Auto Theft Protection Offered With New Biometric Auto Anti-Theft Device

According to the National Insurance Crime Bureau auto theft is one of the biggest problems in the United States today, with approximately 3,000 cars being stolen per day. And now a Boca Raton, Florida company, Hawk Systems, is trying to do something about it.

They’ve developed an innovative fingerprint authentication technology that offers a proactive biometric security device. Their new device takes a preventative rather than a reactive approach to protecting the nation’s vehicles.

Most other systems, such as car alarms and GPS are reactive systems in that emit radio signals or noise when a car is being stolen. The innovative Hawk system is a multi-layer live fingerprint identification security device that will render a car, truck, or SUV inoperable for any non-authorized person who is in the process of trying to start it. Then, unless it is towed away, it won’t be going anywhere.

CEO Michael Diamant believes, “with an increase in vehicle thefts occurring, people will see the benefit to protecting their vehicle before it is stolen rather than trying to locate and recover it after the fact.”

The company believes that its technology can also be used to help secure hotel and casino operations, banks, employee time clocks, sporting events, and more.
http://www.newsaroundtheworldtoday.com/auto-theft-protection-offered-with-new-biometric-auto-anti-theft-device/1231522/

Hotel Credit Card Scam

This is kinda scary if only because of how simple it is!

You arrive at your hotel and check in at the front desk. When checking in, you give the front desk your credit card (for all the charges for your room). You get to your room and settle in.

Someone calls the front desk and asked for (example) Room 620 (which happens to be your room). Your phone rings in your room.

You answer and the person on the other end says the following. 'This is the front desk. When checking in, we came cross a problem with your charge card information. Please re-read me your credit card number and verify the last 3 digits numbers at the reverse side of your charge card.'

Not thinking anything you might give this person your information, since the call seems to come from the front desk. But actually, it is a scam of someone calling from outside the hotel/front desk.

They ask for a random room number. Then, ask you for credit card information and address information. Sounding so professional that you do think you are talking to the front desk.

If you ever encounter this problem on your vacation, tell the caller that you will be down at the front desk to clear up any problems... Then, go to the front desk and ask if there was a problem. If there was none, inform the manager of the hotel that someone called to scam you of your credit card information acting like a front desk employee.

Car brands: Who owns what?

To help clear up some of the confusion, here is a road map to navigate who owns what brands among the major companies that sell in the U.S. car market.

BMW owns: BMW, Mini, and Rolls Royce

Fiat owns: Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, Fiat, Lancia, Maserati; Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep–20-percent stake

Ford Motor Company owns: Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, Volvo (for now), and still owns 13.4 percent of Mazda

General Motors owns: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC. Also owns a controlling interest in Daewoo, as well as Opel and Vauxhall in Europe and Holden in Australia. (Pontiac to be discontinued)

Honda owns: Honda, Acura

Hyundai owns: Hyundai, Kia

Tata Motors (India) owns: Jaguar and Land Rover

Mazda (partially owned by Ford)

Mitsubishi

Daimler AG owns: Mercedes-Benz and Smart

Nissan owns: Nissan and Infiniti (Nissan is owned by Renault--France)

Porsche owns: Porsche and a majority share in Volkswagen

Subaru (A controlling interest of Subaru is owned by Toyota)

Suzuki

Toyota Motor Company owns: Lexus, Toyota, Scion, Daihatsu and Hino Motors, with a stake in Fuji Industries (Subaru’s parent company) and Isuzu

Volkswagen owns: Audi, Volkswagen, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, and overseas SEAT and Skoda.

In formal negotiations to be sold:

Hummer: Tengzhong (China)
Saturn: Penske Automotive Group
Saab: Koenigsegg (Sweden)

Biometric Scans Lead to 75,000 Arrests at Airport

In 2009, more than 75,000 people travelling through Dubai International Airport were arrested following iris scans. The numbers of arrests were up by 4,000 compared to the previous year. In most cases, those arrested were people who had previously been deported from the UAE and were trying to re-enter. They were simply kicked out again.

