Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) recently issued a study called “A Human Capital Crisis in Cybersecurity,” that highlights how the United States is facing a chronic shortage in cybersecurity experts. According to the study our nation is in a very weak position when it comes to cyber security and our nation is unprepared to defend itself against increasingly sophisticated online attacks.
And you wonder why identity theft is rising. Forty percent of privacy breaches are cyber related. It is not that your IT support is not good at what they do. It is because there is no fail safe method.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Business Identity Theft
In today’s global, national, regional, and local business markets you cannot grow what you don’t protect. In professions like medicine, finance, and insurance, an organization cannot grow if it doesn’t meet certain criteria that not only encourages expansion but legally allows it. That includes such things as marketing tactics that meet ethical, federal, and state regulations. Yet in our desire to expand, acquire new customers, and reap gainful returns, we over look how our image, our brand, and our business can be hijacked. It’s a rising form of identity theft that overwhelms and sometimes wrecks organizations.
Recently the Colorado State Attorney General and the Colorado Secretary of State created an avenue in which business can come and file a complaint about their company being a victim of identity theft. That is not a common practice in most states yet. Even with state support, the ability to find criminals and prosecute them is quite difficult. Resources will only be allocated to high profile cases.
If you think that the organization is too small or too large for anyone to bother, think again. Most times a business will not know that their identities are being used elsewhere. So what is a business to do? Contact me for a check list of what you can do to protect your business better.
Recently the Colorado State Attorney General and the Colorado Secretary of State created an avenue in which business can come and file a complaint about their company being a victim of identity theft. That is not a common practice in most states yet. Even with state support, the ability to find criminals and prosecute them is quite difficult. Resources will only be allocated to high profile cases.
If you think that the organization is too small or too large for anyone to bother, think again. Most times a business will not know that their identities are being used elsewhere. So what is a business to do? Contact me for a check list of what you can do to protect your business better.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
ID Theft, Fraud, and Real Estate Transactions: Save a World of Hurt
The real estate process generally includes a buyer (or renter), seller (or landlord), financial officer, lawyer, and agent to execute the sale successfully. Within that process many more people become involved. Depending upon the deal, it includes a prequalified mortgage, credit check, offer to purchase (or rent), contract (or lease), mortgage application ($$$ paid in advance), title insurance, exterminator, homeowner’s insurance, closing, and recording the sale among it. The amount of people and sets of eyes that look at every detail of the transaction becomes an easy target for identity theft. [I have not even touched what happens after the transaction is completed … a conversation for another day.]
When you consider that eighty percent of identity theft occurs from negligence due to lack of knowledge or lack of care, and the fact that the sale is recorded for public scrutiny, it leaves every new homeowner and every old homeowner at much higher risk. Never mind the number of people that view the property in the process which may have access to enough information within view. (No one thinks of these things do they?)
This week alone, an IT guy employed by a major bank was arrested for bilking millions from both employees and unsuspecting consumers. What makes you think that identity theft doesn’t happen in real estate transactions?
Despite new laws governing how everyone in the chain of events must act with respect to the real estate transaction, there is no law that says you can’t recommend identity theft protection as a standard policy. What the feds want is transparency and clean lines of relationships.
Add a standard recommendation to every home buyer (renter) and seller (landlord) that they should consider identity theft protection. It will save a world of hurt later. Identity theft is a repeatable crime.
It will also demonstrate that the organization goes one-step beyond the FTC and State identity theft law to make consumers and landowners aware they are vulnerable and empower them with what they can do about it.
There is no statute of limitation for identity theft. If the buyer/seller decline to obtain services, then you have it as a matter of record. They can’t turn around and tell you that you didn’t advise them, making you criminally or civilly liable later. Think about it and then email me at services@m2powerinc.com to learn how to develop an identity theft and fraud program in your organization.
When you consider that eighty percent of identity theft occurs from negligence due to lack of knowledge or lack of care, and the fact that the sale is recorded for public scrutiny, it leaves every new homeowner and every old homeowner at much higher risk. Never mind the number of people that view the property in the process which may have access to enough information within view. (No one thinks of these things do they?)
This week alone, an IT guy employed by a major bank was arrested for bilking millions from both employees and unsuspecting consumers. What makes you think that identity theft doesn’t happen in real estate transactions?
Despite new laws governing how everyone in the chain of events must act with respect to the real estate transaction, there is no law that says you can’t recommend identity theft protection as a standard policy. What the feds want is transparency and clean lines of relationships.
Add a standard recommendation to every home buyer (renter) and seller (landlord) that they should consider identity theft protection. It will save a world of hurt later. Identity theft is a repeatable crime.
It will also demonstrate that the organization goes one-step beyond the FTC and State identity theft law to make consumers and landowners aware they are vulnerable and empower them with what they can do about it.
