Please help us with a fraud situation

Please help us with a fraud situation
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Subject Author Date
Please help us with a fraud situation irfansmith 05-27-2008
Posted by on May 28, 2008, 1:08 pm
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On May 27, 9:00=A0pm, irfansm...@gmail.com wrote:
> Please help us with a fraud situation
>
> We had some identity thefts situations with our credit cards and Bank
> accounts.
> People using our credit cards and writing checks against our account.
>
> How can I set up a =A0really secure internet connection in my home ?
>
> Irfan Smith


=95        Not all security issues are related to internet access, so make sure
your other sources of information are secure also.
o        Do you print out copies of your account information?
o        Does your teenager (therefore their friends) have the password to
your computer?
o        Do you keep all of your account information in a special folder or
notebook?
=95        It wasn=92t clear to me if all of your accounts were hacked. If it is
a single bank or charge account, then maybe the security problem in on
the other side, where you used the business services. I=92ve had 3
charge card numbers get out into the wild in the last 10 years (my
personal and my business cards were compromised at the same time
after an online book store was hacked)
=95        As for internet and computer security do these things:
o        Install and run good spyware detector such as adaware(lavasoft.com)
or spybot(safer-networking.org) for starters.
o        Install a good two way firewall, one that tells you about your
programs accessing the internet. You may find that you have spyware
reporting home.
o        Install and run updated antivirus programs.
=95        Personal habits:
o        Make sure that anytime you are entering your information the address
line of your browser shows =91https://=92 and there is a =91lock=92 icon on
your browser window.
o        This will ensure that the communications between your computer and
their computer is encrypted even if you are using wireless.

-rwg

Posted by Dave on June 2, 2008, 4:31 am
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irfansmith@gmail.com wrote:
> Please help us with a fraud situation
>
> We had some identity thefts situations with our credit cards and Bank
> accounts.
> People using our credit cards and writing checks against our account.
>
> How can I set up a really secure internet connection in my home ?
>
> I use a Windows XP - wireless laptop to access the internet


It's certainly not proven that your accounts were hacked via the
internet. There are many ways people get access to your account. Do you
shred paper copies rather than put them in the trash for someone else to
see? Ex-partner?

Even it it was via the internet, it is by no means certain that it is
technical failure in your hardware or software, but you may have been
tricked into going to a site that is not your bank, but you think it is.


The usual process they use is

1) Send you an email that asks you to log into your account - various
reasons are given for why they want you to do this.

2) Send you to some dodgy site, but make it appear ok, so you enter your
login details.

3) Say the password is wrong, then redirect you to the real site, having
taken your password and other information.

4) You enter your data for a second time, and your bank lets you in and
all looks normal. But the dodgy site has taken your details.


But personally I would not use a Microsoft operating system - there have
a long string of security issues with them. On the whole, UNIX based
operating systems are more sucure. OSX on a Mac is one, but of course
you need to buy a Mac. Solaris on a PC is another option. There are no
known viruses for Solaris. It also happens to be free, which makes it
cheaper than using a Mac.

Given a lot of attacks are done by tricking people into giving details,
I'm amazed that banks don't implement a "security test" for people to
undertake and pass before they are allowed access to internet banking. A
bank could send you 20 emails, 10 spoofs and 10 real ones. If you
managed to log into the real ones, and not be tricked by the spoof ones,
then you have passed. If instead you don't get to all the real ones, or
get tricked into one of the others, then you should fail the test and
not be allowed to use internet banking until you have improved your
knowledge. You can't drive a car without proving your knowledge of
driving. I'm surprised banks allow one to use internet based banking
until you can prove your competance.

Although I admit to doing it myself, if possible it would be better to
used wired connections and not WiFi. I think WPA is quite secure, but a
wired connection would be more secure.


Posted by on June 23, 2008, 5:30 pm
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On May 27, 11:00 pm, irfansm...@gmail.com wrote:
> Please help us with a fraud situation
>
> We had some identity thefts situations with our credit cards and Bank
> accounts.
> People using our credit cards and writing checks against our account.
>
> How can I set up a really secure internet connection in my home ?
>
> I use a Windows XP - wireless laptop to access the internet I have
> in my home.
> We use Comcast cable.
> We have a WPA secure internet. We use a Netgear Rangemax MIMO
> and the Comcast modem.
>
> Somehow some people have managed to get both our credit card numbers
> and bank account numbers and even driving license number.
>
> I use this internet to access all our bank accounts etc.
>
> Because of the fraud that occurred, we want to make sure that
> we have a really secure internet connection.
>
> What additional hardware, software etc do I need, if any ?
> Since I am not a techie, pls help me with as much detail as possible.
>
> Thanks in advance for your help,
>
> Irfan Smith


A while back I got a letter from the VA stating that a laptop
had been stolen and that the laptop had all my military records
on it. Credit Bureaus, banks, etc routinely have break ins as well.

Most likely, your information was stolen from somewhere else.
However, I would still recommend Shredding anything that is
paper. Get a shredder that can shred CD/DVD's as well. People
actually roam around in landfills looking for old backups and
CDs with information on them. Don't us a cell phone to order
pizza as anyone with a radio scanner can listen in (They can
be easily modified and most cell phones are in the 700-900MHz
range which hand helds can pick up).

Create a Faraday cage around your house so that electronic
bugs won't work.

Put in extra insulation and sound proofing so that your neighbors
cannot listen to you saying your credit card information with
an audio amplifier.

From Absolute OpenBSD : UNIX for the Practical Paranoid by Michael
Lucas
the security on wireless internet is really bad and can be broken
quite easily. I would switch to a wired network if you can. If you
cannot live without wireless, get a copy of the book and setup an
OpenBSD server to do your wireless.

----
http://www.1150riverviewdr.com/

Posted by ASCII on June 23, 2008, 10:52 pm
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spam@gnostheos.org wrote:
>Get a shredder that can shred CD/DVD's as well.

No need, a quick five seconds in the microwave will render anything on
them un-recoverable, make a nice lace lightening effect too.


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