Wednesday, April 21, 2004
STOP STOP STOP!!! DO NOT EVER UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES EVER EVER GIVE OUT YOUR USER NAMES AND PASSWORDS FOR ANYTHING FOR ANY REASON. NEVER EVER GIVE OUT YOUR ACCESS INFORMATION TO ANYTHING FOR ANY REASON. REMEMBER THAT WHEN YOU SET UP YOUR ACCESS ACCOUNTS WITH ANY VENDOR THEIR TERMS AND CONDITIONS (THIS IS FOR EVERYTHING KIDS) STATED THEY WOULD "NEVER" EMAIL YOU AND ASK FOR YOUR USER NAME AND PASSWORD.
A tragic breach of security happened to someone very close to me recently. Whenever you release personal information you are compromising the security of you and your family.
Hackers and identity thieves regularly send emails that appear to be from an online merchant. The content of these emails is basically the same "Your account has been temporarily suspended due to a possible security breach. Please send us your user name and password so that we may confirm your account status". The sum and substance of these emails is to appear to be from the merchant, and to cajole you to provide your access information so the merchant can confirm you are you. Again....remember the terms and conditions - the merchant will never ask for you to send them your user name and password. If you went to your bank, handed the teller your ATM card and asked for cash will the teller ask you for your PIN number? Hell no!! Try it...go to your bank and take out some money from the window teller, ask if your PIN number is required. I promise you the teller will advise that you never give anyone that PIN number.
So that's the lesson for today class. Hopefully this will help at least one of the millions of readers of Complaint Central.
A tragic breach of security happened to someone very close to me recently. Whenever you release personal information you are compromising the security of you and your family.
Hackers and identity thieves regularly send emails that appear to be from an online merchant. The content of these emails is basically the same "Your account has been temporarily suspended due to a possible security breach. Please send us your user name and password so that we may confirm your account status". The sum and substance of these emails is to appear to be from the merchant, and to cajole you to provide your access information so the merchant can confirm you are you. Again....remember the terms and conditions - the merchant will never ask for you to send them your user name and password. If you went to your bank, handed the teller your ATM card and asked for cash will the teller ask you for your PIN number? Hell no!! Try it...go to your bank and take out some money from the window teller, ask if your PIN number is required. I promise you the teller will advise that you never give anyone that PIN number.
So that's the lesson for today class. Hopefully this will help at least one of the millions of readers of Complaint Central.
