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An 'Ethical Hacker' On Protecting Your Identity

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the what-with-the-who-now dept.

qwqwss writes "Canada.com is running an article by Terry Cutler, a 'certified Ethical Hacker', who wants to get the word out to people on protecting their identities from a growing number of risks. The piece covers shopping online, keeping your personal information contained, and avenues of inquiry if your identity is stolen."

10 of 159 comments (clear)

  1. I don't want to be a killjoy, but... by winkydink · · Score: 2, Insightful

    ...was there really anything mentioned in that article that your typical /. reader didn't already know?

    --

    "I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismometer." -Ken Kesey

    1. Re:I don't want to be a killjoy, but... by pseudorand · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Well, I'd never though of always typing in the wrong pin first to verify that the ATM is actually connected to the ATM network. But I'm also not sure I believe the keylogger keypad connected to wifi thing either. I imagined ATMs were tamper resistant such that the bank would be notified if anything was disconnected.

  2. Online identity theft = FUD? by porkmusket · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Does anyone else think that online identity theft is exaggerated? I mean, I have seen stats for identity theft in general, but not specifically for online identity theft. It strikes me as an insurance company/bank/credit card company ploy to make money. They take the internet, something a lot people don't understand, paint it as a major source of fraud, and ask you to pay $10/mo for their 'identity protection' services.

    I have a feeling that the mjaority involvement of the internet in these crimes is as a vehicle for the transmission or cracking or databases made available by poor security practices.

  3. Simple: post AC! by mangu · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I can't really understand why /. always has these news about protecting one's identity, but when someone wants to post a comment and remain anonymous they call him a "coward"...

  4. "Contained" by Short+Circuit · · Score: 2, Insightful
    keeping your personal information contained


    Last week, I tasked myself with determining ways to contact 72 Slashdot users. (People who'd responded to a subset of my journals in the past.) I found email addresses for fifty of them, instant messenger IDs for three others, profiles in other communities for five of them, and other ways to contact all the rest but four. That's a success rate of 94%. Oh, and I didn't spend a cent on acces to databases. Google and WHOIS was sufficient for most of them.

    My recommendations to those in the Slashdot community who want to keep their lives private:

    • Use an anonymizer to sign up for domain names. I found a bunch of email addresses through WHOIS.
    • Don't base your username on the whole or parts of your Real name.
    • Above all, avoid using the same username on multiple communities. If I know your username, and even a small bit of information about your interests (Like, "You read Slashdot"), I can find your profile on plenty of other websites.


    For those of you who've failed any of those three tests already, well, it's likely to be a long, uphill battle if you want to regain your privacy.
    --
    tasks(723) drafts(105) languages(484) examples(29106)
  5. LOL @ CEH! by ninja_assault_kitten · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I love how they make him seem qualitifed because he's a "CERTIFED ETHICAL HACKER". This is equivalent to A+ Certification in the generic IT space.

  6. certifed ethical hacker by falconwolf · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Apparently, 'certifed ethical hacker' is an actual cert one can get. But I don't think I would the term 'hacker' to appear anywhere on my resume. Unless I was trying to get a job with some black hat pseudo legal firm...that'd been sweet.

    I've never heard of any certification for ethical hackers before reading this article. What organization issues the cert? Once upon a tyme I read about the Model Railroad Club at MIT, the WOZ, and others and I wanted to be a hacker like them. Alas back then adjective "ethical" wasn't needed, but reporters and the mass media has bastardized the word. When I read where a reporter goes on about how hackers are bad I want to ask "so why are you a hacker?" Many people may not recall or know it but "hackers" is what reporters were once called. Though I'm not sure I think they are referred to as hackers in "Citizen Kane" made in 1941.

    Falcon
    --
    Should there be a Law?
  7. Re:Hiding your credit report by Eivind · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Thats pretty close to how it works in Norway. For marketing of any sort adressed directly to you. There is a single govnerment-maintained list where you can opt to not receive direct marketing.

    Companies that do direct marketing send their lists in, and get them back without those persons who have opted out. They learn nothing new about you in the process, other than the fact that you've opted out.

    For electronic marketing (email, sms, fax) it's opt-in rather than opt-out. In other words, they cannot legally do it unless you've given prior, informed consent to that. The logic is that this in this type of marketing, the recipient typically pays a large part of the cost. Marketers are less likely to abuse say paper-based marketing as that actually costs them to print and distribute. (compare the quality of the marketing in the average paper-based marketing and the average spam you receive to see what I mean..)

    For unadressed "distributed to all" marketing there's a small sticker you can put on your mailbox, and you won't get any.

    In short, you can eliminate receiving any marketing by following 3 simple steps:

    • Register yourself to opt-out of direct marketing. (one phone-call or one visit to the opt-out list.
    • Do not agree to receive direct marketing when companies ask.
    • Get a small sticker and put it on your mailbox.
  8. Re:How does one judge "ethical"? by rohan972 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Something like: has a knowable standard of behavior and lives by it.

    It's about predictability. I have friends with a different standard of ethics than I do, but that's ok, if I know what it is, I can know what to trust them with.

    Not a conclusive definition, but that's a fair part of how I assess ethics.

    --
    http://marriedmansexlife.com/
  9. Re:Get your CEH creditial now! by Drathus · · Score: 3, Insightful
    Apparently, 'certifed ethical hacker' is an actual cert one can get. But I don't think I would the term 'hacker' to appear anywhere on my resume.
    I've actually taken a CEH prep course, but that was because my boss had been pressuring me to take a class, and it was a week away from work paid. The information it covers is very basic, the vast majority of it is based on the "tools" used. They spend a bit of time covering how you're supposed to operate as a CEH, but there's so much material that even with five full day classes we were rushed when moving through it all.