transaction. Escrow.com has made this approach not only possible but also very effective.

“They are also very customer centric, and thanks to their tech support we have been able to integrate opening an escrow account with them into our own web-hosted application, allowing our CRM software to talk directly to their database over a secure link.

“Really, they’re the only game in town. We’ve searched other companies, and nobody else measures up.”

Escrow.com—Going the Extra Auto Mile

And when it comes to automobile transactions, Escrow.com does go the extra mile (no pun indented).

All buyers and sellers located in the United States using their Vehicle Escrow service can also avail themselves of the following additional Escrow.com auto services:

Title Transfer

Escrow.com can handle everything—including the paperwork—from start to finish for all 50 states.

Inspection Service

Using the latest in handheld computing, and following standardized inspection and auditing procedures, trained personnel electronically record all inspection and audit information right in the field. Reports are then made available on the Escrow.com website and are made downloadable for convenience.

Vehicle Title Insurance

TitleGuard Vehicle Title Insurance provides a vehicle history report and insurance for up to $50,000 against any unreported DMV brands, title defects, and evidence of odometer rollback for as long as the policyholder owns their vehicle.

Vehicle and Motorcycle Transport

Dependable Auto Shippers can have your vehicle delivered anywhere in the world; and JC Motors Motorcycle Transport can have provide the same service for your motorcycle.

Vehicle History

Escrow.com can provide a vehicle history report that includes vehicle description, title check, past problem check, odometer history, and a summarized history.

Escrow.com—The Detective

While Escrow.com understandably is gaining increased recognition as the Internet escrow company to turn to for peace of e-commerce mind, their staff, on a daily basis, also hunt and diligently work to shut down fraudulent impostors, which are encountered daily.

And they spring up like mushrooms, these impostors: there are days that Escrow.com staff discovers as many as ten new such sites.

The good news is that as these sites are tracked down, authorities are alerted and the sites are soon off the air.

eBay Weighs In

To quote the biggest online market of them all, eBay:

Pay safely – beware of fake escrow services when you consider using them to pay for your eBay item.

For eBay transactions, you should use eBay’s only approved Escrow Company: www.escrow.com

To avoid being deceived by fraudulent email from a fake escrow service, you should visit the escrow service’s Web site to verify information you received via email.

Make sure you type the entire Web address (for example, www.escrow.com) into your Web browser. Don’t let your Web browser auto-complete the Web address for you. It could mistakenly auto-complete a fraudulent Web address.

Escrow.com—The Household Name

More importantly, however, as Escrow.com gains further and further recognition on its way to become a household name, it gets harder and harder for impostors to defraud the public for the excellent reason that they are not Escrow.com—the only name you know you can trust.

Here’s to peace of mind and a good night’s sleep.

And to successful online auto transactions.

Coeur d’Alene, Idaho-based Ulf Wolf writes about cybercrime for Words & Images (ulf@words-images.com)

Useful household goods as well as personalized items represent sentimental values and monetary expenses. A home insurance coverage plan can help you in emergencies including natural disasters and also man-made misfortunes. Home insurance providers provide home insurance along with protection extending to your property equipment.

These days, you get access to the very best home insurance providers providing the finest home insurance plans along with the least expensive rates. You’ll be able to check out the internet websites of the best home insurance providers from the ease and comfort of your home. It is possible to choose the most beneficial home insurance plan and safely purchase it without going out of your own home.

Do you know the advantages of buying an inexpensive home insurance protection plan on the internet? Safety measures are assured by many home insurance corporations while you are opening your policy at any time. You can get rid of as many soft duplicates you desire. Additionally, the hard copy may perhaps be delivered within the following two or three business days.

The greatest part in buying a home insurance plan on the internet is you can pay off your home insurance expenses without spending additional charges. You are able to pay through your charge card as well as PayPal amongst others. An economical insurance plan on the internet gives you the ease of paperless transactions.

