Identity Theft Smash & Grab, CEO Style

Tens of thousands of corporate executives were the target of a series of identity-theft scams this week, e-mail-borne schemes that appear to have netted close to 2,000 victims so far.

Early Monday morning, according to two security experts with firsthand knowledge of the attacks, nearly 20,000 executives received an e-mail purporting to be a subpoena ordering each recipient to appear in court for legal violations leveled against their company. The messages addressed each executive by name, and included their phone number and the name of their company.

Recipients who clicked the link were brought to a Web page that claimed they needed to install a Web browser add-on in order to view the subpoena. Those who agreed were shown an Adobe PDF document that referenced a lawsuit filed in a California district court.

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How To Protect Your Identity Online

Identity TheftIdentity theft is now one of the rapidly growing crimes in India. Your name, address, bank account number, credit card number or other identifying information can be used to commit this crime or other fraud without your knowledge.

Identity theft causes huge losses to financial organisations and individuals regularly. Here we bring you a few tips that can help you protect yourself against identity theft.

Be careful while sharing personal info

Never give out personal information over the phone, through mail or on the Internet unless you are sure you know whom you are dealing with.

If you are sharing personal information, confirm that you are dealing with a legitimate person or organisation. If you receive a phone call or email asking you to verify information, do not respond. End the call and call the bank directly.

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Chinese Hackers Break into (Indian Ministry of External Affairs) MEA Servers

Late last week, there were reports doing the rounds that hackers based out of neighboring China had managed to break into the servers of India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

While the reports quoted unnamed MEA sources as confirming that no sensitive information had indeed been touched by the hackers, the incident has clearly set alarm bells ringing through the ministry that is believed to be in the process of dispatching teams to ensure future security of their computer systems.

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