Lifelock Infomercial

[d31373]

While watching early morning television this morning I witnessed something that kind of infuriated me. The announcer was explaining who could want to steal your information and then he said "hackers who are evil geniuses that want to steal your credit card info". Furthermore, I could have sworn that I saw an image of Security Professional and convicted ex-hacker Kevin Mitnick huntched over a keyboard.

First of all, hacking is not bad. Being a hacker is not a crime. Cracking is a crime. Defrauding the credit card companies is a crime. Learning, testing, and circumventing limitations are not crimes.

The slander did not stop there. They explained that people who use smartphones are 4 times more likely to have their identity stolen.

I can not imagine a world in which people should huddle themselves inside their houses constantly shredding documents, ridding themselves of all electronics, and thinking that everyone is out to get them.

Life lock should be forced to change their marketing.

[SoBeTRoLL]

Lol.
I would love to show that commercial to some of my friends, I'm sure they'd get a good laugh out of it.

Lifelock "huddle in your home and shred and burn all your documents and don't trust electronics, unless you have US protecting you"

B.S. Most of what they do, can be easily done by following simple things, like not using wireless to pay for things on your phone in public locations. That is probably the easiest way to get information stolen via man in the middle attacks. 1 person with a pineapple that spoofs a wireless access point in a place like barnes and noble can gain access to all your encrypted transactions by acting as the "WAP" and confusing your computer to send all traffic to it rather than to the real WAP.
Another thing you can do, WATCH YOUR ACCOUNTS YOURSELF. I log into my banking account at least once a day just to check up on things. If a 1000 dollars suddenly disappears from your account, you can be pretty safe to say that it wasn't an "accident". I would call my bank immediately. In fact, I bet if you look at the website for your bank, there is probably an option to have your bank email you when a withdrawal is done. I know mine does.

Also, if your worried about your identity being stolen, and people ramping up all sorts of credit cards in your name, www.creditkarma.com usually helps with checking up on your credit. Thats usually a good way to catch if someone is trying to make an account in your name. Personally, I've always thought giving someone a credit card through the mail or over the phone, without actually meeting that person face to face has always been kind of a dumb way to do business. I know before I give someone the ability to spend money thats mine I make damn sure of who they are and what they want it for before I give them access to an account in my name.

[d31373]

I'm not saying they don't provide a good service. I'm just saying that their scare tactics are a detriment to the progression of technology.

[SoBeTRoLL]

progression of technology will continue regardless of their marketing. The people that generally use that product are usually already techsaavy and understand that its a product geared towards making their using the internet for purchases safer. I just dont understand why I have to pay for a service that should really by up to the Credit Card companies to make sure they verify the information given to them by a certain individual. Almost every other country is moving away from the outdated magstripe data program and moving to physical changes to their cards to make the security features of them better, not only that, but they are also doing better at identifying who is ordering the card and making sure it is the correct person. Lifelock is simply doing what these companies SHOULD ALREADY BE DOING

[d31373]

I'm not exactly sure the people signing up for this service are already tech savvy. I would argue the inverse. True, everything you do on the internet could inevitably have someone watching. Every system is prone to poor programming. Therefore every software is innately flawed, we just haven't identified it yet. This is the reason for the Antisec movement. People are pushing to stop full disclosure of the software exploits in order to provide developers with time to patch. This involves the credit card companies as well. Other countries have less credit card fraud, because they are a less targeted system. American credit card companies have the weakest security which makes them a prime target.

I'm just annoyed with companies that make you think that no one is safe to use technology.