How to Freeze Your Social Security Number

ChatGPT is OpenAi's chatbot designed to simulate conversations with other people. The tool utilizes a massive language model to produce realistic and believable responses for a conversation.

Cyber-attacks are a major problem that exposes millions of people to fraud on an annual basis. This week there were attacks on some truly massive organizations like the NBA and PayPal, as well as a cyber security company and a few medical companies.

Independent Living Systems LLC is a healthcare facility provider for the elderly, physically challenged, and impaired. The company establishes short-term healthcare facilities for those that need extra care.

Rubrik is a security company that specializes in cloud data management services. The company helps store and secure information for customers, and it's vital that it is able to keep that data safe.

NorthStar Emergency Medical Services is an ambulance service based in Searcy, Arkansas. The company manages three EMS stations in the surrounding area and helps patients get the emergency help they need rapidly.

PayPal is a leading payment transfer service in the United States and other parts of the world. The company got started as a peer-to-peer payment solution and has evolved into a robust payment transfer solution for business and personal use.

Bitcoin changed the financial landscape in 2009; according to CoinMarketCap, there are now over 21,900 cryptocurrencies with a total market cap of $850 billion.

The NBA is a national sports league that manages many different leagues under its umbrella of organizations. The league has the NBA 2K League, NBA, Basketball Africa League, the WNBA, and the NBA G League.

Lawrence General Hospital is a private facility located in Lawrence, Massachusetts. The hospital is a non-profit organization and offers patients throughout the surrounding area a variety of services.

Cyber attacks are targeted at significant organizations, and this week is an excellent reminder that medical facilities aren't safe.

Cerebral is an online mental health company that's attempting to bring mental health care to patients around the country virtually.

Zoll is a medical device and technologies company that offers its services to EMS, fire professionals, and rescuers. Even the U.S. Military relies on technologies from the company in order to save lives.

The Minneapolis public school district includes approximately 100 primary and secondary public schools. Between the many different schools, approximately 36,000 students are served by about 1,500 teachers.

AT&T is a massive telecommunications company with its headquarters in Dallas, Texas. The company is known as the largest  telecommunications company in the world according to its revenue, and it is the third-largest mobile phone service provider in the United States.

ARP poisoning takes advantage of the weaknesses in the ARP protocol. ARP spoofing, ARP poison routing, and ARP cache poisoning are all part of the flaw in this communication protocol.

When evaluating the reckless ingenuity and devastating aftermath of present-day overlook disasters, KRACK lands in the top three.

It's been a rough week for major companies and the government as well, with the week finishing off with Washington D.C. lawmakers having their health information exposed.

DC Health Link is part of the Affordable Care Act online marketplace of health insurance plans. The service provides health care to members of Congress as well as many staff members throughout Capitol Hill.

Acer is a well-known tech company that's based in Taiwan and with facilities and offices around the world. The company's main headquarters are in San Jose, California, in the United States.

Crystal Bay Casino is a gambling establishment located in Lake Tahoe. The facility includes slots, table games, and sports betting and features a small hotel known as the Border House for gamblers to stay in luxury.

Dole PLC is a massive agricultural company headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. Dole has several offices and production facilities in the United States and supplies food products in 75 separate countries.

Dish Network is one of the largest American television providers in the country today, offering television service through a direct-broadcast satellite network.

Touchscreens revolutionized technology, enabling users to interact with tablets, smartphones, and computers. The first touch screen, invented in 1965, was a capacitive touchscreen.

Several reasons exist why a United States Citizen would want to change their Social Security number. The SSA discourages people from changing their number except for situations of harassment, abuse, or life endangerment. 

Apple prides itself on IOS security and the unhackable nature of its iPhone. However, with modern sophistication and complexity, any networked digital technology can be hacked.

This week was a bad week for the U.S. government and also featured serious attacks to major Canadian retailer Indigo as well as software company Activision and the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Indigo Books and Music is a Canadian retailer that's well-known for its book offerings throughout the country. The chain has approximately 8,000 employees and was founded in 1996.

