Getting tougher on security breaches
Phishing, skimming and dumpster diving have fast become the tactics of identity thieves and cyber criminals everywhere, and examples of their skills are showing up throughout the area.
Patrons of a Chinese restaurant in Holden, Mass. fell victims to skimming, when a waiter used a handheld device to scan hundreds of credit card numbers for counterfeiting. At last count, the fraudulent charges were over $100,000.In January, the Worcester Telegram & Gazette and the Boston Globe released as many as 240,000 subscribers’ credit and bank numbers when they printed the private information on the back of newspaper wrappings.
Most recently, a hacker stung residents of Fitchburg and Leominster when fraudulent charges ranging from a few hundred to thousands of dollars got racked up on debit cards. Charges came from as far away as Africa and Spain.
"Identity theft is one of the fastest growing crimes in the country," says Rosalyn Garbose, chief of the Attorney General’s Central Mass. division, "and we want to make sure companies protect their own information and investigate what the source of the breach was."
On a national scale, the National Foundation for Credit Counseling fielded 685,000 complaints about credit card fraud and identity theft in 2005, costing consumers $680 million.
Data security breaches affected nearly 56 million people last year, reports Utimaco, a data security company.
With the frequency of these incidents on the rise, Visa has adopted an algorithm imbedded on card strip called the CDV2. This three number code helps to verify the authenticity of the user when the card is not present, such as a transaction over the Internet.
MasterCard offers Secure Code, an additional numerical password to enter when using a credit card for online purchases. Secure Code works with merchants who ask for the Secure Code verification. Both Visa and MasterCard offer zero liability programs that spare customers the costs of fraudulent purchases.
Merchants must comply with security duties outlined by both MasterCard and Visa. To spot fraudulent cards, retailers should look for a hologram, check signatures for consistency, and confirm that the magnetic stripping has not been tampered with.
Visa also scrutinizes the establishments that honor its card. Merchants must verify their compliance, and are subject to a review through an independent security assessor. If the merchant is breached, Visa can fine the bank that oversees the merchant.
Although banks work hard to protect themselves from attacks, intruders on the inside pose a security threat, says Brian Perry, Security Officer of Webster Five Cents Savings Bank. Instead of having one employee know how to perform all necessary tasks, the knowledge of how to do those tasks is divided among several employees, says Perry.
Consumers also need to safeguard themselves, experts say. With rampant dumpster diving, shredding paperwork with personal data remains the best defense against fraud.
Jeff Lavery can be reached at jlavery@wbjournal.com
WBJ Web Partners
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