Diary of a Hack: Days Eight & Nine

Good news: there were less than a dozen out-of-state hits on the Fitgerald Communications web site yesterday. Most of them were from California, which I suppose makes sense, since the scammers are touting California Almonds as one of their major clients.

So, a decline in numbers probably means one of two things. Either the terrorists are hitting on fewer firms, thus triggering fewer checks on the part of media buyers.  Or the buyers being targeted are letting laziness win out over professional judgment and due diligence. Not a happy thought.

On my "To Do" list for the next day or so: contact my web consultant and find out if there's anything else we could or should be doing to protect the site. Problem is, it isn't really the site that's being targeted. It's my identity. My name. And how do you protect that? Disappear from view entirely? Not likely.

Well, here's my identity theft tip for the day: If--heaven forefend-- someone should ever open an illegal e-mail account in your name, report the abuse to the provider immediately.  If it happens to be Google (g-mail), as it was in this case, here's where you need to go:

http://www.google.com/support/a/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=134413