Massive Data breach again – protect yourself

The names and e-mails of customers of Citigroup Inc and other large U.S. companies, as well as College Board students, were exposed in a massive and growing data breach after a computer hacker penetrated online marketer Epsilon.

The list of companies is HUGE! TiVo, JP Morgan Chase, Capital One Financial, US Bank, the Kroger grocery chain, teleshopping company HSN Inc., Verizon Communications Inc, Blackstone Group LP's Hilton Hotels, Kraft Foods Inc, and AstraZeneca and more.
According to the reports only email addresses and name information was stolen. So you may just get an extra does of spam. But you can never be sure.

You can read more about it HERE and HERE.

My advice is to reset your account passwords if you use any of these merchants and as always, use extremely strong passwords - preferably using applications like LastPass  or KeePass to create super strong passwords and manage all your accounts information.

Either of these apps should be used by EVERYONE anyways. LastPass being the easiest for most.

Keep safe folks!

Electronic Pickpockets

This is some pretty scary stuff.

Many new credit cards carry an RFID chip for 'fast pay/swipe pay'.

RFID stands for Radio-frequency identification. RFID is a technology that uses communication via electromagnetic waves to exchange data between a terminal and an electronic tag attached to an object, for the purpose of identification and tracking.

Here is a video showing a technique of stealing your information with out you even knowing it. Sadly this has been known for quite a while and not publicized much. I have seen many security related articles on this but I guess the public is just now being made more aware of it. And I think that is good. Be careful out there folks.

CheckPoint/Zone Alarm Lose with fake threat

I've written about this tactic before - using 'rogue/fake' threat or infection warnings to distribute REAL malware. This is one very effective way to get unsuspecting or untrained people to accidentally actually ‘infect’ themselves.

It now appears that a legitimate (using that word lightly now) company - CheckPoint, makers of ZoneAlarm is using the same tactic to 'up sell' their products to unsuspecting consumers. I hope others do not follow.

Please take the time to read this very short article.

At one time I used and recommended their products and most were quite good. In fact ZoneAlarm was one of the first ‘software firewalls’ I every used consistantly – over a decade ago.
However.........

With this move CheckPoint has assured itself that it will be uninstalled and/or blocked on ALL of the machines (hundreds) I manage or have any influence upon.
I am passing this information to EVERYONE in my sphere of influence and I hope they do the same. Maybe even demand a refund pro-rata on any products they have installed.

Real D*%k move CheckPoint. See you later.

Real Credit Score Answers

Identity theft is all over the tv adds, and internet these days. Making it seem as if everyone will be a victim whereby they lose all their money and have their credit completely ruined forever.

Truth is this will probably NOT happen to the vast majority of people EVER! Heck, my own brother had his messed up by an illegal alien not 20miles from his home - and the police could do nothing but tell him to 'start watching' his credit more and put fraud alerts on his accounts! It does happen, just not that often and the results can usually be resolved fairly easily – not quickly but easily.

Don't get me wrong you should still be careful.

But remember your bank and credit card company already have some pretty strict identity theft protections in place already--they're the ones who usually wind up footing the bill, after all. But beyond that there are some pretty simple steps that you can take yourself, such as getting your annual credit report, regularly checking your bank statements for odd charges.

But please don't get suckered into things like 'LifeLock'.

This March, LifeLock had to settle with the Federal Trade Commission for $12 million amidst charges that they were lying about what their services could do, mainly because they were. According to the chairman of the FTC, Jon Leibowitz, LifeLock's protection "left enough holes that you could drive a truck through it,"

The sort of thing LifeLock protects you from is mainly people opening up new credit accounts, which is only 17 percent of existing identity theft. If someone used your identity to get medical care, a new job or even if they just took your credit card for a joyride, you wouldn't hear a thing until the bank showed up to repossess your new car that you didn't know you bought.

I admit, your credit score determines some rather important factors in your life, such as how easily you can get a loan, or buy a house. But it is not all that mystical and flowing. And it is very easy to get your current status and learn how to clean up your credit by yourself.

There are hundreds of companies offering to 'give' you a ‘free credit report’ if you sign up for their monthly service – usually at an incredibly high right (average of $15/mo).

The amazing thing is, you can get your credit report completely free at AnnualCreditReport.com. You can do this once a year, which may not sound like much, but your credit score really doesn't change very rapidly.
Right Here:
https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index

This central site allows you to request a free credit file disclosure, commonly called a credit report, once every 12 months from each of the nationwide consumer credit reporting companies: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.
Here is what they are about:

https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/helpabout

Ok let’s start.
Select your state and start the process. I am going to show most of the process and explain where you should take care to open the reports in a separate window for printing so you won’t ‘lose your place’ on the original web site.







Then ‘Right Click’ on Print your report and choose ‘open in new window’ and then print out the report!
Close the print window and don’t leave this page yet!
Now go up to the ‘Return to AnnualCreditReport.com’ link at the top of the page to do the same for the other two agencies.





