Protect Your Phone's Data with a Passcode

Do you have a passcode on your iPhone or Android device? If not it is recommended as phones can easily be miss placed or stolen. A passcode to get into your device will help keep your information private and secure. Many personal and business phones have apps on them that hold a lot of important personal information. That information in the wrong hands can be dangerous and because of this we have three steps we recommend in helping protect your phone.

The first step is simple; decide to put a passcode on your phone. I know, it may be annoying to have to type something into your phone each time you use it but it is better for you in the long run.

The second step is to make the passcode something more than just four digits. Recently there was a software invented called Micro Systemation XRY app. This software can crack any four digit code in only a few minutes. Currently this software is only used by law enforcement agencies however the hackers are never to far behind in developing their own. We recommend you using the setting in your phone that lets you put in more than just four digits. Letters and numbers help to make the cracking process harder. Throw in a few other characters and it becomes even harder to break.

The third step in protecting your phone’s data is to put on the setting in which your data is wiped from the phone after so many failed attempts to login. I know it would be annoying to lose your data from your phone but hopefully you have it synced and backed up on your computer or in a cloud (plus is someone stole your phone you not only lose the data anyway but also the phone). By having the phone wiped after so many failed attempts you are preventing hackers and thieves form being able to use software to try and figure out your passcode.

Radio Frequency Indetification Thefts

Credit cards are gradually moving away from the swipe and process cards to the wireless transfer of financial data. This make shopping lines move quicker but it does create a new kind of theft. The technology is called Radio Frequency Identification (RFID). All you do is hold a card near a RFID scanner and the data is transferred. The problem with this is that computer savvy criminals can create scanners that steal your financial data right off your credit card, even if it is still in your wallet. Credit card companies are becoming aware of this issue and have worked to solve the problem with on off switches on the card that are triggered when a finger presses the chip that is imbedded in the card. One other way to prevent scanning theft is to purchase a RFID protected wallet. For example the HuMn Wallet has material that doesn’t allow RFID scanners to scan cards in the wallet.
So be sure to take precaution if your new credit card has the RFID chip imbedded inside. Ask if you can have a card that has the on/off switch and if not look into purchasing a RFID protected wallet.

Is Identity Theft Coverage For You?

Consulting firm Javelin Strategies and Research reports more than 11 million people are affected by identity theft each year, at a cost of $54 billion to the victims. In trying to deal with this threat, the insurance industry has developed products to help a policyholder recover from this kind of loss. The monetary loss is not the only issue with identity theft. A victim can spend thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours trying to clean up credit records due to the thief using personal information to obtain credit with no intention of repayment, thus destroying the victim’s financial reputation. Identity theft insurance protection is designed to help you with this problem by covering expenses and sometimes professional services, that will help the victim recover from this type of loss.

Even with coverage provided, following simple steps can help protect you from this threat:

Shredding documents. Anything that contains sensitive information absolutely must be destroyed. There are specific documents that must always find their way to the shredder.
Old Tax Returns. Unless the IRS suspects you of fraud in your tax filings, you are usually only exposed to the threat of an audit for three years at a time. The National Endowment for Financial Education advises you to keep three to four years of tax returns, and shred anything older. Your tax return contains sensitive information, primarily social security numbers.
Bank Statements. Anything with bank account numbers should be shredded, including paper bank statements.
Credit Card Offers. These offers should go from the mailbox directly to the shredder, unless you are actually going to take the bank up on its offer. A lot of identity theft happens within families, so don’t leave these offers lying around.
Old Photo IDs. These IDs contain information, which by itself is probably not enough to be damaging, but used with other information could help perpetrate a fraud.

Pay Stubs. Absolutely shred your pay stubs. Some financial institutions will ask you the amount of your last deposit to use as a validation. A past pay stub can give that information.
Credit Card Convenience Checks. The most dangerous thing you can receive in your mailbox are convenience checks often sent with your credit card bill. These represent a live loan to whoever holds this check. Shred these immediately.
Canceled Checks. Canceled checks contain not only your account and routing numbers, but also your address and possibly your phone number. People often include their full account or credit card number in the memo section when paying with a check. Do your duplicate checks display your account and routing numbers? Don’t overlook these carbon copies.

