how paranoid should one really be?

"nightjar" nightjar@insert my surname here wrote:

"David Horne, _the_ chancellor (*)" wrote in message
...
"nightjar" nightjar@insert my surname here wrote:

"David Horne, _the_ chancellor (*)" wrote in message
...
[]
That can take time. Having an online solution is quickest- why not have
it in addition?

It is really not a good idea to have any personal information online;
certainly not an image of your passport. Online data is a rich source of
information for identity theft.

It's up to the individual what they do, of course, but I don't agree
that it's unsafe. Indeed, it's been very handy in a few countries where
various employers have needed a copy of my passport, and I didn't have
it on my person. I just went on their computer and printed off a copy.

It would still be more secure to have the data held off line and sent only
when you need it.

It would be even more secure if I didn't have a record of it anywhere.
I've never had an email account broken into.

The biggest threat, at least in the UK, to online security is through
phishing.

The biggest threat, according to my bank, is dishonest employees of
companies with legitimate access to secure data.

Phishing is what causes most online UK bank fraud.

Certainly that is about the
only way anyone could have found out enough to try, unsucessfully, to get
the address changed on my credit card and a new card issued to that address.
I cross-cut shred anything with even my name and address on it, then compost
the shreddings.

Have you not considered it might be the utterly crap postal service?
I've received several credit cards (judging by the feel of the envelope)
which were put though my door, and neither addressed to me or sent to
the correct address.

My own bank is going to be sending out card readers to their
online customers as a result. This is something other countries have
done for years. It's in direct response to various customers giving out
their password details etc. as a response to phishing emails.

I like the system used by Barclays' business banking. You dial their
computer on a direct line, get a code that has to be entered into a credit
card sized device that creates a counter-code, which you have to send in
reply. The system times out fairly quickly and three wrong attempts will
lock the account.

I don't like any of these systems. Most of the time, I'm just checking
my accounts, and fortunately I'll still be able to do that stuff without
the silly card reader. I don't mind having to use it to transfer funds
into accounts other than mine.

I've kept this kind of information online for over a decade by the way.
I'd be more worried about someone breaking into my flat and stealing my
passport, and that's hellishly unlikely too.

Your flat is only vulnerable to local criminals. Online data is under
constant attack from well organised criminal gangs world wide.

Luckily, I've neither been broken into, or had someone access my email
account.

--
(*) ... of the royal duchy of city south and deansgate
http://www.davidhorne.net - real address on website
"Abominable, loyal, blind, apparently subservient."
Pres. Carter on Ex-Pres. Blair- May, 2007

When was the last time a tourist was shot in the UK? (Menenez
doesn't count, he was living here.)

Somebody held up a tourist at gunpoint in Edinburgh last year but
didn't shoot.


The murder and violent crime rate is higher in Scotland than it
is in England. I don't think tourists suddenly feel less safe when
they cross the border, because the risk to tourists is very low.

A new idea in Edinburgh is robbing people in parks after knocking
them off their feet with a tripwire.


Two people have been violently murdered in my home town
(Tillicoultry) in the last few years. I don't remember a
murder in all the time I lived there- though I remember
a stabbing.

Wasn't it Tillicoultry or a town nearby where the local kids
repeatedly pelted Santa with rocks during a Christmas parade
so they had to call the event off permanently?

============== j-c ====== @ ====== purr . demon . co . uk ==============
Jack Campin: 11 Third St, Newtongrange EH22 4PU, Scotland | tel 0131 660 4760
http://www.purr.demon.co.uk/jack/ for CD-ROMs and free | fax 0870 0554 975
stuff: Scottish music, food intolerance, & Mac logic fonts | mob 07800 739 557

Does 90% of Scotland's crime occur in a few heroin-infested council
estates? It's not like there are drive-bys on the Royal Mile.

Most of the overall crime may be out there, but murder is more
evenly spread. Pubs are a popular place for it.

I used to live in Edinburgh's "Pubic Triangle" (the strip club
area), and there were two murders within 100 yards of my front
door in that time. One was a guy beaten to death in a doorway
by his lover's husband and the other was a knifing over I know
not what; left a pool of blood in front of the Usher Hall (one
of the city's major concert halls) that took two weeks to clear.

It seems to be an Edinburgh institution that pubs change their
name after somebody gets murdered in one. I know of one that
did it three times (it's the place in the Cowgate that now has
a fibreglass cow on the outside wall).

============== j-c ====== @ ====== purr . demon . co . uk ==============
Jack Campin: 11 Third St, Newtongrange EH22 4PU, Scotland | tel 0131 660 4760
http://www.purr.demon.co.uk/jack/ for CD-ROMs and free | fax 0870 0554 975
stuff: Scottish music, food intolerance, & Mac logic fonts | mob 07800 739 557

"David Horne, _the_ chancellor

--Thanks, man. I hadn't even thought of having a copy of my passport online.
I merely scanned it in and then sent the scan to my yahoo address. Perfect!

