If you have a home security system, you know the pain associated with false alarms. I have set this thing off at least a 100 times and then I have to run like a gazelle to the keypad to shut it off then wait for alarm central to call me so I can give them a PIN.

Many, if not all of us are guilty of setting off our alarms accidentally. Sometimes we open a door or window that sets it off, other times we mess up the secret code. The result of this mishap is usually a very loud siren and the attention of your neighbors. If you don’t call to cancel in time, then it results in law enforcement showing up.

In many counties, towns, cities and states there are laws and ordinances that impose a fine for false alarms.

1. Have your service provider set up your home alarm system to call your mobile phone first, then your home phone second. If you don’t answer the phone, then, they will call the police.

2. Program your mobile phone with your alarm service provider’s number and call them the second you falsely set off your alarm. Memor Full Post…

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Sources say an identity theft crime ring fraudulently purchased roughly $1 million dollars’ worth of merchandise from Apple Stores.   Stolen credit card numbers were allegedly used to produce phony credit cards that were used to purchase iPhones, iPads, Macbooks and other products.

On Tuesday eight defendants have reportedly been arraigned.   The arrests are expected to include members from all levels of the organization, including the alleged ringleader, 28-year-old Shaheed “Sha” Bilal, who coordinated the conspiracy from jail over the course of a year and a half.

The investigation was launched by Vance’s Cybercrime and Identity Theft Bureau, which was created in March last year to pursue these kinds of cases. Investigating cybercrime has a top priority for his office, said Vance. Other cybercrime cases invested by Vance’s office in recent months include an identity-theft ring targeting foreign students in the U.S. on visitor vi

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Apple is poised for world domination. We have been addicted to our iPods for nearly 10 years and now our new addiction to iPads is getting to the point where we may need a quick stop off in Apple rehab. Though, do we really mind this addiction? Not really because Apple products make us feel, cool, hip and young. Wait, Apple really does have it’s hooks in us.

Though would be form an identity theft ring and try to buy massive amounts of Apple products with stolen credit cards? Well, our addiction is pretty severe, but not that severe. According to the Associated Press:

Dozens of people have been charged with forming a prolific identity theft ring that used thousands of stolen credit card numbers to shop at Apple stores around the country, according to a court document and a law enforcement official.

The group obtained stolen account numbers, forged credit cards and used them to buy laptops, iPhones and other merchandise at Apple stores in locales ranging from New York to Los Angeles to Wauwatosa, Wis. —

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Writing in American Banker this week, ITAC President Anne Wallace challenged RSA conference-goers to rethink computer security in a way that compels consumers to embrace it. It’s time they think more like consumer product developers and marketers, and makes her case in the excerpt below:

Consumer electronics companies are masters at understanding human behavior and creating products that anticipate and respond to human wants and needs. The most successful devices, and the applications that support them, are indispensable to their owners. By understanding how we behave today and what we will want tomorrow, Apple, Motorola and Research In Motion create compelling relationships between device and user.

The smartest processes, and the best technologies, are not effective if people do not want to use them, avoid them or will not update them.  Technology and processes depend on user adoption and consistent use to be effective. Th

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