Posting private information on this forum

[Crazy Dave Condon]

I was asked why I suggest never posting personal date on this forum to include email address, address, phone numbers and the like when suggesting that should be sent via private message. You do not know who may be monitoring. Call it security for me.

I froze my accounts due to the Equifax hack a couple of years ago. Recently I received an email that one temp. freeze was no longer valid. I immediately put that into spam and called the credit bureau and confirmed the freeze was still valid. I always have said to my wife when purchasing, call the seller instead of over the internet.

 

[JamesG161]

Equifax hack a couple of years ago

I did get a notification, from Equifax, that I was hacked.
I put limits on all my accounts that require dual approval to exceed.
So far, so good.
Jim...

 

[Kermit]

In God We Trust. All others pay cash.

 

[Kermit]

I love this sign.

“Helen Waite is in charge of our credit department. If you want credit, go to Helen Waite.”

 

[Justin_NSA]

We in IT have gone further to change account 'hint' questions from things like "where were you born", "mother's maiden name" etc because that information can be farmed to create a window for phishing. Now the hints are less personal

 

[uncledom]

All my credit cards are insured and I have monitoring that tells me when there is any change to my credit line in any way. If your going to worry all day about money you won't enjoy life.

 

[thinwater]

A personal pet peeve of mine is when people use someone's name, as though that were a friendly gesture. In nearly all cases it is (not all), but if the person agreed to having their name distributed in that manner, they would have list it in their signature. Some do. Once posted, it is out there forever.

In some cases it might be legitimate to give a person's name, if it is a public person (business owner, writer, well known individual), but not in such a way as to relate it to their forum name. Let them do that.

In my opinion this is an obvious rule of forum behavior; NEVER list another person's private information, no exceptions.

 

[Justin_NSA]

There is already enough information on here about everyone for a malicious hacker to send one of those " help me, I need to get home" requests from a FB or email account that would have enough personal info to sound credible. I see hacked accounts on a regular basis.

 

[Calif. Ted]

I worked for the Guvmint a long time and knew everything I did was supposed to be "public record" however I was most dismayed to learn that due to the states' "transparency policy" a rather simply google search produces my income for the last 15 years. I found a newspaper photo of myself and sister in the "Walteria Times" from 60 years ago on the internet, who the hell took the time to scan that into cyberspace ?

 

[Meriachee]

I haven't had an offer of 100MM to transfer in a long time. These folks are such fun to get riled up.

 

[Richard19068]

I worked for the Guvmint a long time and knew everything I did was supposed to be "public record" however I was most dismayed to learn that due to the states' "transparency policy" a rather simply google search produces my income for the last 15 years. I found a newspaper photo of myself and sister in the "Walteria Times" from 60 years ago on the internet, who the hell took the time to scan that into cyberspace ?

Did you go to South High?

 

[jssailem]

I once had a Microsoft Safety Engineer on the phone for 20 minutes. He called from somewhere in India. It appears my computer had notified him that I had a security issue and he wanted to help.

So I went to the closet and got my Osborne off the shelf and plugged it in. Surprisingly the thing booted. Told him I was amazed. It must have spoke to him. He was thrilled. Told me to click on the windows icon. I asked what’s an icon.....
He had never heard of CP/M... let alone an Osborne. That gave me a clue he might not be a Microsoft Security Engineer.

 

[kappykaplan]

So I went to the closet and got my Osborne off the shelf and plugged it in.

I still have my Osborne 1. DS/DD 5.25in drives, blazingly fast 1200 baud modem and on and on. Ah for the good ol' days when we didn't have bloatware. Tks for the trip down memory lane.

 

[JamesG161]

That gave me a clue he might not be a Microsoft Security Engineer.

I have had similar calls about my Windows platform shutting down. I chuckled to myself, since all platforms I run are Apple OS.
Here is the simple question I always ask to detect a scam...

"Are you wanting to get money from me to solve this problem?"

They always quickly hang up!
Jim...

 

[Roland5048]

We in IT have gone further to change account 'hint' questions from things like "where were you born", "mother's maiden name" etc because that information can be farmed to create a window for phishing. Now the hints are less personal

I learned awhile back to not use true answers to those questions. Answer a question such as "where were you born" with something like "banana". Of course, you will have to remember it but who is ever going to guess that one.

 

[Kermit]

I learned awhile back to not use true answers to those questions. Answer a question such as "where were you born" with something like "banana". Of course, you will have to remember it but who is ever going to guess that one.

Orange you glad I didn’t say banana?

 

[Peggie Hall HeadMistress]

What a great idea! Tomorrow I'm gonna change all of mine to kumquat! Not only is it unlikely anyone will ever guess it, the rare bird who does won't have a clue how to spell it.
--Peggie

 

[Kermit]

What a great idea! Tomorrow I'm gonna change all of mine to kumquat! Not only is it unlikely anyone will ever guess it, the rare bird who does won't have a clue how to spell it.
--Peggie

Thanks for the heads up, Peggie. You just saved me a whoooole lot of hacking time. ;-)

 

[jssailem]

Would that be, “Head hacking time?”Kermie

 

[Captain Larry-DH]

We in IT have gone further to change account 'hint' questions from things like "where were you born", "mother's maiden name" etc because that information can be farmed to create a window for phishing. Now the hints are less personal

I hate it when a site requires those hints. The more of those little crumbs of info we put out there, the less secure we are. I use a password manager and put the answers to “hints” there. Why? Because my answers are bogus, and I could never remember them. e.g.: “What’s the name of your first dog? Basketball”.