Karen Tucker, of Pittsburgh, was arrested this week and charged with one count of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft. What did she do? Federal authorities say that she defrauded hundreds of wedding-industry vendors who registered for a heavily advertised bridal show. Tucker and an uncharged co-conspirator pretended to be a company called The Boston 411 that heavily promoted a bridal show that was supposed to take place on the weekend of March 5. Tucker and her co-conspirator claimed in advertisements that thousands of would-be brides and grooms planned to attend the show, which was a lie.

While Tucker did not directly target brides to be with this scam, the fact that she tried to dupe many companies involved in the wedding industry made us want to elevate her to the “worst person of the week.”

So, to you Karen Tucker, while you are serving jail time (up to 20 years), you can comfort yourself in knowing that you are the “wost person” of the week. Congratulations.

Here’s the gist of it. When Dan Wheeler’s wallet got stolen from his truck 15 years ago, he had no idea that a simple theft would lead to a lifetime of costly and embarrassing misunderstandings. But because the man who took his I.D. and credit cards happened to be a sex offender, and because of a strange quirk in the law, Wheeler will most likely be forever haunted by something out of his control. That is right Dan Wheeler will be labeled a “sex offender” for the rest of his life.

Check out this video interview with Mr. Wheeler:

Please help spread the word for Mr. Wheeler. Hopefully, our efforts will help him clear his good name.

According to the Ponemon Institute, the reason the United States is highest in comparison with the four other countries is because the United States has the toughest data-breach notification laws, which incurs higher legal and other costs. Check out this Dark Reading article for more information.

High Rate of Fraud and Identity Theft Revealed
Infosecurity Europe researcher’s have conducted a survey revealing that, out of 1,000 London commuters, 44% had been victims of bank/credit card fraud and 42% had had their identity stolen. Those who were victims of such crime lost an average of £1,448, and had a 37% chance of not getting their money back from their bank. The chances of getting the money back is largely dependent upon the sum that has been stolen, with more than nine out of 10 getting it back if the stolen amount exceeded £5,000, but only 41% getting it back if they lost £100 or less. Read the full Banking Times article here.

How Well Do Hospitals Protect Your Data? Abysmally
A just released survey of about 200 compliance executives in hospitals from around the country shows that data breaches and medical identity theft continue to soar. While these survey results are from a vendor that sells identity protection services – and they have a vested interest in painting as bad a picture as possible: if the survey results are halfway on target we’ve witnessed what as a significant problem become an abysmal failure in the past were 0 when it comes to hospitals protecting patient information. Read the full InformationWeek blog post here.

For Cyber Gangs, Fooling Google Isn’t That Hard to Do
Within security circles, they refer to the practice as social engineering, shorthand for a con game where unsuspecting employees get tricked into divulging important corporate information. And it works more times than you might assume. The most recent case: the coordinated January cyber attack against computer networks run by Google and at least 20 other big companies. In what’s since become known as Operation Aurora, corporate computer systems were penetrated after users innocently called up malicious web pages that they believed to be legitimate. Read the full CBS News article here.

Global Cybercrime Treaty Rejected at U.N.
A proposal for a treaty on global cybercrime was rejected last week by the United Nations. The proposal was discussed for 10 days at the 12th pentennial UN Crime Congress in Salvador, Brazil, but ended up a stalemate as Russia, China and a number of developing countries could not reach agreement with the United States, Canada, the U.K. and the European Union. As cybercrime develops into a major international scourge, efforts over the past 10 years among world powers have sought to broaden policing policies to allow law enforcement agencies to reach across national borders in pursuit of criminals. Read the full SC Magazine article here.

70% Of IT Security Pros Favor A Federal Data Breach Law
Seventy percent of IT security professionals believe that the federal government should pass data breach / data privacy legislation that overrides the current patchwork of state legislation, according to a recent survey by nCircle, the leading provider of automated security and compliance auditing solutions. The online survey of 257 security professionals was conducted between February 4 and March 12, 2010, and covered a range of security topics including smartphones, healthcare, cloud computing and social media. Read the full press release here.

Primer on Bonnie and Clyde
Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow (pictured) were well known outlaws, robbers and criminals who, with their gang, traveled the Central United States during the Great Depression. Their exploits captured the attention of the American public during what is sometimes referred to as the “public enemy era” between 1931 and 1934. Though known today for his dozen-or-so bank robberies, Barrow in fact preferred to rob small stores or rural gas stations. The gang is believed to have killed at least nine police officers and committed several civilian murders. They were eventually ambushed and killed in Louisiana by law officers. Their reputation was cemented forever in American pop folklore by Arthur Penn’s 1967 film Bonnie and Clyde. Read more from Wikipedia here.

