Andy Cunningham

Wednesday night’s BBC TV featured a documentary on the subject of ID theft, and is scary even to someone who works in the security business.

Most ID theft is worryingly low-tech. Scan someone’s rubbish for a couple of utility bills and a bank statement and you’ve got enough proof of your ID to get a loan on a £12,000 car. Credit Card mag stripe writing is a minimal investment. And, at the higher end, scanning wireless networks and installing malware on PCs is a great way to catch all the information you want.

Be careful out there, folks. Specifically,

• Don’t let bars keep your credit card behind the bar if you’re running a tab. How can you trust them to not spit in your dinner if they won’t trust you to pay the bill without running for it?
• Shredanything with any financial information on it. A single credit card receipt can have the card number and your signature. That’s all a criminal with an accomplice needs.
• Complain at stores that double-swipe cards. Petrol stations are a favourite culprit for this – or used to be. If they’ve done the chip and pin bit, that’s all they need. I’m going to start telling stores that swipe my card twice that I’m calling the police.
• Watch out for ATM machines. I’m going to start being more careful about using non-local machines and try to use the one down the road as much as possible.