In the event that you visit insurance sites, you may choose from the same number of home insurance merchandise, provided by numerous home insurance agencies. Many of these web sites supply a home insurance plan at the cheapest rates for buyers trying to find inexpensive home insurance coverage.

You may even read about the home insurance monthly premiums and the advantages you’ll get by looking at websites like these. The majority of reliable home insurance firms offer cheap and inexpensive home insurance coverage rewards and wonderful bargains.

This particular has authorized customers to obtain home insurance quotes and policies on the internet with outstanding comfort. If you are trying to find inexpensive home insurance, you simply need to visit any internet site of well-known home insurance providers like K4Q.com

Having a computer merely never ends by paying and buying them! It requires enough and adequate maintenance and support to keep them execute on par. It is obvious that, not everyone is capable to handle the machine efficiently and observe its fault and repair it. All that you require is best support and right assistance! Failing to give right care will make your computer desolate. NJ Computer Support grants all inclusive support right from minor computer repair to any troublesome networking issues. With right examination and scrutiny, our professionals capably handle the work and fix the issues from its root cause.

Trained professionals at NJ Computer Support grant brilliant service and offer outstanding customer support. Any internet user will easily fall prey to viruses, and it makes your machine sloth. It is typically hard and of course the presence of virus in machine is truly risky! NJ Computer Support assists you better in removing the entire slanderous virus and save your machine from cyber theft. Viruses will suck every piece of essential and particular data’s that is stored in the hard-disk. To avert all these grueling troubles, our professionals completely examine your machine and upgrade it with powerful anti-virus. This keeps your machine safe out from the reach of the influencing viruses and Trojans.

When days pass by, your computer will turn dull due to the insufficient hardware support. To overwhelm this trouble, NJ Computer Support features its customers with hardware upgrade and installation support. Hardware upgrade will certainly ameliorate the performance of the computer and thus results with faster and quicker output. On the other hand, we offer best software installation support that features you with efficient programming and other line of application use. Whether your computer is for domestic or official use, the need to install software is undeniably essential. Without software, it is definitely hard to execute something.

Our support with respect to networking is truly spectacular, as professionals at NJ Computer Support are well-trained and fixes any hard-hitting troubles with better ease. Undoubtedly, your machine might fall short with stringent performance, particularly if it sticks out with back-end or networking troubles. At this case, it is really tedious to work with the computer. Our support professionals will look over the principal cause of such troublesome networking issues and fix them right away. Once when they are fixed, it will never happen again!

The performance of your computer will definitely be disturbed, if it perceives networking inconveniences. Sterile networking installation will make your machine drop down with regards to performance and execution. All these troubles can be overwhelmed with the assistance of our professionals. Whatsoever the trouble might be, you can reach us right away to get the best assistance. Well, are you ready to face the serious consequences of data loss? Cybercrimes are quite usual and this might lead to troublesome data loss. The influence of hackers and cyberpunks will make your machine plain whereby you could never retrieve data’s that you need. To avert all such troubles, avail data backup solutions! Our professionals will offer consistent data backup, whereby you can have a copy of all particular essentials you need. Contact us anytime, any day for best support and assistance.

Donna Bliss, President/CEO, states “Our 100% score for internet safety is critical as e-commerce grows on the web. It significantly increases customer confidence and that translates into increased sales. We have been tested and ranked as the safest baby clothing website, higher than the larger national chains. In fact, as a small company, we actually have more control over protecting our customer’s information than the larger companies who store their information off site. We’ve never had a single incident where a customer was at risk.”

The Safe Shopping Network provides consumers with unbiased information, allowing the consumer to refine their search to find the best merchants on the Web. Cassi Hennessey, Safe Shopping Network, Inc. points out “High scores mean that the merchant provides a safe and secure environment for placing online orders.”

My Miracle Baby, Inc. currently ranks # 3 on Google for baby clothing and # 1 for newborn baby gifts with a very large selection of holiday and special occasion outfits, accessories, and personalized gifts for baby, toddler, and children. Stop by to see their spectacular holiday specials as well as unique selection of everyday baby and toddler apparel.