There is no statute of limitation for identity theft. If the buyer/seller decline to obtain services, then you have it as a matter of record. They can’t turn around and tell you that you didn’t advise them, making you criminally or civilly liable later. Think about it and then email me at services@m2powerinc.com to learn how to develop an identity theft and fraud program in your organization.
Monday, July 5, 2010
Life Paid Me Back
The foundation of any successful business has a set of immutable laws that bring with it the values, mores, and experiences of the owner. They are the same laws found in life. So it is appropriate to share this next blog with you.
Life Paid Me Back
When I was six months pregnant with my little daughter, my husband received a catastrophic diagnosis that would change the dynamic of our family. My little daughter was born in a time of turbulence where I became a single parent never being able to give her the kind of devotion and adoring attention that my eldest daughter received.
Reality and survival got in the way and I often felt my baby was cheated out of the white picket fence scenario that allows Mommy to stay home. In my mind every child deserved to have that experience as they come into this world. Now, twenty six years later, as my baby embarks upon her own independence, I realize that life does pay back what it took in the first place.
Catastrophic experiences have a way of reshaping long held beliefs and perceptions. It opens the door to uncharted possibilities. For both my daughters it resulted in them becoming young women of courage and tenacity that I not only respect and admire but they grew into these amazing people.
As I face the prospect of an empty nest, I am blessed that my little daughter decided to come back home from college and spend the past few years inviting me happily into her adventures. It includes the current one which involves helping her find her first apartment.
With my eldest daughter married, the last three years has given my youngest and I a joy that can only be shared by bonds born from a journey resulting in the reshaping of three lives - her sister’s, hers, and mine. Looking back I realize the decisions I made then were the right ones even if they were the scariest. I learned that courage is the not absence of fear but the ability to strive and thrive despite it. The commitment took desire and perseverance over a 10 year period of time that included overcoming the severe economic disaster from my first husband’s illness, with a dose of goals and strategic planning.
It’s a lesson that seemed to play out over and over again last year in front of my now grown daughters as we watched three close family members experience catastrophic disasters one after the other. Two out of the three survived. It also played out in my baby not making career decisions based upon fear but pushing past them to embark on better career paths.
As my little daughter searches Manhattan for that right mix of neighborhood, space, and amenities for a particular price, it not only allows me the chance to emotionally let her go, but it fulfills a wish from so long ago. To give my baby the opportunity to embark upon a world equipped not only with the tools to build a happy life but the unconditional gift of love, joy, and adoration every person deserve as they stand on the thresholds of a new beginning. Life paid me back what it took. This time my baby gives it to me.
Life Paid Me Back
When I was six months pregnant with my little daughter, my husband received a catastrophic diagnosis that would change the dynamic of our family. My little daughter was born in a time of turbulence where I became a single parent never being able to give her the kind of devotion and adoring attention that my eldest daughter received.
Reality and survival got in the way and I often felt my baby was cheated out of the white picket fence scenario that allows Mommy to stay home. In my mind every child deserved to have that experience as they come into this world. Now, twenty six years later, as my baby embarks upon her own independence, I realize that life does pay back what it took in the first place.
Catastrophic experiences have a way of reshaping long held beliefs and perceptions. It opens the door to uncharted possibilities. For both my daughters it resulted in them becoming young women of courage and tenacity that I not only respect and admire but they grew into these amazing people.
As I face the prospect of an empty nest, I am blessed that my little daughter decided to come back home from college and spend the past few years inviting me happily into her adventures. It includes the current one which involves helping her find her first apartment.
With my eldest daughter married, the last three years has given my youngest and I a joy that can only be shared by bonds born from a journey resulting in the reshaping of three lives - her sister’s, hers, and mine. Looking back I realize the decisions I made then were the right ones even if they were the scariest. I learned that courage is the not absence of fear but the ability to strive and thrive despite it. The commitment took desire and perseverance over a 10 year period of time that included overcoming the severe economic disaster from my first husband’s illness, with a dose of goals and strategic planning.
It’s a lesson that seemed to play out over and over again last year in front of my now grown daughters as we watched three close family members experience catastrophic disasters one after the other. Two out of the three survived. It also played out in my baby not making career decisions based upon fear but pushing past them to embark on better career paths.
As my little daughter searches Manhattan for that right mix of neighborhood, space, and amenities for a particular price, it not only allows me the chance to emotionally let her go, but it fulfills a wish from so long ago. To give my baby the opportunity to embark upon a world equipped not only with the tools to build a happy life but the unconditional gift of love, joy, and adoration every person deserve as they stand on the thresholds of a new beginning. Life paid me back what it took. This time my baby gives it to me.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
ID Theft Happens Even to Me
Those that know me have often heard me say “stuff happens”. I was at the Israeli Consulate in New York City on June 2, 2010 for a meeting. A journalist from a local Jewish paper was also at the consulate the same time. We never met each other but our identities were switched.