Cyber Week

Monday this week was Cyber Monday. This was the Black Friday equivalent for online retailers. Many online retailers have extended the single day event and have been calling this Cyber Week. We at Fey Insurance bring this up because it is very important for both consumers and retailers to be cautious about identity theft during this time. Earlier this year we posted a blog article about Password Protection and we encourage you to revisit that article for tips on creating secure passwords. Also, below you will find a poem that was posted on cyberinquirer.com and was written by Amanda Lorenz. The poem has a few good tips for online holiday shoppers, so we wanted to share it with you:

Identity Theft: A Christmas Poem
by Amanda Lorenz

Twas the month before Christmas and all through the house,
All the children were networking with the click of a mouse.
Cyber thieves were nestled all snug in their chairs,
Waiting for shoppers to unknowingly share.
As I shopped for him and he shopped for me,
The thieves stole our money and our financial history.
We did not even realize that this information was taken,
And we thought the denial of our credit card was mistaken.
Using Phishing or SMiShing and hacking the links,
Our private information was retrieved in a blink.
Perhaps we should have shopped on a network that was secure,
Or at least checked our credit reports monthly to be sure,
That thieves were not using our names and our faces
To purchase plane tickets to tropical places.
So to all of the shoppers who like to avoid the crowd,
Protect your info this season and make CyberInquirer proud!

Password Protection

Internet security firm Imperva of Redwood Shores, Calif., recently analyzed 32 million passwords that were exposed in a security breach for an online company in Dec 2009. They not only identified the most common passwords, but also suggested effective methods for creating secure ones.

The hacker in this 2009 breach only posted the member's passwords to the Internet, and was more interested in exposing the company's lax security. If complete usernames, email addresses and passwords were revealed, the ultimate damage could have been devastating. The reason: many people use the same username and password for all online dealings, including banking. Imperva reported the five most common passwords were: 1234, 12345, 123456789, password and iloveyou.

It seems that little has changed over the last 20 years. A review of the 1990 study of Unix password selections found remarkable similarities to the passwords revealed by this recent security breach. The study revealed about 50 percent of the users had the same username and passwords for access to multiple Web sites. Just 10 years ago, hacked Hotmail passwords showed the same passwords selection tendencies in their users.

The short, simple passwords make users susceptible to very basic password attacks. As hackers continue to rapidly adopt smarter password cracking software, consumers and companies will be at greater risk.

Imperva recommends passwords contain at least eight characters and a mix of four different types of characters (upper case, lower case, numbers and symbols). It should not be a name, word or contain any part of an email address.

If you have any questions about including identity theft protection in your insurance policy, feel free to get in touch with us.

Identity Theft: A Fast Growing Crime

Identity theft is becoming a major concern as it has become one of the fastest growing crimes in America. Victims face the task of notifying and communicating with creditors, debt collectors, law enforcement agencies, financial institutions, national credit bureaus and others in an attempt to restore their good credit standing. The cost of all of this can mount up.
You can add Identity Theft coverage to your Homeowner Policy to provide protection for these costs in the event you are forced to reclaim your identity and financial status. The additional premium is minimal.
One of our fine insurance companies is even providing Advocacy Services which gives you access to a qualified personal advocate to provide you with useful information and guidance to address the theft of your identity quickly.
What is identity theft? Identity theft is the unlawful use of another person’s identifying information, such as name, address, phone number or Social Security number to obtain credit fraudently from banks or retailers, steal money from existing accounts or open new accounts
for financial gain, apply for loans or other similar fraudulent activities.
Reclaiming your identity and restoring a damaged credit record following identity theft can take a considerable amount of time and expense.
The advocate that one of our leading insurance companies uses, provides easy access to a qualified person to assist you with the paperwork, telephone calls and other tasks required to address your situation quickly.
In addition, identity theft insurance will pay up to an amount ($25,000 with some companies subject to a $250 deductible) for expenses such as notarized fraud affidavits, certified mail and long distance telephone calls to law enforcement and credit rating agencies, loan application fees when required to reapply for a loan denied due to identity theft, reasonable attorney fees to defend against lawsuits, to remove wrongly entered criminal or civil judgments or to challenge the accuracy or completeness of information in your consumer credit report. It will also cover lost wages at $250 per day up to $10,000 when you take off work to meet with law enforcement agencies, legal counsel or similar related activities (included within the $25,000 limit of insurance).
Please contact us about this additional protection to your Homeowner Policy now.