About Safe Shopping Network – Safe Shopping Network is a guide to the tested best shopping websites in the world. Its technologies have the ability to test many safety and reliability features of an online merchant.

The original thinking behind online financial management was more environmentally altruistic, as it was seen as a means to remove the ‘paper-based’ system of old. The public was initially reluctant to become part of this revolution, their concerns fuelled by reports of identity theft, online credit card scams and other cybercrimes. Better security systems have replaced the first generation protocols and using the Internet is now a safe and secure method of managing your finances for both personal and business customers. Small and medium sized companies (SMEs) have particularly benefited from a more modern approach to doing business online.

Business credit cards have proven to be a perennially popular way of giving SMEs an additional source of funding, with 23%* of business owners using them to inject additional capital into their companies. The flexibility of an online credit card management strategy has made it even easier to keep a close eye on the day to day finances of a business, as online management gives a real-time snapshot of the company’s transactions and expenditure 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Traditionally, a business credit card user would have to wait for the monthly statement to assess how the cards were being used. If an overspend had occurred, it was too late to prevent it escalating. With online banking a card owner can put a stop to any overspend before it happens, making the overall financial position of the company that little bit more secure. This is particularly important where there are multiple users on a single account, and pre-set spending limits also makes this a more controllable system of financial management.

Using an online financial management system incorporating business credit cards can also give businesses an outline of their average expenditure as projected throughout the year. It means that if a business owner notices an increase in travel costs for example, restraints can be put in place to curb overspends before they occur. Some business credit cards offer ‘reward schemes’ as part of their package, and these can be utilised to make further savings for the business, particularly in travel and accommodation expenses. This ability to be able to not only control immediate spending but to forecast potential costs throughout the year can potentially prevent a company nose-diving towards collapse as a result of overspend.

Time management is a vital factor for any business, and online business credit card management can help here as well. The time spent gathering in and sorting through receipts and separate paper statements can cost a company money, especially if they employ an external accounting service. Online management gives a business owner the chance to stay on top of the paperwork quickly and easily, reducing the time (and money) spent on bookkeeping and other administration. A clear breakdown of any transactions can be printed out at any time. It also enables a business to keep a close eye on payments to suppliers, ensuring that deadlines on invoices are met and keeping vital lines of credit open to the business.

The evolution of E-business and its resultant online financial management systems is making the way UK PLC does business more dynamic and controllable. In a global marketplace that never sleeps, having access to your financial information at any time of the day or night could mean the difference between your business keeping up with competitors or going to the wall. Any weapon in such a competitive marketplace needs to be utilised, and online management of business credit cards can leave business owners with more time to focus on the important aspects of their business – bringing in new customers or developing new products or services. It also gives them the peace of mind that, at the click of a button, they are in complete control of their business finances.

* Figures published by the Federation of Small Businesses 2009 New Year Message

The survey showed that more than 60% of the firms agree with the invention of a more ‘cybercrime authority’, which should impose greater penalties on infringers. Furthermore, 50% of the firms believe that the online marketplaces themselves, those such as eBay, should be held liable themselves in order to establish a tougher standard of conduct towards giving a forum to counterfeiters in the first instance.

The spark for harsher controls to be put in place comes as a result of the on going spat between LVMH, the luxury goods group, and Google. LVMH are disgruntled by Google’s action to sell one of its brand names, Louis Vuitton, keywords to the highest bidder, including both rivals of LVMH and potential counterfeiters.

Pam Withers, a partner at Marks & Clerk, said, search engines have not been immune from censure as a result of their increasing dominance and the effectiveness of their advertising strategies. The market needs a clear line to be drawn by the courts to establish where the ground lies, and if the onus should be solely on the consumer, or if the internet has now got too big for this to remain the case. But both sides will need to play ball.

“Businesses need to take firmer action to protect their brands, while service providers need to recognise their responsibilities and engage with the problem so they are not a vehicle for infringement.”

