FREE Copy of ID Theft Book for FCPS Data Breach Victims (and Everyone Else)

By now many have heard about the Frederick County Public Schools data breach in Maryland.

In case you haven't, a list of 20.000 identities, most likely former FCPS students, has been made available for sale on the internet, with a 1,000 identity list available for free as a sample. Unfortunately, as of the time of this article, only the 1,000 former students whose information was released publicly will receive free identity theft monitoring from FCPS. Additionally, this monitoring will only last for one year.

As a cyber security professional, I am very concerned about FCPS only offering protection to students whose identities were offered for free as samples. The 20,000 identity list is being offered for sale for less than a dollar per identity, and as any cyber security professional can tell you, it is safe to assume that any students who were contained in the same database as the 1,000 student sample list, have most likely been victims of the breach as well.

Unfortunately, instead of continuing to work together to identify if additional students were affected by the breach, FCPS and the Maryland State Department of Education are now pointing fingers at each other.

While I cannot fix this issue, or force FCPS and MSDE to cooperate, what I can do is give away free early-access copies of my book, Death by Identity Theft.

If you use the coupon code below "FCPSDataBreach", you will be able to obtain an electronic copy of the book as it is written now, for free. And best of all, once the book is completed, you will receive an electronic copy of the entire book at no additional charge. Right now the book is 80% completed, and I expect to finish the book within a month.

I could try and personally verify if you're a former Frederick County student, but I'd rather not try to personally verify 20,000 people, so click the link below to claim your free copy, even if you aren't a victim of the breach, and you can claim your free copy between now and May 1, 2017.

http://leanpub.com/deathbyidentitytheft/c/FCPSDataBreach

While you're at it, please sign the petition requesting FCPS provide seven years of identity theft monitoring for data breach victims.

It is my hope that this little bit of holiday good-will will help those affected by the breach, as well as help spread awareness of just how serious identity theft truly is.

-Ken

Death by Identity Theft Early Access 50% OFF Coupon

Get 50% off Early Access to Death by Identity Theft with this coupon URL! Expires Sept. 15

http://leanpub.com/deathbyidentitytheft/c/50OFFSEPT

Unlike Servers, Restoring Identity Not Like Restoring a Backup

In the IT world, when things go wrong, restoration is typically pretty easy. With a few clicks of a button, we restore the affected computer system to its previous state, and all is well in the world.

Restoring your identity after an identity theft incident, that's much harder.

According to the FTC, the average identity theft victim spends over 200 hours over the time of approximately 18 months resolving an identity theft incident. Do you know what time most agencies and organizations are open which you'll need to deal with for an identity theft issue? Typically 9 to 5. What time do you work? Probably 9 to 5. Not only will an identity theft issue consume a significant amount of time, it indirectly results in lost wages or vacation hours you weren't intending on using. Most identity theft victims experience severe emotional stress due to the sheer amount of time and work it takes to restore your identity. This is just one of the reasons why it's so important to have identity theft coverage that includes identity restoration, not just incident resolution.

Now it's important to note that many services claim to offer restoration, but only offer resolution. Here are a few example questions to ask of your identity theft service to determine if they truly perform restoration.

- Will a licensed private investigator be assigned to my identity theft case? (If the answer is no, this is not restoration)

- Will I be able to sign a limited power of attorney so that your service can restore my identity for me? (If the answer is no, this is not restoration)

- Is your service guarantee (typically somewhere between $1 million and $5 million) the amount your service will spend, or is this the amount you will reimburse me for taking actions on my own? (If the answer is reimbursement, this is not restoration)

By asking these basic questions, the quality of the identity theft service can be measured appropriately.


Haven't ordered your copy of Death by Identity Theft yet? Use the "earlybird" coupon to get access to the pre-release version for only 99 cents (a $5.99 value).

Further Reading: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20151006006149/en/Latest-Data-Breach-Spotlights-Identity-Restoration

We're halfway there! - Death by Identity Theft

Today Death by Identity Theft reaches the halfway mark.

The Introduction, as well as chapters 1-3 are now completed.

I've also taken the time to tell my own recent identity theft incident in Chapter 7, under "Filing a Police Report".

What are your thoughts so far? How can the book be improved? What would you like more information on? What did I screw up?

Send me an email, kenneth.buckler@gmail.com

Thanks,
Ken Buckler
www.kenbuckler.com


Haven't ordered your copy yet? Use the "earlybird" coupon to get access to the pre-release version for only 99 cents (a $5.99 value).

Death by Identity Theft Early Access - Only 99 Cents!

LIMITED TIME: Get earlybird preview of Death by Identity Theft book for only 99 cents!
As I approach the halfway mark of writing my book, I have a special for all my interested readers. Buy the ebook now for 99 cents, and you'll not only get the full ebook when it's complete, but you'll get access to what I've written right now!

This promotion expires July 1! Order now!

Point of Sale and ATMs: Your Data at Risk

One of the topics I'm going to be covering in my upcoming book "Death by Identity Theft" is how industry's lack of regard for security has significant impacts for consumers.

One of the most important lessons I try to teach any newcomer to Cyber Security is that compliance does not mean security. In fact, compliance often creates a false sense of security.

Major retailers recently hit by point of sale malware were PCI compliant. This means their systems met payment card industry standards for security. And yet, their point of sale systems were still compromised by malware, putting customers' personal information at risk. I previously covered this problems with PCI compliance over at my Cyber Security blog, Caffeine Security.

Unfortunately, even though most consumers have now been issued EMV chip credit cards, many businesses still aren't ready to accept them, and those that do are only requiring signatures, not PINs.

Oh, and did I mention that 95% of the world's ATMs are still running Windows XP?

These are just a few examples of problems consumers face when trying to protect themselves from identity theft or credit card fraud.

If you haven't signed up for identity theft protection, now would be a good time.

Death by Identity Theft - Book in Progress

Identity Theft is quite honestly out of control. As a cyber security professional working as a Federal contractor for almost ten years, I work diligently to help protect others from this terrifying crime. In fact, I thought I had taken every precaution to protect myself and my family.

However, something I did not count on was that others would not take the same precautions. After receiving two data breach notifications from major retailers and a data breach notification from the Federal Government, I realized my identity was not as protected as I thought it was.

So I started researching, and what I found was terrifying. I knew identity theft was a serious problem in the United States, but I didn't realize just how serious.

What I have learned in the past ten years, including my past year of intense research into identity theft protection, will now be available in book form. You won't have to spend hours each day researching the best methods of protecting yourself, as I've already done that work for you.

As I feverishly write this book, I present to you the first part of my book, free of charge.

I hope that you find this information informative, and that you will purchase my book once it is published.

The book sample is available at http://bitly.com/DeathByIDTheft