Latest news with #Maimon
NBC News
04-08-2025
- NBC News
Social Security number leaked? Chances are, a criminal is already trying to use it
Data breaches that expose the personal information of millions of people can have very real consequences for individuals, most notably: identity theft. A new study found that the more of a person's personal information is easily accessible to criminals on the dark web, the likelier it is that that person will be a target for criminals. The odds skyrocket if the information includes the person's Social Security number, which is usually necessary for financial applications like opening a bank account, applying for a credit card or filing tax returns, all of which are common targets for fraudsters. The findings, published Monday by SentiLink, a company that monitors customer data for fraud on behalf of finance companies, are intuitive. But they are believed to be the first of their kind showing a clear correlation between the robust cybercriminal trade of people's identities and real-world attempts where criminals try to commit fraud against those victims. David Maimon, SentiLink's head of fraud insight, told NBC News he conducted the study by comparing three sets of data from people whose information is available online. For a baseline list of people whose names and addresses were available online, he used publicly available voter registration records. For a set of people whose names and addresses — but not Social Security numbers — were widely traded among criminals, he took names off stolen checks from a ring of check fraud thieves that operated on Telegram. For a list of people whose names, addresses and Social Security numbers were all widely traded among cybercriminals, he downloaded a database of around 100,000 victims, cobbled together from various hacks and repeatedly traded on the dark web since 2021. Maimon then compared more than 2,000 people from those datasets with SentiLink's internal records of attempted identity theft to see how often each of those people had been targeted. The results were dramatic. Only 2.1% of the people from voter registration forms had been targeted by identity thieves. Of those whose names were found in the stolen check ring, 12.1% had been targeted. But nearly all people in the 2021 database with Social Security numbers — 97% — had been victims of attempted identity theft, Maimon found. Data breaches have become increasingly common, to the point where most Americans' information has been repeatedly stolen. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission received 1.1 million claims of identity theft in 2024, though that is believed to be a severe undercount of the complete number of victims. Even children often have their Social Security number stolen, and credit monitoring services rarely help victims much. According to statistics provided to NBC News by the nonprofit Identity Theft Resource Center, there were 1,857 new data breaches in 2024 that included Americans' Social Security numbers. While Social Security numbers are routinely hacked, it's often impossible for a victim to know how widely their information has been shared — a key component of SentiLink's findings. Not all breaches are equal, and cybercriminals often sell hacked data only to the highest bidder to keep it more exclusive. When a person's information does become widely repackaged and repeatedly traded between criminals, they are targeted by thieves repeatedly for a longer period of time, Maimon found. The best course of action, Maimon said, is for people to freeze their credit ratings with the three major credit agencies and to monitor their ChexSystems Consumer Score to see if anyone has opened bank accounts in their name.
Sky News AU
08-07-2025
- Politics
- Sky News AU
Israeli ambassador shocked over recent Victorian antisemitic attacks
Israeli Ambassador to Australia Amir Maimon discusses the recent antisemitic attacks in Victoria, calling for more arrests of people involved in previous instances. 'I do hope that in the future we will see some more arrests of people that were involved in antisemitic attacks,' Mr Maimon told Sky News host Sharri Markson. 'To be honest, when I was appointed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, I was told by some of my very capable predecessors that there is no better place than Australia to spend the last few years before retirement. 'I didn't expect that during my tenure I would be visiting so many synagogues.'
Sky News AU
19-06-2025
- Politics
- Sky News AU
Thousands of Israelis returning home despite escalating conflict with Iran
Israel's Ambassador to Australia Amir Maimon addresses the surge of Israelis seeking to return home amid escalating tensions with Iran. 'We have over 150,000 Israelis that are really seeking or looking to return to our beloved homeland,' Mr Maimon told Sky News host Chris Kenny. 'There are so many Israelis that are waiting to return, to reunite with their beloved ones. 'To be in Israel is such a very difficult time for all of us.'