Along with counterfeiting through the web, and the opportunity the web gives counterfeiters, businesses are concerned with the lack of control over legitimate competitors and misinformation. Trade mark infringement is not given the same boundaries on the internet as it would be in the traditional market place. This, in addition, causes apprehension in regards to the practice of competitors being able to pay for sponsored keywords in their name. It is being argued that this too should be included under trade mark infringement.

Withers further commented that this is the first recession in the digital era and businesses are anxious about the consequences.

“The success of the internet has meant that we are seeing increasingly vociferous criticism of those who play a part in counterfeiting – even those who do so unwittingly.”

Perhaps, the most important safety tip that you need to remember is to protect your identity.  You will want to refrain from mentioning your name in your YouTube videos, especially your full name.  You will also want to refrain from mentioning your address in any of your YouTube videos.  While you may think that mentioning the city or town that you live in is okay, as long as you don’t give your street address, you may want to rethink doing so. There are a large number of internet users who are resourceful; with the right information, they can easily find out important information about you, including where you live.

One of the reasons why YouTube is so popular, aside from the fact that you can watch or upload movies to the YouTube site for free, is the fact that you can rate, leave comments, or talk about YouTube videos with other internet users.  If you talk with certain members enough you may end up developing a close online friendship with them.  Still, it is advised that you keep the previously mentioned safety tip in mind; do not give out any of your personal information.  Whenever you use the internet, whether you are using YouTube or not, you need to remember that it is difficult, if not impossible, to verify who is sitting behind the computer screen on the other end of your conversation.  No matter what online exchanges take place, you will want to protect your identity. 

When it comes to internet users further researching you, many YouTube video submitters wonder why anyone would do such a thing.  While different individuals have different motives, you should always assume that those motives are not in your best interest.  As stated above, different internet users have different motives, but one thing that seems to motivate them is seductive or attractive looking internet users.  Even if you are creating a video blog or a comedy skit, you will want to keep a close eye on your appearance.  Of course, you will want to look your best, but you want to be sure not to take it too far, as many can misinterpret your intentions; possibly putting you in harms way.

It is also advised that you be careful with what you post online, if you are making a video of yourself and your friends.  You need to make sure that all video stars know your intentions of posting the video for sharing on YouTube.  If you have a video that you shot candidly, you need to use your best judgment.  You want to be cautious of ingraining on anyone’s privacy, as it may not only reflect negatively on you, but it may also land you in hot water. It is also advised that you refrain from posting clips of movies, television shows, or music videos that you do not have rights to.  This is a violation of copyright.  In most cases, your YouTube video will simply be pulled, but, in rare instances, you may be faced with legal action.

The previously mentioned safety tips are just a few of the many that you will want to keep in mind, when making a video to upload on to the YouTube website.  In all honesty, it is best if you just use your best judgment.  Should you feel uncomfortable doing something, like just making a YouTube video in general, you are advised to listen to your gut, as it is often the best sign of trouble to come.

Changes to data security regulation are inevitable after twelve months of increasingly dramatic press headlines about failures to safeguard personal data records, including the UK’s HMRC CD-Rom fiasco, the prolonged theft of TJX credit card records, and incidents such as the hacker infiltration of the customer database of a Berlin Best Western Hotel.  

In France, Germany, Spain the national data protection commissioners have been stepping up their enforcement activity, which includes increasingly substantial fines for non-compliance. Organisations now urgently need to assess the size of the issue, the potential impact on their organisation of a data breach, and the best practice steps for mitigating the data breach risk.  

Last Year’s IT Governance Data Breaches Report stated that spectacular data breaches are not caused by the misdemeanour of a junior employee but arise, rather, from systemically inadequate information security arrangements at the organizations where the incident occurs.        

A data breach is ‘the unauthorised disclosure by an organization of personally identifiable information, where that disclosure compromises the security, confidentiality, or integrity of the data that has been disclosed.’ which can come about via employee caused Data Leakage, Hacking caused by a lack of, or ineffective, penetration testing or ethical hacking activities, or deliberate theft or disclosure.

