04 February 2010

It's not a laughing matter


Everywhere I've seen this video posted, the commentary has centered on the humor involved when a guy looking at porn gets caught on camera.  In my view a bigger concern is the potential security breach involved.  This "private wealth" company could be an investment bank or brokerage firm or whatever, but it's clear they are involved in money management.  That employee is on the Internet, not a secure intranet, and while it's possible (likely) that additional firewalls exist in the company's security, it's still disconcerting that this video is shown the same week that this news came out:
A hacker attack at payroll processing firm Ceridian Corp. of Bloomington has potentially revealed the names, Social Security numbers, and, in some cases, the birth dates and bank accounts of 27,000 employees working at 1,900 companies nationwide.
It discouraging that no matter how careful we as individuals try to be with our data, stupid employees at financial corporations can still put us at risk for identity theft.

9 comments:

  1. Identity or credit card theft was never something I was deeply concerned about. I know it happens, but I figured the chance that it wouldn't happen is higher than the chance that it will. Recently I've started to get a little worried, though.

    I've been overseas since November and have been travelling on cash rather than credit. I'm mainly in the one country so it made more sense to exchange some foreign currency than have to pay international conversion fees to the credit card company everytime I used it. However, in December, I was checking my accounts online and noticed a debit on the account for $199.90AUD from a company I didn't recognise, so I filed a dispute. My account was adjusted and the money was credited back, but I was never really told what went wrong in the first place.

    Just when I thought it was a one-off, I was checking the account again today and found that I've mysteriously donated to a foundation that again, I don't recognise. A quick google search tells me that the foundation does exist, but I'd certainly never heard of it before nor donated to them. It's a very small amount too - $1USD - but it's extremely worrying that twice in a few months this has happened.

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  2. That wasn't porn. It was just some girlie pictures. Of course, it still isn't the thing to be doing at work, is it?

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  3. It was actually an email he was reading, and there's noise around that it was a prank played on him, with the words "Now turn around" at the end.

    They're still looking into it =P

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  4. Wow--this blog post exposes your profound ignorance of how the internet works. I'm surprised--I have enjoyed your blog for its quirky thoughtfulness, so the idiocy of this post is a big surprise. I'd suggest reading up on internet security and how intranets actually work.

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  5. Jojo -

    You need to close that account and open a new one, ASAP. It will be difficult to do while overseas, but your account security has clearly been compromised and it will keep happening. The $1 debit is a classic approach from thieves. They first remove a very small amount from an account (or charge to a credit card) to see if it's noticed and if any action is taken. If no action by the account holder is taken, the thieves interpret that to mean it's safe to remove a large amount to empty the account.

    So you need to contact your bank, have your money shifted to a new account and have your current, compromised account closed.

    I hope you check back to read this message. Don't ignore it.

    stan

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  6. I 100% agree with Stan, Jojo. Close it ASAP.

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  7. Legal Eagle & Stan - Advice noted. Will be returning home in a couple of weeks and will sort it out the second I'm back!

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  8. JoJo,

    I STRONGLY recommend that you act NOW, even though you are still overseas, and contact your bank to transfer all funds to a new account. Your account security has been compromised. If you wait until you return, you may return to an empty account.

    The rules governing under what circumstances your bank must replace your money differ for different institutions. If your bank has evidence that you knew of the security violation and did not do anything, then your bank *may* be able to argue that it is not responsible for replacing any stolen money.

    As difficult as it may be to act now, don't wait.

    CCL

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  9. Just organised for a new card.

    Thanks guys =)

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