To protect the innocent, let us assume that my email address is Booyahhh@gmail.com. It isn't, so please don't search it. Yesterday, "Booyahhh" received an email from PeopleWhizz, claiming that someone had tried to verify my identify... or creditworthiness... or reputation, or some such thing.
I deleted the email. But then, I became incensed, so I looked up PeopleWhizz and discovered that the Better Business Bureau gives them an A. Perhaps, then, although they do not know my name, and want me to visit their site to see who is looking up "Booyahhh", they might be ok. I read the complaints.
As I understand it, and I might be wildly mistaken, PeopleWhizz charges visitors $27 or thereabouts in order to find out who is looking up their derogatory information. In order to remove the derogatory, and even libellous misinformation, a visitor (such as "Booyahhh") must provide a photograph and a copy of a driver's license.
Apparently, the Better Business Bureau finds it entirely satisfactory if PeopleWhizz returns Booyahhh's $27, if "Booyahhh" is unhappy with whatever information is on the site (or is not on the site at all). My objection is, PeopleWhizz still has the photograph and all the information that was on the driver's license, and the information from the credit card.
Other leaks of data in recent days include OpenSea, Flagstar Bank, MGM Resorts, and more.
What Happened?
OpenSea, an NFT marketplace, has reported a data breach exposing 1.8 million email addresses. With this information, cybercriminals could target users with spam or phishing attempts to access additional personal information which could lead to identity theft.
What should I do about it?
If you are a user of OpenSea, be cautious of any email you receive with an address similar to ‘OpenSea.io’:
- Only engage with emails from the exact domain ‘opensea.io’
- Never download anything from an OpenSea email
- Carefully check the spelling of any URL links in an OpenSea email
Whether you have been affected by this specific breach or not, it is always important to update any software you use and change your passwords often. You can read more about the breach from OpenSea here.
What Happened?
A data breach affecting 1.5 million customers of Flagstar Bank includes full names and Social Security numbers. If exploited by cybercriminals, they could use this stolen information to commit identity theft.
What Happened?
Personal information from a 2019 MGM Resort data breach of at least 30 million customers has recently been dumped onto an online messaging app – free for the taking. If exploited by cybercriminals, they could use this stolen information to commit identity theft by targeting victims with spam or phishing attempts.
The legal bloggers of Shamis & Gentile would like Samsung phone users to be aware of an issue concerning Illinois residents' faces.
If you own a Samsung Galaxy phone or tablet and you store photos in the Gallery app, you may be entitled to compensation. Shamis & Gentile, P.A. is helping owners of certain Samsung Galaxy phones and tablets take action after allegations surfaced that Samsung is unlawfully collecting and storing facial scans of Illinois residents. If you own a Samsung Galaxy phone or tablet, submit your claim today!
One might extrapolate that the faces of other States' residents might also have been scraped, but only Illinois has made a class action suit worthwhile, cynic that one is.
On the plus side, the Copyrightalliance has negotiated a deal for copyrightalliance members (membership is free) to subscribe for $5.95 pcm to "rightsclick", which seems to be a very helpful service to keep creators on track with organizing and protecting their intellectual property.
RightsClick is currently offering our creator members a very special subscription rate of $5.95/month through the rest of 2022 by using code MYWORKCA22. This is a limited offer that could fill up fast. So learn more today at rightsclick.com and then click the button below to sign up for this special offer!
Sign up here
Use different browsers for different use cases. More private browsers like DuckDuckGo, Brave, and Firefox are better for more sensitive activities. Keeping separate browsers can protect against accidental data spillover from one aspect of your life into another.Use a secondary email address and/or phone number to register sensitive accounts or give to contacts with whom you don’t want to associate too closely. Google Voice is a free secondary phone number. Protonmail and Tutanota are free email services that offer many privacy protections that more common providers like Gmail do not, such as end-to-end encryption when emailing others also on Protonmail and Tutanota, and fewer embedded tracking mechanisms on the service itself.Use a VPN when you need to dissociate your internet connection from what you’re doing online. Be wary of VPN products that sell themselves as cure-all solutions.
In case I did not mention this in a previous post, if you receive unwanted texts from strangers, as long as they are not charities or politicians, you can text back STOP, and if they do not stop, you can sue them.
Happy Fourth!
All the best,
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