Let's make this a great year. Be aware for identity theft. Have all those documents reviewed. When's the last time you updated your Will? From the Aiken Standard: The start of a new year is the perfect time to resolve to protect your personal and financial information. BBB presents the following 10 New Year’s resolutions to fight scammers, prevent identity theft and save money in 2019. 1. ...read more

Android Hit with 40% More Malware in 2018 Than 2017 According to a recent analysis, mobile malware has increased approximately 40% in 2018.  The analysis showed over 3 million malware variants had been identified by the end of the third quarter of 2018.  The spike in samples is only supposed to continue, with projections putting the year-end total of malware variants near 4 million, about one ...read more

From Kentwired.com Would you know if a hacker stole your personal information? While most people would like to believe so, it’s usually not the case, said Kambiz Ghazinour, an assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science.  “Mostly, we think that if our personal information is stolen, it’s going to be used as identity theft immediately against us,” Ghazinour said. “Unfortunately, ...read more

Equal access to justice is a pillar of our justice system and a core American value. In fact, it has been fundamental to our self-understanding since even before we were a nation. It informs the principle of righteousness in the Iroquois Confederacy’s Great Law of Peace: “Each individual must have a strong sense of justice, must treat people as equals and must enjoy equal protection under the ...read more

From GovernmentExecutive: At a time when curbing identity theft is high on the Internal Revenue Service’s agenda, an Atlanta-based IRS employee has pleaded guilty to a stolen identity fraud scheme. The Justice Department announced on Thursday that IRS contact representative Stephanie Parker, based in Atlanta, admitted to at least five instances between September 2012 and March 2013 in which, ...read more

Do you know your legal rights? Instead of Knotweed, what about that tree next door? Are City Municipalities liable for drain clogging? - use Family legal plan photo From the law firm of Hodge, Jones & Allen: There has been a court ruling from the Court of Appeal dealing with whether an adjoining owner could be sued for nuisance and damage arising from the encroachment of Japanese knotweed ...read more

Read Item 3. We're all guilty of this. Keep this as a manual.From the Motley Fool: Identity thieves swindled Americans out of $16.8 billion in 2017 and according to Javelin Strategy & Research, that number climbs higher every year. Despite the various precautions financial institutions have taken, including the widespread use of microchipped cards, they haven't been able to overcome the biggest ...read more

Wouldn't you love to see these new cards succeed in thwarting identity thieves? Me too. From the Fresno-Bee New Medicare cards that don't bear Social Security numbers will be arriving in mailboxes soon in the central San Joaquin Valley. The new cards will display a random set of 11 characters of numbers and letters, and should help deter identity theft and Medicare fraud. Social Security ...read more

Does Medicare need to update your files before issuing your new Medicare card? Does Medicare need to update your bank information? These are a couple of questions Medicare recipients are being asked. Should you answer these and other questions? From ConsumerAffairs and AARP: The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is issuing new Medicare cards to seniors, with random letters instead of ...read more

An article from the Delaware Gazette. Scammers are getting more ingenious in ways to separate your personal information from you. If you’ve ever received an email from someone claiming to be the Prince of Nigeria telling you that you’ve been lucky enough to come into a large sum of money, chances are you’ve been targeted as part of something called a phishing scam. These types of scams have ...read more

  Do you regularly “cross-shred” your documents? Which documents should you shred? Take advantage of paper shredding events in your area. Dumpster diving is still alive and well. Read on from WWLP.com: “CHICOPEE, Mass. (WWLP) – It’s important to properly dispose of personal information so it doesn’t end up in the wrong hands. National Consumer Protection Week is designed to help people protect ...read more

It's becoming routine for companies experiencing data breaches to downplay certain aspects of the breach. I reported earlier, that in my opinion, this breach was going to get larger. Bottom line – we can't do anything about that, but we can protect ourselves from identity theft. Be protected. It's a bit more secure knowing a reputable monitoring company has your back. From Wired magazine: “IT ...read more

Once you're a member, your LegalShield team is constantly providing useful information. From the latest IDShield’s informational pieces: "The number of cyber-attacks against small businesses has more than doubled in the past 5 years. Small businesses are often targeted because many lack critical IT security policies and procedures, which larger organizations have in place. You have a duty to ...read more

Are you tired of reading, and hearing about these massive identity theft breaches? So am I and I think we become complacent. But every day you can find the small time criminal doing their bit to disrupt your life. Remember, whether your victimized from one of these massive breaches, or your victimized from a small time thief, it comes down to one fact – your information is compromised. The thief ...read more