Security Response

CAPTCHAs (completely automated public Turing tests to tell computers and humans apart) are common these days. In case you aren’t familiar with the terminology, they are those images with obscured letters that you need to transcribe into a text box whenever you sign up for a new Web mail or forum account, for example. They may be annoying, and sometimes a bit difficult to puzzle through, but they have likely saved the world from a lot of spam.

When they were introduced, their goal was to make it impossible for automated processes to create email or forum accounts, making it difficult for spammers to use these free Web mail accounts to post or send spam. However, that was almost ten years ago, and the times seem to be changing.

This year, the CAPTCHA algorithms of three major Web mail services were cracked (see references below). Also,...

Skimming is quite the threat to your credit card security. But everyday some of your personal information is leaked out to potentiallymalicious people without the help of skimmers. This personalinformation may be used to aid in identity theft attacks. Where doesthis information come from, and how is it leaking? Every bit ofpersonal information that we give out is stored in a databasesomewhere.

Have you ever been asked for your zip or postal code when shoppingat your favorite retail store? Have you ever registered as a regularshopper at your favorite Webstore? I know I have, and it’s little bitsof information like that, often asked for on a whim, stored in a widerange of databases, which could add up to identity theft. Not onlythat, but many of these organizations store bank and credit cardinformation, names, birth dates, and even drivers license numbers aswell.

All of the information collected about us is stored in databases.Hundreds of potentially insecure databases...

Or rather, has your debit or credit card been skimmed? Have you everbeen the victim of debit card or credit card fraud? Have you everwondered how fraudsters got your information in the first place? Youwere sure that you never let your debit card or credit card out of yoursight. You had made sure that the only online shopping you did was atsecure Websites when you used your credit card or bank account topurchase anything online. So how did they get your info?

There are a few ways that your information can leak through thecracks and into the hands of malicious fraudsters. But one of the mostpopular ways is skimming. Skimming is the process of recording the dataon the magnetic strip of a credit or debit card so that it can be usedlater in a fraudulent way. It isn’t the easiest way, but it producesthe most viable data for fraudsters to sell.

So how do they do it? Typically they use a card reader similar tothe ones that the bank or retail outlets use to process your...