The U.S. Marshals office is a federal agency that oversees all the U.S. Marshals throughout the country. The Marshals are specialized federal agents that help with apprehending the country's most violent and dangerous criminals.

The U.S. Department of Defense is a federal department in charge of overseeing all the agencies tasked with maintaining the national security of the U.S. government.

The Los Angeles Unified School District is just one of many districts around the country that are currently being targeted by ransomware gangs.

The idea of insuring loans against non-payment was first developed in the nineteenth century. However, the companies that wrote these policies were short-lived.

Protecting one's financial accounts and assets has become a priority for those who find online access the easiest and most productive way to grow assets.

Logging into a chatroom in the early 1990s and talking with someone on the other side of the world was nothing short of thrilling.

Activision is a massive game development and software company in the United States. The company is behind huge titles like World of Warcraft and Call of Duty, among others.

We've seen major data breaches over the past week, including a million medical patients being exposed and more than 12 million online food orders being listed online.

Teijin Automotive Technologies is an advanced company that specializes in manufacturing lightweight composite materials used on vehicles, boats, trucks, and more.

Weee! is a popular online grocery delivery service that specializes in Asian and Hispanic food products. This service is an app-based product that allows individuals to have food sent to their homes or workplace.

It's becoming commonplace for large organizations to suffer from ransomware attacks today, and one way that large ransomware gangs are hurting companies is by hitting the secure file transfer services they're relying on.

Xavier University of Louisiana, a private Catholic school with just over 3,400 students, was recently attacked in a cybersecurity incident.

Many people have turned to GoDaddy over the years. They are known for their website solutions, including URLs, hosting, and web builder.

Every parent's job is to teach their children the difference between right and wrong, set them on a good path forward, and provide a solid foundation.

Forgiving debt is a global phenomenon, from single credit cards to billions in government relief. Debt forgiveness has been part of the narrative for generations.

We've seen some pretty extreme breaches in the last week, but it is likely to worsen as the year progresses. As people, we must remember that human error is the most likely thing to happen.

More often than not, the breaches we cover are phishing scams, ransomware attacks, and system hacks. We've seen everything from ransomware-as-a-service to "you won a free vacation" phishing scams and back again.

Even with all the technological advancements humanity has made in recent years, the one thing we will never be able to (nor should we want to) remove is human error.

Social media platforms are often sought-after regarding data breaches. Having unauthorized access to someone's social media can be massive; the unauthorized party can ruin relationships, job opportunities or current jobs, and even school prospects.

As we've seen in full color recently, no one is immune to hacks, nor is any person or company above them. Whether it's a person, a company social media account, entire hospitals full of medical information, or employee details for massive corporations (like this breach), there will almost always be something that a hacker can gain from a breach.

Keeping track of a small piece of paper for 60 or 70 years is nearly impossible for most of us. That is why the Social Security Administration has made it relatively easy to replace your SS card.

A few documents in every person's life should be accounted for: social security cards, Medicare ID, and birth certificates. Should these critical papers fall into the wrong hands, predators can cause immense harm.

Namecheap is an international domain hosting and IT services company. For those unfamiliar with the term, domain hosting is self-explanatory; a domain hosting service refers to a service or company that hosts your website domain.

Every time we see a medical data breach, we think, "There can't possibly be any more. That's every hospital in the U.S.! " It's not.

Maybe one day, when our grandchildren's grandchildren are studying 2000s cybersecurity, they'll view us as archaic. We'll be questioned for how low quality our security is, and we will be laughed at for how often we were hacked.

Software-as-a-service is a growing business. It is used by PC gamers worldwide (as subscription-based downloadable video games count as software-as-a-service), and you likely have some sort of it because device monitoring software titles also count.

The web of connections for this data breach Is difficult to keep up with, but we'll do our best to keep it as simple as possible.

Scammers often target religious congregations. As a whole, people who follow monotheistic religions (religions with only one god or deity) often find themselves to be more susceptible to scams due to a highly trusting nature usually associated with monotheistic religions.

It's been less than a week since February 2023 started, yet we are, reading about a new medical breach. Over 90% of hospitals have admitted to being victims of data breaches.

