 Wednesday, June 30, 2004 ( 4:40 AM ) Andy It was announced on April 26, 2004 that the $50 bill was getting a makeover. It has now been announced that the new bills will be be put into circulation on September 28, 2004, (a month before Check 21 takes effect, so you may be preoccupied then). The Bureau of Engraving and Printing has some excellent resources for educating your staff and customers on the new bills so you can complete an orientation in advance if you'd like. # Friday, June 25, 2004 ( 7:00 AM ) Andy 14 Charged With ID Theft Wish They Had New Identities Fourteen people in New York wished they had new identities when the police were taking their mug shots. They were being charged with operating an ID Theft ring, using credit card numbers stolen off customers at Long Island restaurants. Police started their investigation in late 2002. The thieves netted more than $600,000 as they used the valid numbers to buy big ticket items and sell them for cash at approximately half their value. The alleged ringleader was Joseph Cataldo, 63, of North Massapequa, who one of five charged with enterprise corruption which is a felony punishable by up to 25 years in prison. As this is happening, the House is considering legislation that would allow for "aggravated identity theft". This would make it an automatic felony when using a stolen identity as part of a crime. Criminals using stolen identities, such as Social Security Numbers or credit card numbers while committing another crime could have five additional years in prison as a result. The bill is similar to legislation that the Senate approved in 2003, but adds a new section targeting "insiders" who steal personal data from their fellow employees. And Wednesday, June 23, a former AOL employee was charged with selling AOL's subscriber list of over 30 million customers to a spammer. Jason Smathers is accused of accessing the AOL list in May 2003 and selling it to Sean Dunaway of Las Vegas. Smathers updated the list in March 2004 taking another 18 million screen names. Dunaway used the list and resold it to another spammer who cooperated with Federal authorities. The sales price for the first list was not known, but Smathers supposedly pocketed $100,000 for the updated list. Dunaway claimed to be making $10,000 to $20,000 per day from his Internet gambling business. In addition to the subscriber list and screen names, Smathers stole related zip codes, credit card types and telephone numbers, but he did not get actual credit card numbers. While he personally did not have access to all this data, he used another employee's ID to access this. # Tuesday, June 22, 2004 ( 10:29 AM ) Andy A recent study of online banking at the nation's ten largest banks revealed that 22 million consumers were logging on. This is up 30% from a year earlier. E-services are increasing and users are looking at more than checking and savings accounts now. They are paying bills, reviewing credit card statements and managing their finances. TowerGroup Research estimates that 37% of US households will use online financial services in the next 3 years. Banks are increasingly advertising these services and enhancing them with zero-liability guarantees to make the customer's feel safer about this still new medium. Read more in the Seattle Times. # Tuesday, June 15, 2004 ( 2:34 PM ) Andy The FTC has provided its June 2004 report and recommendation pertaining to CAN-SPAM and a "National Do Not Email Registry". In the FTC's report, they state that "a National Do Not Email Registry would fail to reduce the amount of spam consumers receive, might increase it, and could not be enforced effectively". The FTC reviewed three models, all which were thought of as non workable. They consulted consumer groups, email marketers, anti-spam groups, ISPs and other interested parties as they studied the possibilities. This was as expected and predicted based on usage of email accounts, the Internet and technology. New products develop so rapidly it would be difficult to keep up with the various technologies. # Tuesday, June 08, 2004 ( 8:43 PM ) Andy So what do you think! If the FACTA revisions to FCRA allow that a bank cannot report derogatory credit when a consumer provides you with an ID Theft report, and a valid ID Theft report may be downloaded from the FTC site, will this encourage unscrupulous consumers and credit repair companies to contest what appear to be valid reports in an effort to get their reports "cleaned up" so they may borrow elsewhere? # Monday, June 07, 2004 ( 3:14 PM ) Andy FYI - news to some but with all the recent developments on the compliance, AML and the USAPA the OCC will use a risk based system to do a PATRIOT Act review of every national bankbeginning immediately. Yes, expect more emphasis on these issues. # ( 3:09 PM ) Andy At the ABA NRCC here in Chicago they announced some 314(a) numbers of interest. Feb. - Jun. there have been 277 requests, 174 were for AML, 60 were on terrorists and 43 combined. Of the 277 there were 13,807 matches. Law enforcement is appreciative and says it is REALLY helping. Based on the thread comments it is running more smoothly. Let us know in the threads what you think. # Wednesday, June 02, 2004 ( 8:31 AM ) Andy Using passwords as a main line of defense for security and access to Websites, bank accounts and similar confidential or sensitive information has long been criticized. First, users selected names and dates of birth or words in a dictionary. Then came password crackers which could scan thousands of words in the time you have spent reading this, and allowing access to unauthorized users. Many sites now require alpha-numeric passwords and test them against cracker programs to ensure they are not easily accessed. The problem is, how many random 9 character alpha-numeric codes can one person remember? Users may get frustrated at the use of the codes and the frequency with which they have to change them. They may use the same code for everything, making remembering it easy, but opening themselves to widespread abuse if that single code is discovered. They may write them down on the proverbial sticky-note attached to their monitor. Or they may put all their passwords in one file for easy access. That file is password protected too, but if compromised, they're all compromised. "Two-factor authentication" is a growing solution used already in many countries. The user may have a password/PIN, but access is granted only when the website, bank or other vendor the user is accessing has provided them with a changing access code. This could be as high-tech as a card with a smart chip providing a code that changes minute by minute or a scratch off card with ten access codes which may be used only once. This dual authorization takes security to a higher level protecting both the vendor and the user. Read more on this at CNN.com # |
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