Vigilant immigration staff also spotted 1,200 forged passports. This was among 12 million arrivals and 12 million departures of the course of 2009.

According to figures quoted in an interview, there were only 16 complaints from the public, down from 29 in 2008.

Top 5 Reasons Employees Quit

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, turnover costs an organization 33% of an employees total compensation.

So the employee making $30,000 total annually, would cost you over $10,000 to replace. And that's just the financial impact. There is also a negative impact on overall morale and productivity.

Additionally, results from those who have utilized our W.A.V.E.S.™ (Workforce Attitude and Voicing Employee Satisfaction) Survey have revealed some shocking statistics regarding potential turnover:

>  33% say they would consider leaving their current company for a better offer;

>  20% say they are unhappy with how their bonus is determined;

>  22% say they could use more training; and

>  well over 1/3 of employees say that senior management does NOT understand the obstacles faced by employees or the company!

To prevent turnover and its effects on the entire company, it is imperative for management to understand WHY employees quit. From our recent research, the top five reasons for staff to voluntarily leave their position are:

1. Unhappy with compensation/benefits for work performed
2. No recognition for a job performance/goals achieved
3. Too little training/coaching and feedback
4. Lack of communication (primarly with management)
5. Loss of confidence in company leadership

Will you lose over 1/3 of your good employees because of one or more of these reasons?

If you don't know the answer to that, you should. Many companies we've interviewed about using our W.A.V.E.S.™ Survey have actually confessed that they are "scared to see the results". We encourage all organizations to find out now before it's too late, otherwise they may find that they'll be spending 10 times more in money and time to replace employees than they would have spent to avoid the turnover in the first place.

Visit http://www.plotkingroup.com/Newsletter_Additional_Resources/PlotkinGroup-Article-JUN10-Reasons-Employees-Quit.php

for more information.

More Examples of ID Theft

New $100 Bill With Security Features Unveiled

Federal authorities on Wednesday joined to unveil the new hundred dollar bill, a bill that will combine the usual portrait of Ben Franklin, and some previously added security enhancements, with a pair of brand new, advanced counterfeit-deterrent security features.

The government's new design of the $100 bill combines a portrait of Benjamin Franklin and some security enhancements.

Treasury, and the U.S. Secret Service, and features a blue three-dimensional security ribbon and an interpretation of the classic liberty bell image which, when tilted, changes colors from copper to green, making the bell appear to disappear and reappear in an inkwell.

U.S. Treasurer Rosie Rios said these new security features "come after more than a decade of research and development to protect our currency from counterfeiting."

"To ensure a seamless introduction of the new $100 note into the financial system, we will continue global public education of retailers, financial institutions and industry organizations to ensure that consumers and merchants are aware of the new security features," she added.

A watermark portrait of Ben Franklin, a security thread, and a large, color-shifting "100" have been carried over from the previous design, and the new $100 bill will also includes phrases from the Declaration of Independence and a newly designed, larger image of Independence Hall.

The $100 bill "is the most widely circulated and most often counterfeited denomination outside the U.S.," according to the release.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said that the 6.5 billion $100s that are currently in circulation "will remain legal tender," adding that "U.S. currency users should know they will not have to trade in their old design notes when the new notes begin circulating."

Exactly when the new notes will be circulated has not yet been determined.

Click to enlarge

Are We in The Novelty Phase of Social Media? Is it Coming to An End?

Most marketers would agree that social media marketing is one of the more exciting parts of our job. It's new, growing and best of all, has low costs, which offers us the potential of huge ROI.

The problem is that the novelty phase of social media is coming to an end and we're now faced with the tough questions:

• What is the goal of our social media marketing program?

• What is the ROI?

• Does our social media marketing generate quality leads?

• What metrics should we follow to measure the success of our social marketing?

• How does our social marketing integrate with other tactics like email and search?

• Why should we invest time and resources in social media marketing?

