New Protection From NSA Mobile Phone Snooping

Looking for an excellent solution to cell phone privacy? Read what two people have done to help secure your privacy from those who want to violate your cell phone privacy. Below is what their website offers in the form of a secure cell phone with a secure operating system. You can obtain more information at their website at https://www.blackphone.ch/ and https://silentcircle.com/

In 2011, Mike Janke, former U.S. Navy SEAL and security specialist, approached Phil Zimmermann, cryptography legend (Internet Hall of Fame inductee; creator of PGP and ZRTP) about a partnership to create the world’s first communications network built for privacy.

Jon Callas, creator of Apple's Whole Disk Encryption, joined as CTO and Silent Circle's founding team was made. Their idea was to create an encrypted communications service with easy-to-use tools available to all who appreciate a little control over who has access to their conversations.

Silent Circle has matured into the world's most trusted solution for mobile privacy serving individuals, businesses, and governments in over 130 countries with a truly revolutionary ecosystem of software, services, and devices.

Headquartered in Switzerland with employees in eight countries, Silent Circle has revolutionized how the world communicates - securely.

Here is some information on their secure cell phone that can be found on their website:

Blackphone combines a custom operating system with leading applications optimized for security. The result: an unparalleled product ideal for people who recognize a need for privacy and want a simple, secure place to start.

Blackphone's unique features put privacy back in your hands.

• Bundled with privacy enabled applications
• Smart disabling of WiFi except in trusted hotspots
• Comes with years of key security subscriptions
• Remote Wipe and anti-theft features

Blackphone comes unlocked and features several pre-installed privacy tools, all fully enabled for at least two years of use.  These tools include the Silent Circle suite of applications, including Silent Phone, Silent Text, and Silent Contacts; anonymous search, private browsing, and VPN from Disconnect; and secure cloud file storage from SpiderOak. (Source: https://www.blackphone.ch/ and https://silentcircle.com/)

This may be the privacy protection we all are craving. But rest assured there is someone or some company out there that will try and break this system just to once again invade your right to privacy.

Top 5 Tricks of Identity Thieves

From an article at Yahoo! Finance of the same name, written by Stacy Curtin September 29, 2010

Identity theft affects 9 million Americans each year. Knowing the most common methods identity thieves use could save your financial and medical health.

Paying with a credit card, updating friends on social networking sites and throwing out the trash are fairly common activities for most Americans these days. But however routine or harmless these behaviors might seem, they could potentially cost you your identity.

According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), a federal consumer protection agency, identity theft affects 9 million Americans each year.

The FTC website says, "Identity theft occurs when someone uses your personally identifying information, like your name, Social Security number, or credit card number, without your permission, to commit fraud or other crimes."

If your identity is stolen, your credit rating, finances and even your medical health could be at risk.

Identity theft is very difficult to detect. However, there are things you can do to protect yourself.

As is often the case, the best defense is sometimes a good offense.

Knowing the most common methods thieves use to steal identities is a good way to fight back. So this week in Financially Fit, we'll cover five of the top tricks of identity thieves.

#1 Skimming

Skimming can happen while you're paying for gas at the gas pump, when you're removing money from the ATM or even when you're handing over your credit card to pay for dinner.

"Skimming is when information is captured from your credit card illegitimately," says Leonard Gordon of the FTC.

At gas pumps and ATMs thieves install special equipment called skimmers that are not visible to the naked eye. These skimmers make two copies of your credit card information.

"One [copy] to process the transaction and one for the bad guys to later download," explains Gordon.

Skimming is a very lucrative scheme. In a recent Los Angeles case, a gang of thieves netted $2 million after placing skimmers on the credit card readers at gas pumps.

Gordon says skimming is a big problem — one that costs consumers and banks billions of dollars a year.

#2 Medical Identity Theft

Medical identity theft is on the rise, and it's scary. This type of identity theft not only has financial risks, it could cost you your life. Here, thieves use your identity to gain access to doctors, dentists, prescriptions and procedures, and then send you and your insurer the bill.

In 2009, 1.4 million Americans were victims of medical identity theft according a report by Experian.

"If a person who is impersonating you has had medication administered [and] a procedure performed and then you go into the emergency room, and you are not conscious, and your medical records reflect that you have had this procedure performed [and] you have had this medication administered, when in fact you hadn't, there are some real medical risks there," Gordon says.

If you start to receive bills for procedures that you didn't have or from providers that you don't use, that's a key way to determine that someone else might be using your medical benefits.

#3 Social Networking Abuse

Social networking allows us to keep up with friends, family and colleagues, but these websites also serve up our identities on a silver platter to identity thieves.

According to a survey by the CMO council, one in every five users has been touched by social networking abuse.

Key personal details, such as age, hometown, employer and personal favorites, can be used against you.

Fraudsters on the web frequently use "pretexting" to steal your identity. The FTC website defines pretexting as "the practice of getting your personal information under false pretenses."

For example, after looking at your profile pages for basic information about you, a "pretexter" could call — pretending to be from an organization you trust — and ask for important personal data such as your birthday or social security number.

#4 Family and Friends

Theft source number four is surprisingly common — family and friends commit nearly half of all identity crimes. It often happens at the places we feel the safest, including at work, a college dormitory or even at home.

"Don't leave your pocket book laying around, don't leave your wallet around [and] check your credit card statements as soon as you get them," Gordon says.

It is important to look over all credit card statements carefully for any unidentified charges, says Gordon. He also recommends checking your credit report twice a year to spot all types of identity fraud.

#5 Dumpster Diving

Just taking out the trash is another routine activity that could put your identity at risk.

Every year, each of us throws away 175 pounds of paper, and much of that includes personal information thieves can use to steal your identity.

Credit card offers, bank account numbers and even just your name and address are clues thieves can use to help unlock your identity.

Visit the Federal Trade Commission website for additional information and identity theft-prevention methods.

Charlie

Personal Security - Protect against Electronic Vehicle Theft

A friend of ours sent us this information and asked us to post it for everyone's benefit.

How to Lock Your Car and Why.

I locked my car. As I walked away I heard my car door unlock. I went back and locked my car again three times. Each time, as soon as I started to walk away, I would hear it unlock again!!

Naturally alarmed, I looked around and there were two guys sitting in a car in the fire lane next to the store. They were obviously watching me intently, and there was no doubt they were somehow involved in this very weird situation. I quickly chucked the errand I was on, jumped in my car and sped away. I went straight to the police station, told them what had happened, and found out I was part of a new, and very successful, scheme being used to gain entry into cars.

Two weeks later, my friend's son had a similar happening.... While traveling, my friend's son stopped at a roadside rest to use the bathroom. When he came out to his car less than 4-5 minutes later, someone had gotten into his car and stolen his cell phone, laptop computer, GPS navigator, briefcase.....you name it. He called the police and since there were no signs of his car being broken into, the police told him he had been a victim of the latest robbery tactic -- there is a device that robbers are using now to clone your security code when you lock your doors on your car using your key-chain locking device..

They sit a distance away and watch for their next victim. They know you are going inside of the store, restaurant, or bathroom and that they now have a few minutes to steal and run. The police officer said to manually lock your car door-by hitting the lock button inside the car -- that way if there is someone sitting in a parking lot watching for their next victim, it will not be you. When you hit the lock button on your car upon exiting, it does not send the security code, but if you walk away and use the door lock on your key chain, it sends the code through the airwaves where it can be instantly stolen. This is very real. Be wisely aware of what you just read and please pass this note on. Look how many times we all lock our doors with our remote just to be sure we remembered to lock them -- and bingo, someone has our code...and whatever was in our car.