Have you ever been online, and clicked on an interesting link only to be taken to an unfamiliar website? Clickjacking (or UI redress) attacks trick users into clicking on an element in a genuine webpage and, instead, taking to a clickjacking site. 

Building a great credit file takes time, and making the right choices when starting out. The best way to get started is to choose the right credit card.

Well, the last month has passed incredibly quickly and without much stir, which gives us hope for the next year. However, this month has been incredibly eventful in the world of cybersecurity.

Any large-scale company is at heightened risk of becoming the victim of a data breach. It doesn't always seem like the most obvious target; whether it's a power company, a grocer, or a chain restaurant, there is actually a lot of desirable information available from these companies' databases.

Human resources; a necessary part of nearly any type of work. Perhaps some random hacker felt scorned after a visit to the HR department, which resulted in them losing their job.

You may remember one of our recent posts about T-Mobile's eighth hack in the last five years, as most cybersecurity news outlets were all over the story.

California schools have been something of a hub for cybercrime in recent months. There have been numerous breaches, like the San Diego Unified School District and the Los Angeles Unified School District, the latter of which went down as the largest education breach in history. 

A thought that is often saddening is that only 48 percent of Americans trust the police. Nevertheless, police are necessary to uphold the law; whether that means stopping burglars, serial killers, or school shooters, it doesn't matter.

Anyone paying even little attention to cybersecurity knows that medical practices and services are some of the most targeted institutions in the world.

This week, our lineup is pretty hard-hitting. Some of the biggest names in, well, everything, have been hacked, with a combined victim total of well into the millions.

There are plenty of secure and protected smartphones in this world; then there is the phone from Israeli startup Sirin Labs. Their first product, the Solarin, offers the most technologically advanced privacy outside the agency world.

One of the many privileges afforded Americans is the right to healthcare. Medicare, begun in 1965, is a national health insurance program administrated by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services or CMS.

MailChimp has been hacked repeatedly over the years; there is very little surprise in the breach, though one thing should be considered.

A car manufacturer may not be the first thing that comes to mind when someone says there's been a data breach, though it is a highly sought-after target.

It seems like we're reporting on a new breach involving medical practices every week. From the smallest insurance company in the world to the biggest hospitals in the U.S., medical institutions will always be a primary target.

At this point, many T-Mobile users are appalled. When talking about a hack on the company that has access to your most personal pictures, accounts, and conversations, people don't want to be able to say "again" casually.

Ransomware is one of the most devastating cyber threats of the modern age. Predators use ransomware as an extreme attack vector with the same goal as centuries-old blackmailing outlaws; extort money.

Ransomware is an evolving malware code that has kept online predators swimming in money for decades. Due to the massive amounts of money being scammed each year from individuals and businesses, many predators are flocking to get in on the ransomware payouts. 

2023 has definitely gone off with a bang. In the last few weeks, two of the biggest names in online business were hacked, as well as an insulin provider, respiratory therapist, and yet another of California's departments.

Credential stuffing occurs when one hack, usually a surprisingly small one, offers a hacker the ability to steal someone's login credentials for one site, profile, or account and attempts to use it to gain access to other accounts in the same person's name.

Every company that has to do with medical information or practices, from insurance to pharmaceuticals, will never stop being a target for hackers.

Near the end of 2022, we saw a rapid and alarming rise in costly mistakes, mostly emails sent to unauthorized parties. Not only can this ruin employees' lives and careers, but thousands (if not millions) of people have been affected by this trend.

Medical institutions have been facing a heightened risk of data breaches. We've seen constant reporting of hospitals, insurance companies, and therapy offices being hacked, and there is little we can do to stop it.

Credential stuffing attacks are more common than one might think. This type of attack occurs when a hacker or other form of criminal finds personal credentials, usually log-in and account information, and uses that information to attempt to access your other accounts.

We gather a few numbers and information throughout our lifetimes that must be protected at all costs. A social security number is the first and most crucial piece of information we use in every area of our lives.

We can all remember opening that first computer on Christmas day. Then we turned it on, and wave after wave of nonsensical advertisements competed for space on the monitor.

