| all 4 have little privacy and are at risk to loose the rest they may have by choice (Paris Hilton, Bruni and Sarkozy?) or else by accident, as Jeremy Clarkson’s recent case of identity theft illustrates |
| Clarkson branded the UK scandal of lost CDs containing the personal data of 25 millions child benefit records as a “storm in a teacup.” |
| Now he discovered a reader had used the details about his bank account he published in the news to create a £500 direct debit to the UK charity Diabetes on his behalf – identity theft at its best. |
We have pointed out what seven lessons we can learn from the UK disaster that resulted in the loss of 25 m records about child care benefit recipients:
But Clarkson thought that all the fuss about these lost records was just nothing one should worry about.
However, now Jeremy has become the victim of his own confidence. He published details of his Barclays bank account in the Sun newspaper, including his account number and sort code. He even told people how to find out his address.
- All you’ll be able to do with them is put money into my account. Not take it out. Honestly, I’ve never known such a palaver about nothing
he told readers.
In case inquiring minds want to know, Jeremy Charles Robert Clarkson is a controversial British motoring journalist and television host. He usually test-drives exotic and not so exotic cars. Many motor enthusiasts look forward every time to listen to or read his colorful comments.
xIf you cannot see the above cars skidding across – check here – Clarkson is giving these cars a real test
But now Jeremy Clarkson has ended up with egg in his face. As he revealed in his column last Sunday (2008-01-06 – Sunday Times), his latest bank statement revealed that a £500 direct debit payable from his account to the British Diabetic Association association had been made. Apparently, an unidentified reader had copied his details to get this payment processed.
Clarkson also wrote:
- The bank cannot find out who did this because of the UK Data Protection Act 1998 and they cannot stop it from happening again. I was wrong and I have been punished for my mistake.
CyTRAP Labs’ take on this story
Jeremy Clarkson – the Top Gear host – BBC took a risk and paid for it. Besides that we wonder why he did not open a special account for this test. We also thank the identity thief for donating to charity. Most important, Clarkson did us all a GREAT favor.
His rant against those who worried about the loss of the child benefit CDs got him much press coverage. Now, people who might never read anything about privacy and identity theft are being told about Jeremy Clarkson’s problems. Even car magazines are writing about this and online forums for car enthusiasts are covering this story
Hence, what a great way to raise the UK public’s awareness about information security issues and how these matters affect each one of us – THANKS TO JEREMY CLARKSON.
Incidentally, yesterday (2007-01-08) breaking with the ‘deplorable tradition’ of hypocrisy that he said had characterized the private lives of previous presidents, Mr Sarkozy spoke openly about his relationship with Ms Bruni, hinting they would soon marry (probably by March 2008 for sure). Mr Sarkozy has been found using new technology to communicate with the latest love in his live. In fact, we can be pretty certain that his media savvy style of holding court even during a ‘private’ vacation assures us more juicy tidbits about his private life.
x
If you cannot view the above image – Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni Tedeschi enjoying the boat ride
Remember when we wrote in one of our tips how Paris Hilton had advised World Economic Forum Davos attendees about better security for mobile phones helped our awareness raising efforts for home-users via our CASEScontact.org portal tremendously. We are sure that Nicolas Sarkozy’s use of new technology to communicate with Ms Bruni will do much for raising information security awareness.
Juicy reveleations from an SMS or e-mail in the next few weeks will surely get the French press into a frenzy. Yes, such an event is deplorable as it was for Paris Hilton, when her cell-phone with juicy details about her private life got lost. Nonetheless, Paris Hilton, Jeremy Clark and Nicolas Sarkozy serve as examples how important information security in combination with preventive efforts are if one wishes to better protect privacy while preventing identity theft.
Hopfully, Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni will help like Paris Hilton to raise the public’s awareness about how important information security is. Without security it will be impossible for French, UK or EU citizens to protect a last shred of their privacy, especially, about one’s most intimate moment’s in life.
============>
DON’T JUST KNOW ABOUT THE TRENDS BUT UNDERSTAND HOW THEY WILL AFFECT YOUR SECURITY
Alerts, zero-day exploits advisories, risk tools, regulatory intell and SEO marketing from CyTRAP Labs are trusted by the experts.
For instance, FiRST’s CERT members receive much of CyTRAP Labs‘ reports and intell via the FiRST news and threat alert service.
Why not become one of our readers by subscribing right now to one or more of our highly acclaimed services?
==========>
TIDBIT – UK Child Benefits – 1 Mio paid to families in Poland each month
Globalization can result in interesting developments. Remember:
But there seems to be more amiss regarding UK child benefits than loosing data. Did you know that in the UK you can get child benefits for your children, even if they do not live in Britian but instead stay in Lithuania or Poland?
An Eastern European family can qualify for child benefit in the UK. For instance, if the children’s father or mother works in the UK and pays taxes there.
Like all migrants from the eight East European countries which joined the EU in 2004, parents of Eastern European children won the right to claim state benefits after working in the UK for a year.
Hence, wife and children live in Poland while the father commutes 4-6 times a year from the UK to see the family back home. How important child benefits are is illustrated with this example:
a) Polish official minimum wage is £171 a month
b) British benefits handed over to a family with three offspring nudges is £169.20.
The total is made up of £18.10 a week for the oldest child and £12.10 each of the others.
Some have argued that this is possibly not right and acts as a draw for many Eastern European families to stay in their home country while having one parent work in the UK to qualify for benefits. These child benefits can get one quite far in a country such as Latvia or Poland considering these countries’ minimum wage levels.
£1m of child benefit paid out a month – to mothers in Poland
Interestingly enough, many countries do not offer the UK option. This means, child benefits are paid if the kid is staying with the parent in the UK not if the child remains in Poland or Slovenia.
==========>
No Responses to “What have Carla Bruni, Jeremy Clarkson, Paris Hilton and Nicolas Sarkozy in common?”
There are no comments yet...Kick things off by filling out the form below.