I have done more online shopping this year than ever before, and I know that I am not alone. With the holidays approaching, this will only increase because of the pandemic, and hackers and fraudsters know it....more
CYBERSECURITY -
OFAC Issues Advisory on Sanctions for Facilitating Ransomware Payments -
On October 1, 2020, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued an advisory “to...more
10/5/2020
/ Building Inspectors ,
Business Continuity Plans ,
California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Privacy ,
Drones ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Financial Institutions ,
Fraud ,
Hackers ,
HIPAA Breach ,
Identity Theft ,
OCR ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
PHI ,
Ransomware ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Unemployment Benefits
I have received many questions this week on what to do if you are the victim of a fraudulent unemployment claim. It is unbelievable how many people I know who have become victims—yes—including myself....more
Live adult streaming website CAM4 has reportedly not secured 7TB of users’ information, which may be able to be used for blackmail and identity theft purposes, according to researchers from Safety Detectives....more
5/8/2020
/ Adult Entertainment ,
Blackmail ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Protection ,
Hackers ,
Identity Theft ,
Internet Streaming ,
Online Platforms ,
Risk Management ,
Vulnerability Assessments
In the past week, the United States government started issuing Economic Impact Payments (EIP) of up to $1,200 per qualified individual and $500 per child. The amount of the EIP received depends on one’s adjusted gross income...more
Researchers at Sentinel One and Dragos have detected malicious code, called EKANS or Snake, that has been designed specifically to target industrial control systems (ICS), including those of oil refineries, manufacturing...more
2/7/2020
/ China ,
Critical Infrastructure Sectors ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cyber Crimes ,
Cyber Threats ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection ,
Data Security ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Drones ,
Hackers ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Identity Theft ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Malware ,
Medical Records ,
OCR ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Point of Sale Terminals ,
Public Health ,
Retailers ,
Tax Fraud ,
Vulnerability Assessments
Tax identity theft continues to be a significant problem for taxpayers. Tax identity theft occurs when criminals use the personal information of individuals and file fraudulent tax returns before the taxpayer does, requesting...more
2/6/2020
/ Cyber Crimes ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Identity Theft ,
Income Taxes ,
IRS ,
Payroll Records ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Social Security Numbers ,
Tax Fraud ,
Tax Planning ,
Tax Returns ,
W-2
It is being reported that LifeLabs, a Canadian lab company that is the largest provider of laboratory diagnostics and lab testing services in Canada, recently paid an undisclosed ransom to hackers who compromised its computer...more
12/23/2019
/ Biometric Information ,
Clinical Laboratories ,
Connected Cars ,
Connected Items ,
Criminal Conspiracy ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Electronic Medical Records ,
Extradition ,
Hackers ,
Health Care Providers ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
HIPAA Breach ,
Identity Theft ,
Information Technology ,
Malware ,
OCR ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
PHI ,
Ransomware ,
Settlement
Three million fraud cases were reported to the FTC in 2018, and 444,602 of them involved identity theft. These reported cases (just think of how high the statistic would be if all cases were reported) amounts to the third...more
12/19/2019
/ Credit Cards ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Protection ,
Debit and Credit Card Transactions ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Hackers ,
Identity Theft ,
Information Security ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Risk Management ,
Vulnerability Assessments
The predictions set forth in Experian’s Seventh Annual Data Breach Industry Forecast make sense and are worth a read. We are starting to see these types of intrusions and scams, and our experience is that once these types of...more
12/12/2019
/ Cannabis-Related Businesses (CRBs) ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cyber Crimes ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection ,
Debit and Credit Card Transactions ,
Drones ,
Hackers ,
Hemp Related Businesses ,
Identity Theft ,
Marijuana Related Businesses ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Point of Sale Terminals ,
Scams ,
Unmanned Aircraft Systems ,
Vulnerability Assessments ,
Wifi
The Department of Veterans Affairs’ Office of Inspector General (VA OIG) recently completed an audit of the VA’s Milwaukee Regional Office after it was tipped off by a whistleblower about the exposure of sensitive information...more
10/31/2019
/ Cyber Attacks ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Protection ,
Data Security ,
Department of Veterans Affairs ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Hackers ,
Identity Theft ,
Information Security ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Security Audits ,
Veterans ,
Vulnerability Assessments ,
Vulnerable Victims ,
Whistleblowers
Many readers have reached out to learn about the Capital One data breach and how it affects us. If you haven’t been watching the story unfold as closely as I have, here is a summary of what happened, what information was...more
8/1/2019
/ Capital One ,
Class Action ,
Credit Monitoring ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Privacy ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Gramm-Leach-Blilely Act ,
Hackers ,
Identity Theft ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Risk Management
The Internet Society’s Online Trust Alliance just released its "2018 Cyber Incident & Breach Trends Report," which says “2018–Some Better, Some Worse, All Bad.” That’s our experience, too. Here are the highlights from the...more
7/12/2019
/ Cyber Attacks ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Privacy ,
Drones ,
Hackers ,
Identity Theft ,
Income Taxes ,
Microsoft ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Popular ,
State and Local Government ,
State Budgets ,
Tax Fraud ,
Tax Preparers ,
Uniform Law Commission (ULC) ,
Vulnerability Assessments
This week, I was honored to again have the opportunity to participate as a speaker at the Internal Revenue Service’s Nationwide Tax Forum 2019 in Washington, D.C. Through a generous grant provided by the American Coalition...more
7/12/2019
/ Cyber Crimes ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Management ,
Data Protection ,
Data Theft ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Identity Theft ,
Income Taxes ,
IRS ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Popular ,
Risk Mitigation ,
Tax Fraud ,
Tax Preparers
Security researchers have warned municipalities repeatedly about how they are being targeted with ransomware, that they are at high risk, and the need to make data security a high priority.
