If 2014 was the year of the credit card hack, what will 2015 be? Here’s an early look at candidates — the scams, hacks and hiccups that could trip up the most consumers next year. 1. Hacked Kitchen Appliances and the Internet of Things Even as our cellphones get bigger, technology [Keep reading]
Doing some research for a larger story about the “damage points” associated with having a credit-related boo-boo, I stumbled on this important factoid: A consumer with excellent credit who maxes out a credit card will see a credit score drop of 25 to 45 points. In other words, someone with a superb 780 score [Keep reading]
We’ve long suspected, but now we know: A large part of America’s personal debt problem is medical debt. About half of the unpaid debt entries in credit reports are related to medical bills. Getting sick can ruin a household, leading to pock-marked credit reports, trouble with other borrowing, and eventually [Keep reading]
Free of an old media job, I don’t have to write a tech gift guide this year! So instead, I’m taking a writer’s privilege today, to do something that I hope will help people read. Scrambling for last-minute holiday gifts? Books are great emergency presents. And they are easy to wrap. [Keep reading]
The stakes in the Sony hack keep getting higher. We are all about to get a lesson in asymmetric warfare, and that has me really concerned. Now that the U.S. government has so openly accused North Korea of attacking America, and its way of life, the U.S. has a really [Keep reading]
Two quick thoughts about the Sony hack today. First: Haven’t we all seen (or, not seen) this movie before? The one where a corporation is brought to its knees, allegedly by hackers from a foreign enemy upset about an offensive movie? And second: Where’s the gloating? The hackers’ silence right [Keep reading]
Oct 23, 2012 — The attacks seem straight out of a movie plot: An anonymous note is posted online — usually on a Monday or early Tuesday — declaring that week’s victims. The targets then are besieged at some point during that Tuesday through Thursday stretch. On Friday, the group [Keep reading]
Wireless giant Sprint enabled hidden-fee abuse of its customers for nearly a decade, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau alleged on Wednesday. Sprint allowed third-party firms to “cram” unwanted services onto consumer bills, and kept about one-third of the proceeds for itself, the CFPB said. In other words, Sprint was complicit [Keep reading]
I don’t know if the North Korean government has anything to do with the Sony hack, though I seriously doubt it. I don’t know if the group connected to it has any ability to carry out real-world attacks, though I have even more doubts about that. I don’t know what [Keep reading]
Sony reminds me of the chaos theory in the hacking world. Yes, you should be very afraid of what’s happening at Sony right now. Here’s why. Four years ago, I wandered the halls at the giant RSA security conference collecting scuttlebutt. Companies spend thousands, even millions of dollars, to make a splash at [Keep reading]
Bob Sullivan