Right-click on the ‘View and Print Your Online Report’ button and choose ‘Open in New Window’

Note there are two items to print here.
Click on the Print This Page and another window will pop up you can then print it out.
Then click on Print Report and print out the entire report page that pops up.
Once again:
Please Note! Click on Return to: AnnualCreditReport.com to get your remaining Free Report(s)




You may get this:

I did.
So I right-clicked on ‘by phone or mail’ and got this:

Right-click on ‘the link ‘request form’ and choose ‘save file as’ or ‘save target as’ depending on your browser.
Save the form and print it out and fill it out and mail it
· Print and complete the form
· Mail the completed form to:
Annual Credit Report Request Service
P.O. Box 105281
Atlanta, GA 30348-5281
The you should get this window:

I hope this helps some of you. Keep safe out there.
Peace.

Stop Spam Calls

Ok, how many of you have gotten calls that were dialed by an automated system?
You know the kind. Your phone rings and if you pick it up there is a ‘pause’ before someone gets on the line.
Who then proceeds to tell you that,
”the FBI needs your information..”
“your car warranty is about to expire..”
“you owe money to such and such and we can reduce the amount...”
“we are in the neighbor hood doing x for the Jone’s etc.”

The list is just about endless.

Or how about getting messages on your voice mail or answering machine that tell you “to call 800-xxx-xxxx ext. xxx for a very important matter.” Or “you have an outstanding balance please call 800-xxx-xxxx etc.”

These calls and nearly all like them are made by ‘dialing programs’. There are two types most in use today.

The first and most common is the programs that actually dial a whole set of numbers for a given area code and prefix.
Example: 310-473-xxxx from 0001 on up.

The second is used mostly by fraudsters, bill collectors (illegitimate and some times legitimate) and other scammers.
The program dials a given set of numbers the same way.

HERE IS THE KICKER:
Since the calls are made by machine they follow rules! And we can exploit them to our advantage!
The programs were designed to save money by dialing fast and not wasting the time of (expensive) people. Although one could argue that wages in Bangladesh aren’t that high, you still need real people, even if they don’t speak proper English, to carry on a real conversation.
So when the dialer get’s an out of order or line disconnected ‘tone’ it marks the number as ‘no good’ and moves on.
If however you pick up the phone the system knows the number is valid and puts you through to a person who will then annoy the crap out of you.
Same goes for the calls on answering machines and those going to voice mail – if the dialer get’s an out of order or line disconnected ‘tone’ it marks the number as ‘no good’ and moves on. If your machine or voice mail answers with a ‘message’ like, “hello we are not here ……” the call then plays the message to call a certain 800 number back etc.
With any of these calls the absolute worst thing you can do is actually call that number!!
Your phone will be marked as ‘valid’ and ‘worth calling’ forever!
[This also applies to spam email too!! Never respond to spam email to 'be removed from list..']
So how do you we beat the machines?
Quite simple actually.
By playing the ‘call could not be complete’ or ‘number disconnected’ tone before your answer message.
That’s right by simply placing that ‘beep beep beep the number you are dialing...’ tone before your message you will kill the auto dialed call. If you are like me you can even play the tone before you answer a live call!
Just play the tone then record your message.
Make sure you tell people who should be calling you - family friends - that they should ingnore/wait for the actual message.

So where to find the ‘tone’.
Here are a couple links to the tones with the associated message.
Remember you only need the ‘tone’ at the beginning to make the dialer think the number is bad.
You can find them here:
Disconnected number:
Wave format:
Call not completed as dialed:
Wave format

I have created a looped tone with out the message that I use. It plays the 'beep beep beep' twice in a row. I will try and find a 'place' to put it when I can for easy download. Check back.

Global Warming, Really

I have such a disdain for lies and deception it borders on an obsession.
One of my biggest peeves is the absolute LIE of 'man-made global warming'.
An entire generation of children have been literally indoctrinated with this 'religion' that is based on junk science!
This schtick has been used by the anti-capitalist to bludgeon the economies and bind the freedoms that have made the west the most advanced civilizations in humans short history on this planet.
Virtually every bit of legislation tied to the 'green movement' ONLY harms the developed nations of the west and does absolutely nothing to help the underdeveloped nations of the world.
The sole purpose of the 'green movement' is to monetarily penalize man's economic and scientific advancement and redistribute the wealth of the world. In short to put control of freedoms and progress in the hands of an 'elite' few who 'know what's good for us'.
I know that the left's hysteria can't be bothered with actual facts but maybe we can help educate the young.
Here are some fantastic links to actual science.
A great video that should be played in all grade schools!:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3069943905833454241

Some other great links:

http://www.globalwarming.org/

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=57605

http://www.oism.org/pproject/s33p36.htm

A good site with lots of information:
http://junkscience.com/