America’s First Bank Robbery
Every wonder when the first bank robbery happened in the U.S.? $162,821 had been taken from vaults of the Bank of Pennsylvania at Carpenters’ Hall during the night of Saturday, August 31 or the morning hours of Sunday, September 1, 1798. There was no sign of forced entry into the building or the vault. So many expected that the robbery was an “inside job.” To learn more about this robbery (we don’t want to give too much away, but the robber was caught and the money was returned), check out this link.

Modern Day Bank Robberies
Yes, bank robberies still happen today. One would think that today’s surveillance technologies, and other law enforcement tactics, would make a criminal think twice about sticking up the community bank down the road. But, no. Bad guys are still robbing banks. Check out this story about three teens in the Seattle area being charged for robbing four banks. And check out this story about a trio of bank robbers who knocked off 16 banks in 2008. And, finally sometimes the good can turn bad. Check out this story of a ex-police officer who got tempted by the dark side and became a bank robber.

Devoted to the Apprehension of Bank Robbers in Southern California
We stumbled upon a most interesting resource online called LaBankRobbers.org. It is a web site that is devoted to the identification and apprehension of bank robbers (a.k.a. bank bandits) in the Southern California territory known as the “Bank Robbery Capital of the World.” The site features photos of bandits, serial bandits by name, bandit wanted flyers and much more. Check out the full site here.

Happy Friday!

Identity crime victims want and deserve justice. As the national advocate for identity theft victims and a leading voice on identity policy, ITAC, Identity Theft Assistance Center urges the Justice Department to implement the inspector general’s recommendations quickly.

We urge the Department of Justice to develop a comprehensive strategy to combat identity theft, collect better statistics on victims and perpetrators and publish those numbers faster, and appoint an individual to coordinate DOJ’s strategy.

The financial services industry is eager to work with the Department on fighting identity theft, a crime that has two victims, the consumer and the company that’s defrauded. With an estimated 10 million Americans becoming victims of identity theft on an annual basis, it is critical for the Department of Justice to enhance its efforts and do a better job of helping ensure identity crime victims receive the justice they deserve.

- Anne Wallace, President of ITAC, the Identity Theft Assistance Center

“The higher incidence of identity fraud among small business owners is probably due to the fact that they have more accounts and conduct more transactions,” said ITAC President Anne Wallace.

Check out the full post written by Ms. Wallace on the Small Business CEO blog here.

So, does sharing too much information – especially about your location — make you vulnerable to being robbed? Well, check out this Mashable story where this actually happened to a person. That is right…a few Tweets about going on a vacation can leave you totally exposed to a burglary.

And, what about people who actually prefer to leave their houses unlocked? Believe it or not, there are people in large cities like NYC and San Diego who do just that – they don’t lock their houses/apartments. Check out this article in the NY Times about this phenomenon. And, the article points out that a 2008 survey by State Farm Insurance of 1,000 homes across the country reported that fewer than half of those surveyed always locked their front doors.

Wow. Not locking your doors and telling the world that you are not home. Man, we are going to re-think what we do for a living and pursue a career in the burglary arts. The opportunities are endless (kidding of course!).

Happy Friday!

Data Security Breaches Often Triggered by Carelessness
Often the biggest threat to your practice and patient data is not an outside hacker or a snooping employee — it’s somebody’s forgetfulness. As technology becomes smaller and more portable, it becomes easier to lose. Surveys from a data protection solutions company in 2009 found that in a six-month period, 12,500 mobile devices were left in taxis, and 4,500 USB memory sticks were left in pockets of pants sent to dry cleaners. Most people — including those in the security business — are not protecting the data on their mobile devices. So if the device is lost, the data could be accessed. Check out the full American Medical News article here.

Data-Centric Security: Mix Technology, Process
As vendors, security industry pundits, politicians, and CISOs fire volleys back and forth over the best way to protect data, attackers are taking advantage of our confusion: The consensus among the infosec community is that 2009 was worse than 2008 in terms of data loss, and that’s saying something. Remember 2008? The year 285 million records were breached–a number exceeding all of the records exposed from 2004 through 2007? Respondents to our InformationWeek Analytics Data-Centric Security Survey know something needs to give–and they hope it’s not the gates holding back the marauding hordes. Check out the full InformationWeek article here.

State to Firms: Protect Data
Companies doing business in the Bay State have just a week to comply with stringent new state laws designed to safeguard the personal information of Massachusetts residents. Beginning March 1, the state will require any entity that stores or transmits residents’ personal information to encrypt the data when it’s stored on portable devices or transmitted via the Internet. The personal information is a combination of customers’ or employees’ names and their Social Security, bank account or credit card numbers. Read the full Boston Herald article here.

CNN’s “Shock Wave: You Were Warned”
This weekend, CNN ran a special called “We Were Warned: Cyber Shockwave,” which was based upon exclusive television access to a national security cyber “war game” scenario. The simulated event was developed by The Bipartisan Policy Center. Check out the first 15 minutes of this segment here:

Happy Monday!