Posts tagged as:

security

Don’t Be Promiscuous with Your Passwords

February 4, 2010

According to a study by Trusteer, a security firm, 73% of internet users use the same password for online banking and other sites. This is not a good idea.
If you use the same password to access multiple accounts, so can an identity thief. I recommend generating long, complex random passwords for your bank accounts, and [...]

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What Credit Card Security Codes Are For

January 27, 2010

Credit card security codes (CVV2 codes) are not stored on your card’s magnetic strip, and merchants may not keep them. Providing it ensures that you have the actual card in your possession. Maryland consumer rights lawyer Sonya-Smith Valentine explains:

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Sharing passwords post-mortem

July 2, 2009

Cory Doctorow’s post on sharing passwords after death was timely for me. My wife and I are currently working on our own wills and estate plans, and wrestling with how to ensure we are able to access one another’s digital information. Like Doctorow, our digital information is locked up safely in encrypted filesystems.
His solution is [...]

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Walmart: taxpayer-subsidized low prices

December 1, 2008

While the economy tries to pull out of its downward spiral, consumers are flocking to discount department stores like Walmart, looking for the cheapest products they can find. But Walmart’s prices are low for a reason: its business model includes relying on public benefits and services for everything from store security to employee healthcare.
So if [...]

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How Outsourced Call Centers Are Costing Millions In Identity Theft

October 27, 2008

How Outsourced Call Centers Are Costing Millions In Identity Theft | Consumerist

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Credit card industry kills Mythbusters attempt to examine RFID security

August 30, 2008

Credit-card companies killed Mythbusters segment on RFID vulnerabilities | Boing Boing

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Most Bank Websites Are Insecure

July 24, 2008

Most Bank Websites Are Insecure | /.

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Big surprise: greedy subprime security buyers didn’t listen to their own consultants

May 28, 2008

Tracy Warren was a quality-control consultant for Bear Stearns and other mortgage security purchasers on Wall Street. Her job was to review mortgage loans to determine whether they had merit for investment purposes. (She saw the loans after they were made, but before they were sold to investors and led to the national economy’s crash-and-burn [...]

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Securitization (or, why you can’t work out a lower mortgage payment)

April 10, 2008

“Securitization” is a hot word in money circles, but I don’t think many people outside of Wall Street know what securitization is or what it means. The Wikipedia entry on securitization is very good, but a bit technical. I think I can boil it down a bit more.
Any asset can be securitized. One asset we [...]

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