Identity Theft
• Consumers Cautioned About Voter Registration Scams
• Young Adults Seen As Prime Identity Theft Targets
• Researchers Find Security Flaws In Online Banking Sites
• `Red Flags Rules` for Identity Theft on the Way
• Identity Theft: One Woman`s Story
• Xbox or PC Stolen? Don`t Forget to Cancel Your Credit Cards
• Identity Theft a Growth Industry in Texas Border Towns
• FTC Warns Consumers About Tax Rebate Scams
• Big Banks, Telcos Top Identity Theft List
• Identity Theft Tops FTC Complaint List Again
• Study Claims Identity Theft `Continues To Decline`
• 650,000 Retail Customers Exposed In Data Breach
• Children Becoming Prime Identity Theft Targets
• FTC Finds 8 Million Identity Theft Cases
• New Jersey Wants Banks to Help Fight Phishing Scams
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You don`t have to use a computer to be vulnerable to online scammers. Increasingly, cell phone and other mobile device users are being targeted with mobile spam that attempts to trick them into revealing personal information.
Known as "smishing," these text messages might ask a recipient to register for an online dating service -- then try to sneak a virus onto the users` device. In addition to virus-like "worms," which can spread through and disrupt a network, other scams are surfacing.
Some messages warn that the consumer will be charged unless he cancels his supposed order by going to a Web site that then extracts such credit card numbers and other private data.
"Smishing" is derived from the familiar "phishing." The "sm" comes from SMS, the protocol used to transmit text messages via cellular devices.
Some of the new smishing techniques are downright insidious, including mobile spyware that once downloaded to a phone can eavesdrop on conversations.
For now, these more extreme threats are rare, but with most mobile phone users blithely unaware of the danger, security experts expect hackers and other criminals to increasingly exploit the available technology.
It`s a growing concern for managers of large business networks, who are only now beginning to imagine the threat to enterprise networks once hackers learn how to fully exploit smishing techniques. Most large enterprises have thousands of employees, using a variety of devices to access their networks.
"Despite their best efforts to issue safety guidelines, IT security staff cannot control human behavior -- especially in light of the fact that mobile users have not yet learned to treat their phones with the same level of concern that they apply to their laptops," security experts at McAfee warned on their Web site.
"Mobile devices present a serious challenge to data security, with the potential to infect both carrier and enterprise networks."
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08.11.2006
"Smishing" Emerging As New Threat To Cell Phone Users
Identity Theft• Consumers Cautioned About Voter Registration Scams• Young Adults Seen As Prime Identity Theft Targets• Researchers Find Security Flaws In Online Banking Sites• `Red Flags Rules` for Identity Theft on the Way• Identity Theft:... |
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14.12.2004
Cell Phone Sales Calls Not a Threat (Yet)
A bogus e-mail has been raising cell phone users` anxiety level. The e-mail warns that cell phone directories are about to be provided to telemarketers, when in fact no such directory yet exists and it is illegal to make telemarketing calls to cell phones. And... |
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05.01.2004
Cell Phone Users Unhappy, Survey Finds
Wireless Satisfaction• Wireless Users Frown on Automated Customer Care• Wireless Satisfaction Slumps• Customer Churn Increasing, Study Warns• Cell Phone Users Unhappy, Survey Finds• Cell Phone Carriers Agree to Ground Rules in 32... |
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25.01.2005
Cell Phone Users Eager for Video
• TV Goes Mobile With New Cell Phones• Cell Phones Getting Too Complex?• Cell Phone Users Eager for Video---• Cell Phone News Consumers are eager to watch TV broadcasts and video streaming on their cell phones, a consumer technology think... |
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06.04.2005
Cell Phone Viruses a Growing Threat
While cell phone viruses are still somewhat rare, they can destroy your cell phone and others in your network in the same way a computer virus can crash your computer and wipe out important documents. Because most cell phone viruses come from instant messaging... |
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