Banks are turning to facial recognition technology to combat fraud, according to Reuters news story this week. (Stock image)
Technology that detects bank customers using false photo identification is a growing crime fighting tool, according to a Reuters news article published Monday.
For a second time in two weeks Sony has been targeted by hackers whole stole customer data. In the first incident, which Sony described as an unauthorized intrusion to their PlayStation Network, which has 75 million members’ with their personal information registered to it.
In the meantime, Sony has cautioned users on its US blog website to be wary of any emails purporting to be from Sony and that ask for passwords or other information. Sony states that they will never send emails to its customers asking for personal information.
Sony began what it called a “phased restoration” on the PlayStation Network, which supports online gaming, chat and media downloads between PlayStation 3 console systems, following a 9-day shutdown caused by a hacker attack shortly before the Easter weekend.
The latest data breach announced today involved 2007 credit and debit card data affecting 25 million people, according to media reports.
In related news, Canada’s privacy and information commissioner is investigating the information breaches, and a Toronto-based law firm has commenced a $1 billion class-action suit on behalf of Sony PlayStation owners whose personal information may have been stolen.
U.S. Attorney General Eric Flood heads the Department of Justice. Yesterday the DOJ announced charges a major cyber-crime investigation. Photo: Lonnie Tague/DOJ
A crime network that used a “bot-net” to infect over 2 million personal computers to steal financial data has been shut down, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
"Wild Fields" by Greg Harris, one of three paintings stolen last week from a Yorkville gallery. Image: Toronto Police Service handout.
The Odon Wagner Gallery in Yorkville was broken into last week and three paintings valued at $73,000 were stolen, according to Toronto Police.
File Image: Wellesley Consulting Services.
Debit card fraud is on the decline as chip technology rolls out nationwide in Canada, according to a QMI Agency report this week.
The report follows an Interac Association release on Monday which said losses to debit frauds were down 16% over the previous year to $119 million in 2010. The lower losses meant less reimbursements to customers who were victims of fraud.
Fraudsters stealing debit card information and cloning the data on to other cards is believed to be the largest group of payment card frauds. Chip-enabled debit cards specifically target this type of “skimming” fraud by making it more difficult for criminals to create clone cards.
According to the article, fraud occurs in about 0.1% of Interac’s 4 billion annual payment card transactions, which suggests debit cards are still a very secure method of payment.
Interac recommends consumers using debit cards try inserting chip-enabled cards into a chip-reading card slot first, when making retail payments. If the terminal is not chip-enabled, the user will be prompted to swipe. If the terminal is chip-enabled, it avoids an unnecessary swipe of the card’s unencrypted magnetic stripe.
Consumers should also keep a list of card numbers and the lost/stolen card contact information for each card. Although the contact numbers are on the cards, you won’t have them handy should the card be lost or stolen. Keeping the numbers handy, in a smartphone’s password vault or written in a safe place, means you can contact the issuing financial institution quickly should a card be lost.
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