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Finance
Cyberattacks: "Biggest Threat We Currently Face"
Ahead of the release of this report, The Daily Ticker's Aaron Task sat down with former Department of Homeland Security secretary Michael Chertoff to discuss the threat of cyberattacks on the U.S. and corporations.
"This is the biggest threat we currently face," says Chertoff, now the chairman of The Chertoff Group, a private sector company that advises businesses on cybersecurity-related issues. "Not only is there a concern about our critical infrastructure… but we are losing billions of dollars of intellectual property every year that is being stolen and it is resulting in job losses and damages to our economy."
Such illegal activity put nearly $400 billion in research spending at risk between 2009 and 2011, according to a National Counterintelligence Executive report issued last fall.
The biggest threat from cybersecurity, he believes, is coming from China. "The Chinese government has a national policy of economic espionage in cyberspace. In fact, the Chinese are the world's most active and persistent practitioners of cyber espionage today," Chertoff wrote in a WSJ op-ed earlier this year.
Due to the growing prevalence of cyberattacks, it seems cyber-warfare and espionage could become the new frontier for global combat as well as economic competition, as Aaron points out in the accompanying video.
"For many nations, they view the economic well-being of the country as part of their national security strategies. They will use their intelligence agencies as a way to enable their companies, their national champions, to compete in the market place," Chertoff says. "We don't do that in the United States. We keep the free-market separate from government, but as a result sometimes we have our rivals overseas stealing our assets."
Budget Tips
MARCH-If you look closely at every month, you’ll see pretty quickly that they’re not all created equal in terms of expenses. On top of that, if you work a commission-based job, your monthly income will fluctuate throughout the year.
Now, there are some things that will remain pretty standard. A few things like your rent or mortgage payment will probably be the same month to month. But what about things like utilities and food? Chances are your electric or gas bills will be higher during certain months as you heat and cool your home depending on the weather. What about holidays and special occasions? It’s likely you’ll end up spending more on food, gifts and related items around Thanksgiving and Christmas or other months when family and friends have birthdays and other events.
These are just a few of the reasons it’s a good idea to customize your budget every month. A good, accurate monthly budget should always reflect your reality. Not only will this give you a more realistic idea of where your money is going, but the knowledge also helps you control your money instead of it controlling you!
APRIL-Goals are what you want to achieve in budgeting. Do you want to have a $5,000 savings within one year? Get rid of all your debt in three months? Or just have your income and expenses balance out?
Goals should have a time-frame or a deadline. They should also be specific and can be quantified (put numbers).
Also, goals can be short-term, medium-term or long-term.
Short-term budgeting goals are those that you want to achieve as soon as next week to next month. An example of this would be to earn enough (specify amount in dollars) for an inexpensive vacation or to afford a small home theater within one month.
Medium term goals are those you aim to achieve within one year. An example would be to earn enough (again, specify amount) for a down payment for a house or a car in 12 months.
Long term goal in five years or longer, like being able to pay off your mortgage in 10 years, or to retire in 20 years.
Credit Card Management
MARCH-
In late February the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) published its analysis of consumer complaints it received in 2011. Identity theft occupied the very top spot with 279,156 individual filings, although that's a tiny fraction of the 9 million Americans estimated by the Federal Trade Commission to be affected by this type of fraud each year.
The FTC says that last year the most common form of identity theft was that surrounding government documents and benefits fraud, but credit card fraud came in second, and accounted for 14 percent of complaints filed. Actually, this is less worrying than it sounds, because consumers can by law (providing they're not culpable) be responsible for only the first $50 of the consequent losses, and in practice credit card companies often waive even that.
However, at the very best, all victims of identity theft suffer significant stress and hassle, so it's well worth protecting yourself, as a minimum in the following five ways:
1. Keep your credit cards in sight at all times when making a payment.
2. Shred your old card statements and all documents that contain any personal information before consigning them to the recycling or trash.
3. Take care when buying with a card online. Make sure the merchant's reputablIe: if you've never heard of it, check with the local Better Business Bureau, and Google the company name alongside "complaints." Also ensure that, on the payment page, the "http" in the web address field of your browser has changed to "https" (the "s" indicates a "secure" site).
4. Don't fall for "phishing" scams. These often come in the form of emails or browser popups that appear to come from your bank or card issuer, urging you to visit a website to get more information, to validate your account or to claim a prize. Don't even click on the link. Instead, call the card company using the number on the back of your card and describe the suspicious email to them.
5.Keep your computer's antivirus software up to date, and change your important passwords monthly.
APRIL-The second most common complaint (180,928 of them) in that FTC list concerned debt collections, and all too often people find themselves at the tender mercies of a collection agency because they didn't manage their credit card debt sufficiently well. A few lucky people are wealthy enough -- or careful enough -- not to have to worry about actively monitoring their card accounts, but the rest of us really have to, even if it's only occasionally or during difficult times. So what can you do to avoid collectors?
1. Periodically analyze your spending so that you know exactly where every cent is going. This could allow you to head off problems before it's too late.
2. If your existing credit card debt is already a worry, use the information from your analysis to curb spending. Then use your savings to pay down your card balances.
3. Create a debt-reduction plan that includes target dates for achieving your goals. Use credit card calculators to make sure your objectives are realistic, and if you're current on your payments, call your credit card companies to see if they'll reduce their rates for you.
4. Pay down the plastic with the highest credit card interest rates first, and then work your way through the others until you've paid off the last one.
5. If your credit score's still good or excellent, explore your options for balance transfer credit cards. The best balance transfer offers could give you a complete break from paying interest on your balances for up to 15 months or longer. Just make sure you use that time to pay down your debt, rather than to add to it!
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