Identity Theft: Is your information at risk?

It can happen to anyone. You pull up to the drive thru window at your bank and find out from the teller that your account is overdrawn. Or maybe you receive a credit card statement with numerous charges you know you didn’t make. Or, worse still, your loan application is denied because your credit score which, up to 3 months ago was perfect is now in the high risk category. You feel blind-sided and frustrated. You are a victim of identity theft.

Even if you think you’ve taken the necessary precautions to safeguard your identity and personal information you could be at risk! Identity theft is when someone obtains personal or financial information about you with the intent to commit fraud. The scariest part is that everyone is at risk. Don’t be lulled into a false sense of security just because you think no one would want your personal information or that you are not in a high risk group.

In 2003 over 300,000 people in the United States had their identities or personal information stolen. And that number has increased steadily every year. Some sources report that identity fraud or theft has cost companies and individuals $50 billion in the past 5 years. It is estimated that one in six people will have their personal information stolen this year. These are scary numbers and need to be taken seriously, but there are some things you can do to protect yourself from becoming victim to the fastest growing crime of the decade.


How does someone steal your personal information?
Most of us are pretty trusting people. We hold ourselves to a certain standard of behavior and we expect that others will too. Most of us think that stealing is wrong and we wouldn’t dream of trying to open a bank account or apply for a credit card with fake information. Unfortunately for us, there are people out there who not only want to steal your information; they want to assume your financial identity.

These identity thieves can be big time professionals in the business of forging identity papers for illegal immigrants or other criminals or they can be small time con-artists trying to swindle you out of your hard earned money. Either way there are many ways a thief can obtain information about you. They can sift through your recycle bin, your garbage, your mail, and sometimes even hack into your computer to get your passwords and log-in Id’s.

We’ve become easy targets for identity thieves through our use of technology. Today we don’t think twice about Internet banking or shopping, but one careless move could put us at risk. It may be convenient to bank or shop online, but more and more identity theft is happening in the cyber world and that places anyone who uses a computer in jeopardy.


How can you protect yourself from identity theft?
The good news is that protecting yourself from identity theft is simple and there are many effective ways to protect your financial and personal information from falling into the wrong hands.

• Keep your vital records like bank statements, birth certificates, social security numbers and other personal information in a safe place. Using a locking file cabinet or fire safe is one way to protect your records at home. Either of these solutions is economical when you consider the cost and inconvenience of losing your identity.
  
• Consider leasing a safe deposit box at your bank. The fees are usually low and if you have an account already some of the fees might be waived. A safe deposit box is the place to keep your will, or power of attorney, or other important records.
  
• Be sure that your mailbox is lockable. Statistics show that having your mail delivered to a locked mail box discourages thieves. If you can’t have your mail delivered to a locked box at your home consider using a post office box. The cost is small and you’ll feel more secure knowing that your mail and your personal information is not at risk.
  
• And while we’re talking about mail; be sure to shred any mail that has your name, address, account numbers, or other personal information on it. Especially if it’s an offer for credit, home loans, or bank services. These documents are gold to a thief and need to be shredded immediately if you aren’t going to take advantage of the offer. A shredder for your home or office is an inexpensive alternative to hiring a document shredding company for your business.
  
• Use common sense when you shop or bank online. Never shop with a vendor that doesn’t offer a secure payment method. Never respond to emails that ask for personal information, even if they appear to be from your bank or financial institution. And never give out your passwords or log-in information.

Protecting yourself from identity thieves might seem like too much trouble or too much work, but once you get in the habit of taking these few steps you’ll rest secure knowing that you’ve done everything you could to protect yourself. Don’t become another statistic; take the appropriate steps to protect your personal information today. There are many resources available to you. Check with your bank or financial institution on their policies regarding identity theft. Visit the bookstore or library for information on what steps you can take at home. Contact the Better Business Bureau or your local Chamber of Commerce to see what information they might have on how you can fight identity theft and of course you can visit the many sites online. One good website is; www.ftc.gov/privacy.


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