Security Breach

If there's one thing that burns my ass it's when people try to force protection on me. I particularly hate it when people make laws to force protection on me. I guess it's because it's a shot to my pride. It's like somebody is saying I'm not smart enough to protect myself so they are making it illegal to be stupid. Like seatbelts. I don't think the cops should be able to give an adult a ticket for not wearing one. It's rightfully the decision of that person. The only person he/she could be endangering is him/herself. Or marijuana. Pot smoking endangers the lungs of the users. Possibly the brain but I don't know if there's any conclusive science to that. I DO know that nobody has ever been attacked and harmed by someone flipping out on weed. If anything smoking pot protects other people from the smoker cuz it just mellows the user out. But it's illegal for everyone. It would make much more sense to have a law that makes marijuana use mandatory for highly exciteable people. By making pot illegal and forcing everyone to wear seatbelts lawmakers are sending the general public the message that they don't think we're smart enough to make the right choices on these issues.

By far the biggest example of what I'm talking about is government in general. That's basically what they do isn't it? Make decisions for us dummies? Yet they say they trust our decisions to vote for the person who will make the right decisions for us. Our system of government doesn't make a whole lot of sense but that's for another post.

There are all kinds of inconsistencies in security rules these days. I'll give you an example of one thing I think people are forced to be UNDER-secure about: signatures. Everything you do these days requires a signature. 99% of the time they're totally unnecessary and most people don't know this but in a large number of cases when people require us to sign some form it is actually illegal. Forms that you MUST sign are very rare. But it's become a habit hasn't it? Trying to make things look official you get a signature. Here in Korea it's a very big trend. And invariably the space they leave for the signature is too small. And often they force you to sign a paper and then they give it to YOU! That happened just 2 days ago when I had my cable box removed. The technician filled out some spaces on a form that was incomprehensible to me anyway, asked for my signature then gave it to me. Kept no copy for himself. He just gave me my signature. Nice of him. And it has happened to me quite a few times here in Korea.

Think of all the things people can do with a signature. They can sign for a hotel room or room service. They can write checks, even walk into a bank and withdraw money if they know your account number. And what if the form you are handed says something like "I admit to the planning and execution of the bombing of the WTC". If you sign it, you did it! Yet we sign stuff all the time don't we? Often without reading it or having any idea what it is. I've started just signing with my initials. I sometimes even write Homer Simpson instead of my own name. One time during my recent trip to the Philippines I was asked to sign a drink bill and I just scribbled and scribbled and scribbled until the bill was almost completely black with ink.

Yet some of the people who are the most cavalier about spreading their signatures throughout the world have triple encrypted, multi-password protected, firewall supported security systems on their computers. They wouldn't want anyone to see the last email they sent!

I've never been one for computer security. It has caused me far more problems than it has solved. I had Norton Antivirus for a day. It bogged my computer down so much and found so many viruses that I was beginning to think IT was the biggest virus I had. I removed it and haven't had a computer meltdown yet. There's no way it found as many viruses as it told me it did. But for a day I was getting pretty paranoid. I thought maybe people were reading my email or scanning my hard drives. Then I thought about what I have on my computer. Other than a few nekkid pics I don't have anything to hide. And if there really were people hacking in to see what I've got on here, I figure smarts like that should be rewarded. They can go ahead and view my nekkid pics.

But the people at Microsoft are trying to force me to be more secure. About 20 times a day I am told that my firewall is switched off or my computer might be at risk or there are important security updates I need to install. PPPppbbbbbttttthhhhhbbbbbbttttt! Generally they cause more problems than they solve. I do an Adaware scan, disk cleanup and defrag every so often and that's as secure as I figure I need to be. I sometimes even download a virus scan program, use it once then nuke it.

My recent problems with internet cable are, I believe, the result of too much security as well. I can no longer use Yahoo Messenger because it doesn't work when my computer's security level is at "medium" and the cable that I am using for internet, Hanaro, doesn't work when my computer's setting is any lower than "medium". The cable is too secure for its own good. It's the same thing as the seatbelts really. I am aware that through Yahoo Messenger I could get files sent to me that will be damaging to my computer. I am willing to take that risk and I resent anyone denying me the freedom to take that risk.

