Resources : News

CSID, a global leader in identity protection and fraud detection technologies and solutions, today announced the appointment of Kent Bloomstrand to the position of chief technology officer. As CTO, Bloomstrand will be responsible for driving the technical direction of the company and overseeing development, infrastructure and security of new products and services.

Why should a small business worry about a data breach? After all, many owners think, computer hackers and identity thieves only target big corporations. In fact most small businesses in the USA already have been exposed, or likely will be soon. The loss or theft of private information can be expensive, drive away customers and even result in legal penalties.

Passwords are the weak link for companies of all sizes, but many small and medium businesses rely on their workers to make the right choice in selecting strong passwords. Unfortunately, when left to their own devices, most employees do not get it right: Either due to a lack of security education or a desire for efficiency, people make the wrong choices when it comes to passwords. While almost 90 percent of people feel that they select good passwords, 61 percent reuse their passwords across sites and more than half have five or fewer passwords, according to a September 2012 survey of consumers by CSID, an identity-management and fraud-protection firm.

Austin, TX — April 4, 2013 — CSID, global leader in identity protection and fraud detection technologies, has signed on as a partner of the global cybersecurity awareness campaign STOP. THINK. CONNECT. to help digital citizens stay safer and more secure online. STOP. THINK. CONNECT. advises Internet users to take security measures, understand the consequences [...]

Parents apparently know child identity theft is a problem but are not taking measures to stop it. New research from CSID, an Austin-based identity protection service, shows more than half of parents surveyed are not taking any measures to prevent misuse of their child's online information.

According to a recent report from Carnegie Mellon’s CyLab, the rate of identity theft is 51 times higher for children than for adults. Identity thieves steal children’s social security numbers to secure loans and credit, which can go unnoticed for years, causing headaches and hardships for families and huge losses for businesses. CSID, the global leader in identity protection and fraud detection technologies and solutions, recently conducted a study to evaluate parental response. The survey results demonstrate a high degree of parental interest and awareness but a lack of action and understanding of how to prevent the misuse of children’s personal information.

Last week the FTC released their top 10 complaint categories for 2012. You’d be excused if you thought for a moment that someone screwed up and posted the list for 2012, or 2011, or really any year for the past 13. Identity theft has led the consumer concerns in FTC complaints for that entire period, and its not hard to see why. People are most concerned about situations where they have received concrete harm, and ID theft is an area where there is significant harm monetarily as well as stress and time spent fixing the problem after it occurs.

Data breaches and cyberattacks aren't just a worry for consumers who've had personal information filched or paranoid information security pros. They can also scare away investors, according to a study on investor attitudes toward cybersecurity released Monday.

Think you’ve got a clever, un-hackable password? You might want to tack on a few numbers to it. Global consulting firm Deloitte released a report Tuesday with an alarming prediction. More than 90% of user-generated passwords will be vulnerable to hacking, the report, prepared by Deloitte’s Canadian Technology, Media & Telecommunications arm, said. Even those passwords traditionally considered strong — with eight characters and a combination of numbers, letters and symbols — are at risk.

Before we get too far along into 2013, I’d like to take a moment to reflect back on the events of 2012.