When I arrived at the 3rd check point on the 16th Fl of the Consulate, there is a security booth in the lobby area. It is caddy corned with two blacked out security windows on each side and there is a security gate, identical to what we walk through at the airport, next to the booth between the windows. Using a draw that pulls in and out exactly like the bank drive up window, you place your ID in one end and walk through the gate. Your ID is held until you are ready to leave. It is then handed back to you from the opposite window.
In the time that it took to give my license, walk through the gate, and receive my license on the other side it was switched. I placed the license into my bag without ever checking that it wasn’t mine. Why would I suspect that a highly secure environment like the Israeli Consulate would expose me to identity theft? If anything security was so high that day due to the intense protest they experienced the day before. Police were everywhere. So it never occurred to me I would have a problem…… (hindsight is 20-20). But that wasn’t the half of it. Learn what happen next by emailing a request for the full story. You would never believe it in your wildest dreams. I am just so glad I had the best protection in the world backing me up. Do you? www.m2secure.com in case you are wondering.
When I arrived at the 3rd check point on the 16th Fl of the Consulate, there is a security booth in the lobby area. It is caddy corned with two blacked out security windows on each side and there is a security gate, identical to what we walk through at the airport, next to the booth between the windows. Using a draw that pulls in and out exactly like the bank drive up window, you place your ID in one end and walk through the gate. Your ID is held until you are ready to leave. It is then handed back to you from the opposite window.
In the time that it took to give my license, walk through the gate, and receive my license on the other side it was switched. I placed the license into my bag without ever checking that it wasn’t mine. Why would I suspect that a highly secure environment like the Israeli Consulate would expose me to identity theft? If anything security was so high that day due to the intense protest they experienced the day before. Police were everywhere. So it never occurred to me I would have a problem…… (hindsight is 20-20). But that wasn’t the half of it. Learn what happen next by emailing a request for the full story. You would never believe it in your wildest dreams. I am just so glad I had the best protection in the world backing me up. Do you? www.m2secure.com in case you are wondering.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Growth: Distinctiveness Double the Pleasure Triple the Growth
Would you ever open an identical fast food restaurant down the block from a famous one? No? It happens all the time and we wonder why business failures are at an all time high. The economy may have some responsibility but there are many businesses out there that are flourishing despite the economy yet have the same economic realities. What sets these companies apart is the distinctiveness they created in their business and about there business. These companies changed the experience for the better thus attracting customers easier. Learn what distinctiveness does and how it works. Request a copy of the article "Distinctiveness: Double the Pleasure Triple the Growth.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Hello and Welcome
Hello and welcome to my new blog. This is the place where we'll discuss client acquisition and then how to protect them and you. Many people ask me why I chose to get involved in what appears to be two very different disciplines. It confuses them understandably so.
To answer it succinctly, in professions like medicine, accounting, law, finance, and banking the ability to grow is predicated on the ability to meet a large amount of regulatory requirements. Developing new business, expanding old business, bringing in new clients can't be accomplished without first making sure the organization legally can. So that means we must protect what we grow. That's how it all started.
In other industries the ability to accept credit cards, to cater to customers and expand purchases, means you must also be able to follow PCI compliance. To sell cars you must follow privacy laws such as Sarbane Oxley or Graham, Leech, Bliley. So as you can see, it's not so far fetch to think that what you grow you must protect. They may be two different activities but in a lot of cases they must also be enacted simultaneously.
It's my desire to offer you information on both subjects. So for now, on Mondays we'll spotlight growth and on Thursdays we'll focus on protection.
Right now my activities center on identity theft and fraud. Even though identity theft is about someone's personally identifiable information, it affects businesses, the community, and individuals alike. So I have two questions for you.
1) How do you value your personal identity? and 2) What do you value about your personal identity?
To answer it succinctly, in professions like medicine, accounting, law, finance, and banking the ability to grow is predicated on the ability to meet a large amount of regulatory requirements. Developing new business, expanding old business, bringing in new clients can't be accomplished without first making sure the organization legally can. So that means we must protect what we grow. That's how it all started.
In other industries the ability to accept credit cards, to cater to customers and expand purchases, means you must also be able to follow PCI compliance. To sell cars you must follow privacy laws such as Sarbane Oxley or Graham, Leech, Bliley. So as you can see, it's not so far fetch to think that what you grow you must protect. They may be two different activities but in a lot of cases they must also be enacted simultaneously.
It's my desire to offer you information on both subjects. So for now, on Mondays we'll spotlight growth and on Thursdays we'll focus on protection.
Right now my activities center on identity theft and fraud. Even though identity theft is about someone's personally identifiable information, it affects businesses, the community, and individuals alike. So I have two questions for you.
1) How do you value your personal identity? and 2) What do you value about your personal identity?
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