As the new year kicks off, hackers seem to have made their resolutions to "make this year even bigger than years past. " We've already seen schools and hospitals thrown off their axes.

Every single one of us has wanted to open that email that says we won a trip to the Bahamas, but we know it's a scam. Some wear better disguises, like an important email from your place of work, but we still get the vacation emails because they work.

Ransomware groups are rising to prominence in more recent years than ever before. Two hundred years ago, this equivalent would have been kidnapping a member of high society and demanding a ransom.

Experian is one of the largest credit bureaus in the world. It serves over a billion people, about 235 million of whom are Americans.

LockBit ransomware gang was, as of September 2022, the most prolific ransomware group in the world. It has hundreds of confirmed attacks around the globe, and if they truthfully claimed this attack, it can only spell trouble for the California government and residents. 

No other number carries importance for Americans the same as their Social Security number (SSN). You need an SSN to get the many benefits Americans are entitled to.

Throughout history, manipulation of human behavior has been used by some of the vilest people imaginable. It has also been used in some everyday applications.

Vice Society is a Russian ransomware group that targets public and private education systems. The group was responsible for the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) hack, which affected more than 300,000 teachers and students from LA. They were also behind various hacks and breaches that left multiple colleges and universities crippled through 2021 and 2022.

First things first: Happy New Year from our team at IDStrong!   As far as hacks go, this year hasn't started at the best pace, but we like to remain on the bright side.

We've seen a lot of hacks over the years, but a fast-food chain is not one that you immediately think of. A hacker is more likely to attack a credit bureau, hospital, or school system in search of the information they want, but if you think about it, Five Guys isn't that bad of a target.

Over the years, Twitter has become a thriving online metropolis of sorts. Over 450 million people use the worldwide platform, making it the 16th largest social media platform.

People familiar with data security are aware of the problems associated with hospital security. It doesn't matter how extensive the hospital's systems are, how hard it is to hack, or how many precautions are in place.

There are a lot of places you would never think of as being a target for hackers. However, when these places, companies, or platforms are hacked, we're never really surprised.

Cyberstalking has taken on a life of its own with the internet, email, and other similar forms of communication. Predators no longer need to map out a target's routine; they simply attach an electronic tracking device and maliciously harass another person. 

Gift cards are a great way to give others presents if they have run out of time or just do not know what gift to buy. Gift cards can be purchased everywhere, from grocery stores to the merchants who issue them.

Creditors have several ways to collect bad debts from people who do not pay their bills. One of the last and most harsh options is wage and bank account garnishment.

Anyone that knows anything about cybersecurity – even the most basic knowledge – knows that most cybercrimes motives are money (a ransomware attack), fame (teapotuberhacker, the teenage boy responsible for the Grand Theft Auto VI and Uber breaches in mid-2022), and political statements (Anonymous).

We've talked the last few weeks about the holiday crime rate and how it rises above most of the rest of the year. We've talked about how hospitals and schools are prime targets for hackers because of the plethora of information they contain.

Buying your own home is the American Dream, but it might seem out of reach to those with bad credit. However, the good news is, if your credit is less than perfect, you do still have options and in most cases, can still buy a home.

Any good IT article on computers and network security will address the importance of strong, secure passwords. However, the challenge of good passwords is that most people have a hard time remembering them, so they use simple or obvious ones that pose a security risk.

Senior scams are becoming a major epidemic for two reasons. First, seniors often have a lot of money in the bank from a life of working hard and saving.

The dark web, also known as the "darknet", is a portion of the internet that lies outside the boundaries of traditional search engines.

Your Wi-Fi network is another handy access point that hackers use to infiltrate your computers, steal your identity, and grab your personal details.

Six databases that were owned by Friend Finder Networks, Inc. suffered a massive data breach in 2016, which cost 412 million users their accounts.

In this highly digital age, it is near impossible to erase all information online about yourself, but you can do a lot to remove online information and minimize your risk of identity theft or worse. 

With all our technology and connectedness comes a price, vulnerability. Now more than ever before, our credit and identities are at risk from cybercriminals, thieves, and hackers.