David Davis: Online fraud victim
14/05/2008 at 21:42
David Davis, shadow home secretary, today admitted he’s the latest victim of internet credit card fraud and described the government as failing on online security.
He discovered the problem when his card was declined at a petrol station, and with a degree in computer science is astounded that he has fallen victim to the crime. He insists all his computers have the latest security and encryption and describes himself as “computer literate as anybody not actually working in the industry”.
Pointing out that the government has repeatedly lost peoples data – child benefits, online driving licence applications, NHS patient database records – he calls for getting the law enforcement basics right as a priority. Just one in a hundred online fraud crimes are currently investigated by the police.
Best advice for staying safe online is constantly changing making it even harder to protect your personal information. Just today eBay sponsored Get Safe Online changed their advice for securing wireless networks. No longer is switching off SSID broadcast and enabling MAC address filtering considered best practise. Simply using WPA and changing the adminstrator password is the new advice given.
With thousands up and down the country not even likely to be aware of basics, such as that their wireless network configuration is now considered unsafe, it’s not surprising so many are vicitims of crime. If a tech savvy shadow home secretary is scammed what chance the man in the street?
northumbrian says
10:04 pm on 14/05/2008
there will be more to it than hes admiting too
hes a politician
Swan says
10:45 pm on 14/05/2008
I take card details over the phone if people dont want to pay online. Quite a few retailers harvest card info and hand process it through CNP terminals
All a member of staff has to do is copy down the information, most of which is on the retailers copy of the transaction, wait for a big cash sale an then represent the card details.
Not an iota of online fraud or lax data protection systems – just criminal activity.
northumbrian says
7:25 am on 15/05/2008
hes pays for petrol with his card at a garage?
yet hes blaming on line fraud
Blighty says
7:39 am on 15/05/2008
3 years from now when he is home secretary, there will be an online porn site scandal.
Put some money on it now.
Super Max says
7:45 am on 15/05/2008
Rather a misleading article, while somebody used his credit card online, he admits the number could have been obtained offline by any number of means.
whirly says
7:47 am on 15/05/2008
Was just thinking the same thing Mark.
Any chance of you doing a blog about wifi security Chris?
DBL says
9:44 am on 15/05/2008
Wot Whirly said
whirly says
9:51 am on 15/05/2008
I did try to suggest it on Skribit but I ended up voting yes for something
Chris Dawson says
9:52 am on 15/05/2008
Might not be the best for this, I’m not exactly current and up to date…. but the basics according to that article are bog standard out of the box implementation with strongest encryption available (which will be WPA), and then change the default password on the router.
Quite honestly wireless hasn’t traditionally been that hard to crack, but accepting that it’s unlikely someone will hack your home network in leafy suburbia (but potentially they could).
Super Max says
10:03 am on 15/05/2008
WPA with a decent password (and by decent I mean random and at least 20 characters) should be fine.
richard says
10:40 am on 15/05/2008
What DBL said
northumbrian says
10:54 am on 15/05/2008
we often have strange unmarked vans sitting outside with antenna ,aerials , emitting
buzzing and whiring noises