• Are we doing the right things in social media marketing?

The economy is so bad that …

The economy is so bad that …

• I got a pre-declined credit card in the mail.

• African television stations are now showing 'Sponsor an American Child' commercials!

• I ordered a burger at McDonald's and the kid behind the counter asked, "Can you afford fries with that?"

• CEOs are now playing miniature golf.

• Merck laid off 25 Congressmen.

• My ATM gave me an IOU!

• A stripper was killed when her audience showered her with rolls of pennies while she danced.

• I bought a toaster oven and my free gift with purchase was a bank.

• Barack Obama changed his slogan to "Maybe We Can!"

• If the bank returns your check marked "Insufficient Funds," you call them and ask if they meant you or them.

• McDonald's is selling the 1/4 ouncer.

• Angelina Jolie adopted a child from America.

• Parents in Beverly Hills fired their nannies and learned their children’s names.

• My cousin had an exorcism but couldn't afford to pay for it, and they re-possessed her!

• A truckload of Americans was caught sneaking into Mexico.

• Motel Six won't leave the light on anymore.

• A picture is now only worth 200 words.

• They renamed Wall Street "Wal-Mart Street."

• When Bill and Hillary travel together, they now have to share a room.

• The Treasure Island casino in Las Vegas is now managed by Somali pirates

Online Malware Trade Dubbed ‘Fraud-as-a-Service’

 http://www.cutimes.com/news/2010/6/Pages/Online-Malware-Trade-Dubbed-FraudasaService.aspx?utm_source=cutimes&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=traffic&cmpid=cutimes

Fraudsters have gotten so efficient at creating, selling and deploying malware that one major Internet security firm now calls it “fraud-as-a-service.”

Like legitimate software-as-a-service, the computer tools are offered through their underground industry in an increasingly commoditized fashion, according to RSA, The Security Division of EMC.

The firm–which claims to have shut down almost 300,000 phishing attacks and protects more than 300 organizations–said that its latest analysis found compromised e-mail addresses at 60% of the Fortune 500 companies and that fully 88% of the domains used by those same companies had been infected to some extent by the Zeus keystroke-logging Trojan alone.

Credit unions, however, seem to be falling out of favor a bit with phishers, drawing only 4% of attacks on U.S. financial institutions in March, down from 22% in March 2009 and compared with 57% on national banks and 39% on regional banks, RSA said.

ATM Skimmers Coming to an ATM in Your Neighborhood

This is an excellent post on ATM skimmers, this time with a report on the state of the art in commercially available artisan-crafted skimmers that can be bought through the criminal underground (accept no imitations!):

Generally, these custom-made devices are not cheap, and you won't find images of them plastered all over the Web. Take these pictures, for instance, which were obtained directly from an ATM skimmer maker in Russia. This custom-made skimmer kit is designed to fit on an NCR ATM model 5886, and it is sold on a few criminal forums for about 8,000 Euro -- shipping included. It consists of two main parts: The upper portion is a carefully molded device that fits over the card entry slot and is able to read and record the information stored on the card's magnetic stripe (I apologize for the poor quality of the pictures: According to the Exif data included in these images, they were taken earlier this year with a Nokia 3250 phone).

The second component is a PIN capture device that is essentially a dummy metal plate with a look-alike PIN entry pad designed to rest direct on top of the actual PIN pad, so that any keypresses will be both sent to the real ATM PIN pad and recorded by the fraudulent PIN pad overlay

Meet the face of Big Brother

THE New South Wales State Government is quietly compiling a mathematical map of almost every adult's face, sharing information that allows law enforcement to track people by CCTV.

Experts said few people realized their facial features were being recorded in an RTA database of drivers licence photos that the Government has allowed both state and federal police to access. The federal body CrimTrac has asked NSW for its database so it can be mined nationally by police using the facial recognition information contained in it.

University experts in facial recognition said the correct match rate was as low as 90 per cent, meaning the names of people with faces sharing a similar structure to criminals could be returned in searches.