I really great example of how silly things are getting out there is my Canadian bank account. I live in Korea. I got the account before coming here with the intention of using it for 2 things: to make internet transfer payments on my locker where I have some of my belongings stored in Canada and for emergency withdrawals when I'm in, say, the Philippines and my Korean bank card won't work. I specifically asked when I got the account if I could make withdrawals from bank machines in the Philippines and was assured that it would be no problem. I went to the Philippines and had to beg for money in the airport because the card didn't work. Then when I convinced an airport security guard that if he lent me 50 bucks for the airport tax now, I'd send him 400 bucks later. He did and I did. So I made it home to Korea whereupon I undertook a lengthy process of trying to do something about my impotent bank card. What it came down to was that for security reasons they can't do anything online or over the phone. So there was nothing I could do. I eventually met a guy who was a banker in Canada and he made a few calls and got my problem solved for me. But what kind of logic is there to a bank account that allows me to make payments, transfer funds etc. online, but doesn't allow me to apply for international service, adjust my daily limit or things like that? It's not logic, it's paranoia.

I recently had my account frozen because I was "asked" if I would like to increase my security by choosing not one, not two, not three, not four, but FIVE additional new passwords for my account. When I chose to ignore the offer they froze my account. I eventually gave in and chose the damn passwords. A lot of good they did me. A very short time later some chick named Crystal McLeod tried to withdraw 1000 bucks from my account. It was a helluvan ordeal trying to get somebody to allow me to send email or talk on an insecure phone line to explain this problem but eventually after spending almost a grand on phone bills being referred from my bank to another person to another person to another person and so on I got an agency called the internet fraud agency of Canada or something like that and they were able to take my details over the phone and get something done. The 1000 bucks was returned to my account.

I wish I could remember that number.

I checked my account Friday. I was going to make an etransfer to the place where my stuff is stored. I found two withdrawals of about 700 bucks each that I hadn't made. I sent an email to my bank's customer service representative and he, (a guy named Jeff), said there was nothing he could do about it online and left me with a list of phone numbers I could call. I've tried several of them and they don't work. The number of my bank is the only one I know will work but I have to call them when they're open. And then I'll be referred to twenty different people again. For security reasons.

Somebody has hacked into my SUPER safe account! It's so safe I can't exchange information about it by phone or email. It's so safe I need 6 passwords. But for the second time in less than a year someone has stolen money from it! There were two payments made to a Canadian Tire Mastercard. I got the number on my list of payees on my account. So probably while the person was doing this, I could have used the credit card number to charge all kinds of stuff. But I didn't notice it in time. The payments to the card were made March 10th and 12th. After that the card was cancelled.

In order to do internet banking from my account you need my number and my password. There exists only one piece of paper that I know of with that information on it. It's beside me as I type this here in Korea. Also whoever stole my money created a new payee on my account which included the credit card number. There are no Canadian Tires here in Korea. Security was breached in Canada. Maybe someone was picking through the garbage behind my bank, maybe my bank somehow made a mistake and billed my account erroneously, maybe there is another David MacCannell and that caused a mix-up, or maybe someone stole my information from the internet or from the bank records. Either way I'm out 1400 bucks and I'm not too happy about it.

I've told the customer "service" guy that I want to close my account. Guess what the reply will be. Sorry for security reasons we can't do anything online or over the phone. Because of tight security I will have to go to my bank in person to close my account that has been accessed illegally TWICE because of bad security. What's to stop the Canadian Tire Bandit from getting a new credit card, maxing it out and paying it off from my account again while I'm wading through the "security" measures to try to secure my money? I don't see why I can't call somebody, tell them my 6 passwords, my bank card number, my Mother's maiden name etc. and get them to wire the money to my bank here in Korea. They probably need me to be there so they can get my signature. Cuz like we established earlier, that's so very secure isn't it?

The bottom line is I'm not going to try to make everything 100% secure in my life because then I won't be able to trust anyone. And can you ever really be 100% secure? I thought my bank was pretty secure. I trusted Canada Trust. And I don't know if I'll ever find out who's ripping me off but it might be one of the workers at my bank.

I will continue to be careful. Sometimes even foolish with my trust. And I'll probably continue to get burned for it because there are people out there, (bastards), who want to take advantage of people's trust. Money makes people do terrible things.

There are people who would use my story as an example of why the internet shoud be "regulated". But that would be just another example of other people forcing protection on us. I lost 1400 bucks and I won't likely get it back. But I made the decision for myself to use internet banking. It might have been a bad decision or a stupid one but I figure 1400 bucks is a small price to pay for the freedom to make that decision for myself.

There have been times when I was the guy who someone had to trust. What if the security guard at the airport didn't trust me? There are times in everyone's life when they need to be trusted. In an overprotected, paranoid society nobody would ever stop to help a neighbour fix a flat tire. Nobody would stop and offer help at the scene of an accident.

So I'm not going to let this incident turn me into a less trusting person. Maybe I should but I won't. But I sure hope they can get me my money back. I hope they catch the jerk who stole the money from me too. Just for the pain I'm gonna have to go through informing my bank about what has happened I'd like to beat that Canadian Tire Bandit about the head with his/her own computer monitor.