Please see full Publication blow...more
6/28/2019
/ Credit Monitoring ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Security ,
Hackers ,
Identity Theft ,
Military Service Members ,
Mobile Apps ,
Mobile Device Management ,
Municipalities ,
National Guard ,
Popular ,
Ransomware
Part of the 2018 Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act (which amended the Fair Credit Reporting Act) included a provision requiring credit reporting agencies (CRAs) to provide free electronic credit...more
LockerGoga Ransomware Hits Manufacturer and Chemical Companies -
In the last two weeks, ransomware dubbed LockerGoga has attacked aluminum manufacturer Norsk Hydro, which announced that as a result of the attack, it had...more
4/2/2019
/ Apple ,
Credit Cards ,
Criminal Investigations ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Privacy ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
DNA ,
Drones ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Genetic Materials ,
Hackers ,
Identity Theft ,
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) ,
Passwords ,
Phishing Scams ,
Ransomware
Security researchers at Adversis have discovered that dozens of companies have inadvertently leaked corporate and customer data through their Box enterprise storage accounts because staff are sharing public links to their...more
3/18/2019
/ California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) ,
Consumer Privacy Rights ,
Data Breach ,
Data Management ,
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) ,
Identity Theft ,
Internal Controls ,
IRS ,
Ransomware ,
Risk Management ,
Smart Devices ,
Tax Fraud ,
Vulnerability Assessments
In another round of warnings from the federal government on protecting yourself from tax return fraud and identity theft, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has issued its 2019 “Dirty Dozen” Campaign, designed to warn...more
Cybersecurity company Carbon Black recently issued are port of the results of a survey of chief information security officers (CISOs) of financial organizations, which showed that the financial industry is getting hammered by...more
3/11/2019
/ Auto-Dialed Calls ,
Banking Sector ,
Contract Terms ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Privacy ,
GoDaddy.com ,
Identity Theft ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Popular ,
Tax Fraud ,
TCPA ,
Text Messages
Last week was National Consumer Protection Week. In celebration of that, this post is devoted to protection from tax identity theft.
...more
3/11/2019
/ Cyber Crimes ,
Identity Theft ,
Income Taxes ,
IRS ,
Payroll Records ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Phishing Scams ,
Social Security Numbers ,
Tax Fraud ,
Tax Planning ,
Tax Returns ,
Taxation ,
W-2
Many of our clients have customer call centers to help customers with varied questions or concerns. Those who work in customer service, and in call centers tend to patient and helpful. But sometimes being too helpful can land...more
Although the Massachusetts Data Security Regulations went into effect March 1, 2010, I still find that many companies have not implemented a Written Information Security Program (WISP) and don’t know that they are required to...more
Marriott International Inc. (Marriott) has released new numbers relating to its Starwood Hotel’s reservation database by stating that more than 5 million passport numbers were stolen in the database.
...more
1/14/2019
/ Beyond Visual Line Of Sight (BVLOS) ,
Credit Cards ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Collection ,
Drones ,
Financial Fraud ,
Geolocation ,
Hackers ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Identity Theft ,
Insurance Claims ,
Insurance Industry ,
Marriott ,
Mobile Apps ,
Neiman Marcus ,
OSHA ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Retailers ,
Safety Inspections ,
State Farm ,
Waivers
Neiman Marcus Group LLC has settled an investigation of its 2013 data breach with 43 states and the District of Columbia for $1.5 million. The data breach involved 370,000 credit cards, where 9,200 of the cards were used in a...more