Dr Carolyn Semmler from the University of Adelaide said police wanted to eventually use facial recognition in smart CCTV cameras allowing people to be tracked anywhere there was a camera.

Wi-Fi key-cracking kits sold in China mean free Internet

Dodgy salesmen in China are making money from long-known weaknesses in a Wi-Fi encryption standard, by selling network key-cracking kits for the average user.

Wi-Fi USB adapters bundled with a Linux operating system, key-breaking software and a detailed instruction book are being sold online and at China's bustling electronics bazaars. The kits, pitched as a way for users to surf the Web for free, have drawn enough buyers and attention that one Chinese auction site, Taobao.com, had to ban their sale last year.

With one of the "network-scrounging cards," or "ceng wang ka" in Chinese, a user with little technical knowledge can easily steal passwords to get online via Wi-Fi networks owned by other people.

Chinese Internet censorship: An inside lookLenovo looks for strong finish at Beijing OlympicsSpammers leverage interest in OlympicsU.S. Congressmen accuse China of hacking their computers

View more related contentGet Daily News by EmailThe kits are also cheap. A merchant in a Beijing bazaar sold one for 165 yuan ($24), a price that included setup help from a man at the other end of the sprawling, multistory building.

The main piece of the kits, an adapter with a six-inch antenna that plugs into a USB port, comes with a CD-ROM to install its driver and a separate live CD-ROM that boots up an operating system called BackTrack. In BackTrack, the user can run applications that try to obtain keys for two protocols used to secure Wi-Fi networks, WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) and WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access). After a successful attack by the applications, called Spoonwep and Spoonwpa, a user can restart Windows and use the revealed key to access its Wi-Fi network.

(Read the entire article at: http://www.networkworld.com/news/2010/050510-wi-fi-key-cracking-kits-sold-in.html)

Daddy , how was I born?

A little boy goes to his father and asks 'Daddy, how was I born?'

The father answers, 'Well, son, I guess one day you will need to find out anyway! Your Mom and I first got together in a chat room on Yahoo. Then I set up a date via e-mail with your Mom and we met at a cyber-cafe. We sneaked into a secluded room, and googled each other.

There your mother agreed to a download from my hard drive. As soon as I was ready to upload, we discovered that neither one of us had used a firewall, and since it was too late to hit the delete button, nine months later a little Pop-Up appeared that said:

Scroll down...You'll love this ...

'You got Male!

BIGGER IS NOT BETTER: Kinecta and NuVision Head to $5 Billion Mega Merger

The boards of the $3.5 billion Kinecta FCU and $1.2 billion NuVision FCU have announced their intent to merge into an institution that will serve 300,000 members in two Southern California counties. What will this produce?  Easy, a $5 billion institution. I'm certain many old time CU leaders are rolling over in their graves. Do these CUs feel they cannot survive unless they merge? There's a bunch of "quitters" here somewhere and it's a shame to see one (or both) throw in the towel.

The Manhattan Beach-based Kinecta will be the surviving institution. Although the two are just now beginning due diligence and have yet to file formal merger documents with NCUA, Huntington Beach-based NuVision now shares CEO Roger Ballard with Kinecta; he took executive control of both institutions yesterday.

Interim CEO Steve Lumm, who retired as Addison Avenue FCU’s CEO in 2007, said he was under contract with Kinecta’s board as a consultant, and wasn’t interested in the permanent position.

A general strategy discussion between Ballard and Lumm evolved into “what if” brainstorming which revealed two credit unions and boards open to merger discussions. They share aerospace legacies and SEG Boeing, which has large employment facilities in both Los Angeles and Orange Counties.

Does this send a signal that all CUs under $1 billion are be in trouble? Will the day come where trillion dollar credit unions cannot survive and will need to merge? Is bigger really better?

http://www.cutimes.com/News/2010/6/Pages/Kinecta-and-NuVision-Head-to-5-Billion-Mega-Merger.aspx