DON'T ACCEPT SWEETIES FROM STRANGERS...

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[Updated 17th March 2013] Hello everyone! It’s been a long time since I wrote on this blog and I have to say, there have been so many interesting things happening that I haven’t really been able to make my mind up on what to talk about... What spurred me into action was a combination of various industry discussions and security conferences, the fact that lots of us are busily preparing for the festive season (or wishing they were!) and that all the children in my life are SO technically savvy...

WHO ARE YOU PREACHING TO ANYWAY?...

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I recently was privileged enough to be asked to present at a merchant forum in London. Interestingly, the intended recipients had been very much in the driving seat since they had selected the topics themselves. After my previous posts (Part 1 and Part 2) on connecting the dots between information security, risk and fraud, you can imagine my pleasure that I, alongside my fellow speakers, were asked to do just that... A delightfully interactive audience, some very interesting chats at the breaks and the recent buzz about the value of security conferences prompted me to share some thoughts on how actively to engage with your stakeholders and get the results you need...

5 STEPS TO A SUCCESSFUL SOCIAL ATTACK - What's Your Threshold?...

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In a previous post, I highlighted that mass marketing fraud against individuals cost the UK economy £3.5 billion in 2011, that is ten time more than the cost of plastic card fraud in the same year, or equivalent to the total fraud losses incurred by the financial services sector in the same period! Sobering perpective, don't you think? We all know that mass marketing fraud is where criminals aim to defraud multiple individuals to maximise revenue by persuading victims to transfer monies in advance in exchange for promised goods, services or benefits. And we all know that this is usually done via mass-communications media (such as telephone calls, letters, emails and text messages) and ranges from foreign lottery/ sweepstake frauds through to ponzi schemes and romance frauds or any other abuse of trust... So, we all know better, don't we?... 

DATA PROTECTION AND ALL THAT – WHAT DO YOU THINK?...

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Well, January is nearly over and it’s time to look at all the research that’s been produced over the past year to try and draw meaningful and usable statistics...

I do this very selfishly before starting in anger on the conference circuit as I like to have up-to-date figures and stats in my presentations (and let’s face it, we all love numbers! ;-)

Today, I focus on the research produced by the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) in the two following reports Report on Information Commissioner's Office Annual Track 2011 - Individuals and Report on Information Commissioner's Office Annual Track 2011 - Organisations.