The Attritiondatabase shows a ten-fold increase in the number of reported data breaches – in the US, the UK and across Europe – since 2004. The peaks in reported data breaches following the disclosure of nationally significant breaches such as the UK’s HMRC data loss, suggests that there were – and probably still are – many data breaches that go unreported and research suggests that organizations are reluctant to officially report data breaches unless they have already been exposed. The evidence suggests that waiting to be found out is not the best strategy  

Data protection is receiving so much attention for three reasons:

Identify theft is a low-risk, high return option for organized crime.  Traditional crime, including violent robbery and theft, has clearly identifiable risks.  It is easy to be recorded on video by CCTV, seen by witnesses or caught by means of DNA, and the returns are relatively low.  High-tech crime, on the other hand, creates real problems for the police force[3] and is, conversely, relatively low-risk for the criminal. Contributing factors include the perpetrator’s anonymity, the speed at which crimes can be committed, the volatility or transience of evidence, the trans-jurisdictional nature of cybercrime and the high costs of investigation. Legal and regulatory compliance initiatives, such as the EU Data Protection directive and California’s data breach disclosure law, SB1386, have both formalised the concept that personal data must be legally protected, and introduced penalties for failing to do so. The recent amendments to the UK Data Protection Act (DPA), and changes to regulatory activity across the EU that are introducing significant financial penalties for non-compliance with the Directive, make this a particularly urgent issue for UK organisations. The proliferation of mobile data storage devices – laptops, USB sticks, PDAs – has changed the boundaries of where we store our data and effectively eliminated “fixed fortifications” as an effective tool for preventing data breaches.

The last Ponemonreport commented that “the investment required to prevent a data breach is dwarfed by the resulting costs of a breach” and ” the return on investment (ROI) and justification for preventative measures is clear”.

Costs of data breaches – legal costs, the costs of restitution, brand damage, lost customers and so on – are significant; for financial services organisations, it was about £55 per compromised record.  

Whilst not involving legal compliance, if an organisation has a credit card-related data breach and is found not in compliance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), there are potentially severe contractual and financial penalties, including a bar on the business accepting payment cards.  

All these factors make the protection of personal data a key business and compliance responsibility. There are nine key steps that every organization should take:  

Encrypt all personal data on laptops; whole disk encryption is a more secure solution than folder or file level encryption, and FIPS 140-2 is the recognised standard for encryption engines. Encrypt all removable and portable media that might contain personal data, including USB drives, CD-Roms and magnetic backup tapes. Establish rigorous procedures to ensure the physical destruction of redundant computer drives, magnetic media and paper records prior to disposal, and ensure that disposals are made in line with a formal data retention timetable. Organizations that accept credit and other payment cards should also comply with the PCI DSS. Provide regular training and awareness on legal responsibilities for all staff that deal with personal data. Deploy outward-bound channel (email, instant messenger) filtering software with customised dictionaries for relevant legislation such as Data Protection Directive, PCI, etc Establish a vulnerability patching programme and implement anti-malware software. Implement a business-driven access control policy, combined with effective authentication. Develop an incident management plan that enables the organization to respond

The first piece of online safety advice we can give is this.  Enlist the services of a company like Computer Repair Ltd (a new and currently successful player in the online safety arena).  Computer Repair Ltd, and companies like them, will undertake a simple analysis of your current internet security protocols (you might not even be aware that you have them, but you do:  all machines have some kind of internet safety routines) – after which, they will deliver a report telling you how safe you really are.  They’ll recommend ways to improve online safety, which can be as simple as clicking a few check boxes in your browser options window, or as intensive as buying and installing proper internet protection and firewall programs.

Not that we want to worry you unduly:  but it’s easier to catch a bullet with your teeth than it is to keep abreast of workable internet safety in this fast-moving age of technology.  The internet security program you installed when you bought your computer is probably woefully out of date:  alarming statistics revealed on a weekly basis by all sorts of industry bigwigs suggest that even the most carefully-protected PC is still subject to multiple web based “attacks” every day.  These attacks range from simple breaches of internet security by programs that borrow your hard drive to fuel their processes, to full-scale virus intrusions that can eat your whole PC from the inside out.

