Canadian Personal Finance Blog

Found another scary story from Bruce Schneier’s security web site about an alleged virus attacking a retirees computer, stealing his E-Trade account credentials and then “wrong doers” using it to empty out his retirement fund.

This story has a ring of truth to it, although I am not completely sold on the stealing of the credentials portion of the virus (but it can happen, I guess).

So how do I stop this C8j (you are asking yourself)? Keep your home computer and network secure!

1. Run some kind of Anti-Virus checker on your coimputer (all the time). I am not going to endorse McAfee, over Norton or whatever, but RUN SOMETHING. If you are not, you are just asking for TROUBLE.
2. If you connect to the Internet from your computer, DISCONNECT when you are not using the internet. If you have a home network like some of us, make sure your home router has very good and STRONG firewall settings to stop malicious snooping of your network.
3. Don’t give out your credentials for any banking, trading, or computer account to anyone on line (or over the phone).
1. Don’t store it on your computer either!
2. Best not to carry it around in your wallet or PDA either folks!
4. Run Anti-Spyware software as well. Netzone is good, but you can get Microsoft or Yahoo’s anti-spyware software for free, so GET IT! Run it! Get rid of those SPies and Trojan Horses NOW!
5. If your kids go on line, make sure you watch their computers. My kids computer became a SPAM-bot sending out e-mails into my company’s network selling Herbal Viagra! Long funny story, I may tell some time later, but kids download things that they just don’t think about!

If your computer is the cornerstone of your debt reduction plan (i.e. you run Quicken, keep your excel spreadsheets there, or whatever), it is ESSENTIAL that this machine remains pristine, clean and SECURE (as well as the network connected to it).

–C8j

My family is very grateful to all the veterans of wars who fought for our freedom.

Happy Year of the Veteran. Take a veteran out for a beer!

I would put a poppy up on the site, but evidently the Canadian Legion won’t let me. ?

This one is from the Royal British Legion (but since my Grandad was in the Home Guard and my Dad the Royal Air Force I think it is ok).

So some folks view we Canadians as careful saving folk, who are frugal and thrifty (well that let’s me out, since I can’t even follow my own advice). For those of you who think that let me bring you a couple of examples of just how crazy spending in Canada can be:

• The Big OWE in Montreal for those of you unaware of this nickname, it is for the Stade Olympique in Montreal where the ‘76 Olympics were held and the Expos played in until last year (sob, sob). This behemoth created a DEBT (not the price of it, the DEBT) of OVER $1 Billion Canadian (back in the 70’s when the Canadian Dollar was worth something). This debt is only NOW being paid off (ok, hopefully next year). The City of Montreal got left holding the bag for this HUGE debt. I grew up in Montreal and the corruption and graft that were involved in the building of that stadium was astounding even for Quebec standards!
• Skydome (now called Roger’s dome, in memory of Roger Neilsen (no, not really, Rogers Communications, but what the hey)). One of the first stadiums with a retractable roof ended up costing over $600 Million dollars. The taxpayers weren’t on the hook as much for this, but the poor folks who invested in the companies, that helped build this Pink Elephant got hurt. Rogers Comm bought this for $24 Million in 2004 1/25 of the building cost! Someone lost their shirt there too!
• The net Canadian Federal government debt is $545 Billion dollars in Canada. This is the DEBT not the deficit (we at least aren’t growing the DEBT right now). That is about 26% of all the moneys spent by our Federal Government. WOW! I thought I was crappy at living within my means. To be honest, it is not the current Government who got us into this mess, it was our free spending governments in the 70’s and 80’s, who really built up this BEHEMOTH of a debt.
  • What is really scarey is that Canada is held up as a Shining Star in the G-8 world since we are actually paying off our debt, and not growing it. WOW!
• From what I can tell from the latest provincial budget the Province of Ontario’s DEBT (not the deficit folks, this is how much we owe, and yes it is GROWING) is about $130 BILLION dollars.

You know what is really scarey is how much work I had to do to find out how much Canada and Ontario both OWE. No one writes in plain English, we owe $XX Billion dollars anywhere, it is couched in weasel words and ratios. You ask most folks they know within a few thousand dollars how much they owe, if you asked your MPP or MP would they know how much Canada owes?

I hear there is an Election coming, maybe it’s time to ask? –C8j

I keep finding things on Bruce Schneier’s security web site that make me want to scream, but not necessarily just because of the Security Concerns.

The post in specific (click here to read the whole thing) says:

After a few hours of losses, he goes to the cashier and asks for a cash advance off of his credit card. The card tells the casino his name, but not much else. As is required by card issuers, the cashier asks for some other identification, such as a driver’s license. That license offers the casino a ton of CRM identification goodies, but the cashier is only supposed to glance at the picture and the name to verify identity and hand the license–and its info treasure trove–back to the gambler.

Not any more, at least if a Minneapolis company called Cash Systems Inc. has anything to say about it. The firm was recently awarded a U.S. patent for a device that can grab all of the data of almost any U.S. driver’s license in seconds and instantly dump it into a casino’s CRM system.

OK, so who in the name of Methusela is making cash withdrawals from their Credit Card at a CASINO? If you are doing this, YOU HAVE A PROBLEM, and it is not just your DEBT REDUCTION plan is in the crapper. I beg of you see Gamblers Anonymous, or something like that, because your life is not your own any more.

OK, I’ll get off my soapbox now. Be afraid of these kind of companies that want to get all the information they can about you. The more they know about you, the less privacy we all have.

–C8j