Pat in TX

It is really not a good idea to have any personal information online;
certainly not an image of your passport. Online data is a rich source of
information for identity theft.

Colin Bignell

Just scan it in and send it as email to your own address. It's easy!

Jack Campin - bogus address wrote:

When was the last time a tourist was shot in the UK? (Menenez
doesn't count, he was living here.)

Somebody held up a tourist at gunpoint in Edinburgh last year but
didn't shoot.

How do you know it was a real gun then? Was the person arrested?

The murder and violent crime rate is higher in Scotland than it
is in England. I don't think tourists suddenly feel less safe when
they cross the border, because the risk to tourists is very low.

A new idea in Edinburgh is robbing people in parks after knocking
them off their feet with a tripwire.

When I went to school there in 80s the myth going around was that drug
addict were going around with syringes and injecting passersby with
their blood.

Two people have been violently murdered in my home town
(Tillicoultry) in the last few years. I don't remember a
murder in all the time I lived there- though I remember
a stabbing.

Wasn't it Tillicoultry or a town nearby where the local kids
repeatedly pelted Santa with rocks during a Christmas parade
so they had to call the event off permanently?

Rings a bell, but I haven't been there at Christmas for ages. I think it
was a neighbouring town though...

Quick net search suggests it was nearby Tullibody.

--
(*) ... of the royal duchy of city south and deansgate
http://www.davidhorne.net - real address on website
"Abominable, loyal, blind, apparently subservient."
Pres. Carter on Ex-Pres. Blair- May, 2007

A new idea in Edinburgh is robbing people in parks after knocking
them off their feet with a tripwire.
When I went to school there in 80s the myth going around was that
drug addicts were going around with syringes and injecting passersby
with their blood.

*Threatening* to was reported often enough as a modus operandi for
robberies. I never heard of one of them following through.

The tripwire stunt sure doesn't seem to be a myth:
http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/in...?id=1249892007

My own tripwire experience was walking along the riverside in
Amasya and seeing young guys on each side of the path apparently
lifting a fishing line up in front of me. It turned out they
were drama students miming it; there was no line. They were
extremely convincing. I hope they haven't incorporated it into
a Fringe show or they might get some unexpected responses.

============== j-c ====== @ ====== purr . demon . co . uk ==============
Jack Campin: 11 Third St, Newtongrange EH22 4PU, Scotland | tel 0131 660 4760
http://www.purr.demon.co.uk/jack/ for CD-ROMs and free | fax 0870 0554 975
stuff: Scottish music, food intolerance, & Mac logic fonts | mob 07800 739 557

"David Horne, _the_ chancellor (*)" wrote in message
...
....
Certainly that is about the
only way anyone could have found out enough to try, unsucessfully, to get
the address changed on my credit card and a new card issued to that
address.
I cross-cut shred anything with even my name and address on it, then
compost
the shreddings.

Have you not considered it might be the utterly crap postal service?

Improbable, considering the change of address was made by someone who
telephoned my bank and pretended to be me. The request for a replacement
card was placed a few weeks later, after a couple of test purchases on
internet sites. That would have required my card validation code, which
would only be available to someone from whom I had ordered online.
Presumably they used sites that had not implemented 3-D secure (Verified by
Visa and MasterCard SecureCode), as all my cards have those passwords set
up.

Colin Bignell

The Reid wrote:
Following up to Bruce Dumes wrote:

What do you do at home?

For safety? I live in Los Angeles, so it's not like I'm a small town
boy (though actually I was when I was a boy) but I feel absolutely safe
here. Of course, I don't do stupid things, which I personally think is
a big part of safety and security. I see guys opening up their wallet
in public places to pay for something and I can't help but see them
flashing hundreds of dollars, and I wonder how long they'll hold on to
that money.

It's my feeling that common sense is the best defense against trouble,
but it's always nice to hedge your bets a little.

Bruce

nightjar nightjar@ wrote:

It is really not a good idea to have any personal information online;
certainly not an image of your passport. Online data is a rich source of
information for identity theft.

Colin Bignell


If you are technical enough, you can get away with it.

For the most part, as long as you don't link to it, no bots or pirates
could find it, unless your website is hacked. So to take care of that
(because I do plan on keeping some important data online) I'm also
encrypting all of the files with a very high encryption rate. Sure, the
FBI could probably unencrypt it eventually with the help of a Cray
supercomputer, but I feel that will keep it safe enough for reality.


Bruce