So:  how can you tell whether or not you’re safe online?  Basically, depressingly – you can’t.  No-one, and nowhere, is safe.  Some places, of course, are safer than others – the best online safety tip anyone can give, is:  only use reputable websites.  Anyone downloading movies from illegal crack sites is going to be placing themselves over the wire and out in no man’s land, when it comes to internet safety.  If in doubt, don’t use a site.  Never pay for anything on the internet if it uses an unfamiliar payment gateway – and don’t, ever, give any details about yourself to emails that appear to come from banks.  No bank, anywhere, requests personal information over the internet.

You can protect yourself from internet intrusion following basic rules like the ones above – but even the most careful surfer is never immune.  As we’ve said, internet safety is simply too far behind the ingenuity of the folk out there who want to use the web to do your computer harm.  The only way you can be sure that your internet protection is the best it can be, is to get someone who works in the industry to evaluate your level of protection for you.  Computer Repair Ltd is a good place to start – they’ll perform the consultation for free, only charging for any action they might need to take.

 

Banks are taking measures to protect consumers from ATM skimmers by installing anti-skimming technology that jams skimmer readers with radio signals, monitoring the ATM physical characteristics for changes in the ATM image, and installing shields for the keypad. Realistically, these are band aids for the big problem which is the security authentication process of the card itself. No matter how secure your local bank makes their ATM’s by installing this anti-skimming technology or monitoring their ATM’s each day for unusual devices or characteristics, banks cannot protect consumers from gas pump skimming.

Gas stations do not have near the protection or monitoring that your local bank can provide. At each gas station there are multiple card readers that are unattended which offer criminals ample opportunity to install discrete skimming devices. The attendant at busy gas stations cannot tell if a customer is installing a skimmer, or if they are simply using the pump, especially if they are ringing up customers at the register. Also, the cameras at gas stations are not designed to monitor the use of the card reader at the pumps but rather are used to watch for drive offs.

These new types of gas pumps skimmers are sold openly on the internet. For a small investment and with little risk; an unscrupulous individual can easily purchase one of the devices, install it at a busy gas station along the interstate somewhere away from their local home town, and capture this information wirelessly by setting in their car a couple hundred feet away.

This risk can be mitigated by simply taking advantage of most gas station reward cards.

Many gas stations offer a rewards card that can be charged up by using your credit or debit card. Following this process will not only significantly reduce your risk and exposure to gas pump card fraud but save you money. You do want to save money on your gas bill right?

No, I do not work for any gas company or grocery store, I am an information security professional.

Steps to reduce risk and save money at the gas pump

1.       Obtain a rewards card from your local gas station or grocery store

(typically these cards will give you up to .03 cents off per gallon, so find a good gas station or store that offers this)

2.       Use a rewards credit card  inside the gas station to purchase  an in store gift card that rewards you with points when you charge it up.

Make sure you ask the attendant in the store which card can be used for gas.
(a local gas station that I use gives me 1000 points for every $50 I charge)

3.       Each time you purchase gas swipe you store rewards card, and then pay with your store gift card.

So now you save

• .03 cents each gallon

• Gain rewards from your credit card

• Gain rewards from charging up the in store gift card
  (at 25,000 points my local gas station gives me $25 in free gas)

• Save your card from gas pump fraud exposure

Although it may take a little extra time to obtain a rewards card, then charge it up each time, it is well worth the effort when considering that this will reduce your risk of exposure to card fraud at the gas pump.

Don’t think that you will always notice the card skimmer at the gas pumps. Criminals are becoming more and more crafty, and devices have been discovered inside gas pumps which would never be detected until the pump itself is serviced.

We had better be vigilant and protect our credit and debit card information, because banks and gas stations are not going to do it for us.