Identity Theft & Fraud- Data breaches, Is your Smartphone at risk?

"Data Breaches" to national/local businesses, banks and online threats, and Smartphones are on the rise. Everyday we read about another major businesses such as Citi Bank, Sony, Google's Gmail, Epsilon, RSA Security, SecurID, Lockheed Martin all being illegal accessed by "hacktivist" (CU Info Security 6/10) and putting personal information at risk for fraud.

Federal and State laws are being enacted to assure that consumers are notified of a possible data breach in a timely fashion and encouraging consumers to check their credit reports and monitor suspicious activity on credit cards or calls about purchases being made and shipped  to unfamiliar addresses.

In December of  2010, the Kaspersky Lab Security News Service posted a report called "Enterprise Mobile Security Survey",(http://www.threatpost.com/)  that is an eye opener about the impact on businesses that are using Smartphones for E-commerce decisions and the lack of security software on the devices.

All sectors of business, schools, and organizations are creating "acceptable use policies -AUP" in order to make employees/users aware of how to protect their Smartphones, avoid visiting non-approved websites that may have malware or trojans that can access their systems and turning off features when not in use.
Identity Theft and Fraud interview with WXYZ Channel 7, Detroit MI.-
object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" id="video" width="320" height="280" data="http://www.wxyz.com/video/videoplayer.swf?dppversion=10783"><param

National Night Out 2011, It's still an important community event!

The National Association of Town Watch started the National Night Out (NNO) event in the early 90's. This events intent/purpose is to heighten crime and drug prevention awareness, it is yet a relevant and important message for our communities. 

CPAM embraced  NNO with it's member agencies and members of retail, law enforcement and the private sector. Grants to assist with NNO were also budgeted for members to apply for to support their efforts and law enforcement joined to created a community wide event that "all agencies could treat as one event". It was great to plan and pull off the events with everyones help.

During this planning time every agency had a crime prevention officer or C.O.P's officer involved in their community and this was the perfect group to help bring the community out to participate and join in the effort to increase the "eyes and ears" block-by-block.

Budget constraints and department downsizing has changed how many agencies participate in the NNO event. Many agencies can't create over time so those that can participate help plan with their respective communities.

The NATW (http://www.nationalnightout.org) has great resources for those that have a budget but you can also do this event with a limited budget and volunteers, the most important aspect has always been, meeting with residents, presenting a message that "we're here for you when needed" , and providing resources from non-profits and services to the community.

R. Coleman, Leg. Rep. CPAM