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Yahoo
‘That's wild': Your personal information is for sale, and it's not expensive
Criminals looking to steal your identity are shopping the dark web. In many cases, they are able to buy your Social Security number and much more for as little as one dollar. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] Channel 2 Consumer Investigative Reporter Justin Gray spoke with Georgia State professor David Maimon. Maimon is the Director of Evidence-Based Cybersecurity Research Group. He told Gray it's not uncommon for criminals to give identities away for free after companies refuse to pay data breach ransoms. 'The numbers I was able to find were offered for free,' Maimon told Gray. 'I went on Telegram, and I looked for some interesting identities for you and took me, like, less than two seconds,' Maimon said. One of those identities belongs to DJ Gibson. Gray was able to track down his grandmother. 'Oh, that's my grandson,' she said after Gray showed her the screen grab. 'Oh, my goodness,' she said. 'His date of birth, his driver's license, everything to steal his identity for sale,' Gray told his grandmother. That's when she called to alert him. 'That's crazy. That's wild,' Gibson said after Gray showed him his personal information was being advertised online. 'This looks like a picture you took of your license,' Gray said. 'I know exactly what it was for, too,' Gibson answered. Gray had his Social Security number, date of birth, email password. He also had a picture that DJ had once shared through what he thought was a secure website. He told Gray it was for a payday loan. Not all information is free. The more information, the more it costs. Many of the Social Security numbers come complete with proof of identity pictures. '$5 per identity. Now if you buy in bulk, you get a way better price,' Maimon said. It's not just the dark web anymore, Maimon's team finds the identities for sale everywhere from Telegram to Facebook and Instagram. 'You don't have to be very skilled. You just need to know where to look,' said Maimon. Gibson said he's been dealing with the consequences of his stolen identity for a while. 'Stack of paper of this tall, just of inquiries,' he told Gray. Hard inquiries came in last year on his credit and dozens of applications using his identity by criminals trying to get cash. 'It was worry. It was constant worry,' Gibson said. Channel 2 Consumer Advisor Clark Howard said to protect yourself you need to freeze your credit now. 'You don't throw up your hands, you freeze your credit. It's free to do and it will protect you from most harm that criminals may try to do with your info,' Howard said. Along with freezing your credit at all three of the credit bureaus, you should keep a closer eye on your credit. 'One easy tool you can use is set up a Credit Karma account, and you'll be able to see your credit and an approximation of your credit score whenever you want for free,' Howard said. [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
New Straits Times
11-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New Straits Times
#SHOWBIZ: Chilling tale proves another tear-jerker from Osman Ali
MENTION the name Osman Ali, and viewers will get to see images of rustic Kedah, his beloved home state, plus tragic stories set in villages with picturesque rice fields. His latest movie Telaga Suriram is no different, but while we get to shed a lot of tears, we also get to despise some monstrous people along the way. Telaga Suriram is about a 9-year-old girl named Suriram (Puteri Rafasya) whose disappearance becomes a ghost story to her fellow villagers. Her mother Rohaya (Maya Karin) and father Sopiyan (Indonesian actor Fauzi Baadilla) frantically search for her, and with the help of their headman's son Zakir (Farid Kamil) and the no-nonsense district police chief ASP Karmila (Scha Alyahya), they finally discover that she drowned in an isolated well. Rohaya falls into deep depression, and suspects that her late daughter's mute babysitter Maimon (Nabila Huda Suhaimi) killed her. Meanwhile, Maimon's mother and village midwife Khadijah (Ellie Suriaty Omar) strongly protests her daughter's innocence and tries to convince the villagers that Suriram's tragic death could have been the work of people close to her as well as those "in high places". The film, which was produced in 2022, underwent a meticulous process from script to post-production, and the end result clearly shows. As a prolific director, Osman crafted Telaga Suriram around the topic of missing children who often become the focus of the community. Osman thought it would be interesting to produce a story that combines mystical elements with beliefs that have been passed down. An adorable girl next door, Puteri Rafasya is marking her first major big screen role as the titular Suriram. The Kelantanese-Penangite beauty is brilliant, both as the living Suriram and the dead one. As the living Suriram she really looks like a sweet, innocent village girl and her interactions with the main stars, especially Nabila Huda and Maya Karin, are very real. As the ghost she is very creepy, and the makeup artist did a splendid job. Nabila Huda, as predicted, is the heart and soul of the movie, the emotional powerhouse all the way. It is one of her most taxing movies and her character Maimon suffered a lot. We can all sympathise and root for Maimon, as we know from the word go that she is a victim of bigotry in the village. The same can be said of her mother, brilliantly played by Ellie who excels in long-suffering single mother roles. Ellie's character is that of a midwife who is ostracised by the villagers for allegedly practising black magic, and while she is often physically and verbally abused by the villagers, she is a protective mother who takes the blows that are meant for her daughter. Of the boys, Fauzi is great, and plays his character to perfection. His "distraught daddy" is also the only good man in the story. Maya, who reunites with Osman and Farid, both of whom she worked with in Anak Halal, is believable as the distressed mother of Suriram. Initially she appears to be innocent, but as the story gradually unfolds, viewers learn that she is not the "angel" she is made out to be, and perhaps she indirectly caused her daughter's tragic death. Farid is playing a crooked leader for the first time, and it is a stark contrast from playing an upright one in a prominent Malaysian leader's biopic two years ago. His character Zakir looks pretty much a narcissist, yet he is hero-worshipped by the villagers, and viewers can sense that he is not the charitable headman that he appears to be. Scha Alyahya marks her first collaboration with Osman. Her character Karmila is the most stoical throughout the story and is admirable for her determination to uncover the truth behind the innocent girl's death, even if it means taking the headman and Suriram's parents to jail. While the film is a masterpiece, with lots of important messages, some minor mistakes occur though, such as the uniforms worn by the police officers including Scha's character. The movie is set in 1985, but the pale blue police uniforms seem to be from an earlier era. At the end of the day, it is great to have an award-winning ensemble cast, which includes prominent award-winning actors and actresses. The movie carries important lessons about family values, true friendship, betrayal, discrimination, vengeance, bigotry and honesty. It can serve as a cautionary tale about the never-ending evils of child abuse and abuse of power. Syabas to Osman and his brilliant ensemble cast for yet another job well done! TELAGA SURIRAM DIRECTOR Osman Ali RATING 16
