Your Money or Your Life - Credit Cards, Identities and Democracy For Sale (X)

[kster]

by Joan Brunwasser
December 3, 2007

SNIP...Breaching security in two stores in Florida gave the thieves free access to 2,400 more stores across the country, Canada, and the U.K. Once the thieves were inside the network, they were able to meander undetected from store database to store database bagging, in this case, nearly 100 million credit card numbers. The haul also included social security numbers, dates of birth, driver’s license numbers, PIN numbers, military IDs, and even answers to those special security questions like, “What’s your mother’s maiden name?” Anyone who has ever applied for a credit card knows that’s all you need to be good to go.

Fully armed with all the pertinent information, imposters can make fraudulent purchases and entire identities can be stolen, recreated, and assumed. The purloined data is dispersed around the globe via internet auctions where four full identities can go for as little as $25. Take a moment to marvel at the size of this security breach – it takes your breath away. There are millions of complete and factual identities floating around, ready and available. So much for homeland security.

To recap

Let’s isolate and examine the key elements of this story. We’ve got:

• Computers and databases;
• Insufficient security;
• A wireless network;
• A subsequent security breach;
• Billions of dollars lost and millions of customers at risk of identity theft and fraudulent purchases.

SNIP...The prescription: more and more upgrades to keep up with the hackers. One of the parties – in this case, the credit card companies, is capitalizing on the crisis to make money. And the customer is left holding the bag.

Let’s recast this story with a different set of players and see if it sounds at all familiar. Substitute computerized voting or EVM (electronic voting machines) for store computers. Then add in the laughable and primitive security provisions that have been condemned in every independent study and hack conducted over the last five years.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_joan_bru_071203_your_money_or_your_l.htm

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