The scariest part about this story is that, when asked why he chose to perform identity theft, Nguyen's response was "because it was so easy." In fact, he had tried to "quit" identity theft before, but had found it to be the easiest way for him to fund his methamphetamine addiction. When arrested, Nguyen had possession of tens of thousands of peoples' credit card numbers, bank account numbers, and other sensitive information. He primarily gained this information by either sending e-mails or pop-up windows from the popular site paypal.com asking people for their information. However, he had branched off into also creating fake websites for smaller institutions such as Fairwinds Credit Union,Heritage Bank and the Honolulu City and County Employee's Credit Union.
The main takeaway from this article was how easy it is for someone to willingly give away their sensitive information. Just because a site looks legitimate, which all of Nguyen's reportedly did, does not mean that it is safe. For this reason we all need to remember to be on the lookout for ways we may compromise our own information security.
Source:
McMillan, Robert. "Man Pleads Guilty in Wal-Mart Card Phishing Scheme" September 9, 2009.
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As we discussed in class the first couple days, the easiest link in the chain to break to get to information is the person. This event displays how easy it is to get important information by just asking. I have a feeling however that phishing scams will eventually be ineffective as younger generations become more aware of fake sites. It is my opinion that phishing scams only work on our parents generation who are not as computer literate as their children.
ReplyDeleteI personally think phishing scams suck. It makes me wanna stop using the internet to pay my bills or even look at bank statements. As to the comment about phishing scams eventually becoming ineffective, I would have to disagree. I see them staying around for a long time because I don't think it matters how old you are. It simply comes down to the awareness of the individual. Yeah, some days people might be aware but what about those days when people are to busy to check or to tired. As much as people may think they are aware of whats going on, sometimes they become too complacent. This leading to mistakes. We are still human regardless of how on top of it we may think we are.
ReplyDeleteI feel like this article shows the ignorance of people who purchase items online. Like the person said in the article, it was so easy simply by sending e-mails to internet users and obtaining information. He proved that people are suckers for internet scams and fail to realize when something is fake and when something is real. This actually scares me from using my credit card/debit card on the internet in fear that someone might obtain my personal information. I think the thing I gained most from this article is that you must protect yourself by knowing who and where you are submitting your information. I think we need to educate people on internet phishing scams, because this proves that it is easy and simple to obtain such information
ReplyDeleteTo me, this article identifies one of the problems that has resulted from the increasing popularity of computers and the fact that computer awareness cannot keep up with this pace. As technology continues to be a fundamental part of everyday life, more people are using computers and the internet without an adequate understanding of the risks that are in play. Unfortunately, people are often too trusting and fail to realize the negative outcomes that can result when private information is disclosed to the wrong individual.
ReplyDeleteIronically, I received an email from OIC warning of a phishing scam targeting ND students. It seems that if intelligent ND students could fall for such a scam, it's no surprise that many people, especially older generations who are less familiar with computers, become victims of similar scams.
What is interesting is how easy it is for people to make something so legit and close to what the website would portray. What Professor Chapple discussed in class about how to counter fake phishing e-mails can be a solution to some of these websites. I think passing any information through an e-mail is pretty dangerous. Hackers and phishers are getting much better at what they're doing and perfecting it.
ReplyDeleteIn analyzing the phishing scam scenario, the primary means to protecting oneself, as has been stated, is awareness. I agree to some level that the success rate of such scams will decrease in successive generations, simply because our generation has grown up with these scams and is more aware. I do agree with cocoman66 though that there are always those days when you simply are not paying close attention or neglect to take into account the danger of simply clicking on a link.
ReplyDeleteIn addition to awareness, I think the greater sophistication of e-mail programs assists in avoiding phishing scams. With gmail, for instance, the address of the sender is clearly visible and thus it can be quickly assessed whether or not the receiver recognizes the address and knows the sender. And apart from general programming, users have many options for organizing their mail, such as labels and groups. Protection and security in these situations must be carried out on an individual level. Through awareness and organization, a user can be more certain that they are safe from phishing scams.
I agree that many people are ignorant and I admit I am one of them. Luckily, I don't think I have given too much information to have anything serious happen but I slipped up last year when I went to download music from a website that seemed somewhat legit... I gave them my credit card information but when I went to process it the code expired and I felt like an music-less idiot. I guess I only wasted like 2.99$ or whatever they said it was but at the same time I have no idea what happened to my information or the what the website was called. This was just last year and I haven't noticed anything missing but I think I got surprisingly lucky.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, this scam sounds ridiculously genius. People don't want to pay for all their music and I know a lot of suckers for free music sites and ads. If it is that easy for a drug addict to steal money from people then who knows what the non dysfunctional people can do.