Customer Reviews

Your Secrets Are My Business: A Security Expert Reveals How Your Trash, Telephone, License Plate, Credit Cards, Computer, and Even Your Mail Make You an Easy Target for Today's Information Thieves

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book makes it really clear that privacy doesn't exist. McKeown uses some very funny stories to illustrate the techniques the con men use to steal people's identities. Not only is this a fun read, it also has great reference information as to how to protect your credit, secure your privacy, and make it so you are NOT a target for the criminals. This is a book for everyone -- if you don't think you could be a target for the identity theives, you're wrong. If you're not careful, they can get enough information just from looking at your car parked in a parking lot to rip you off -- scary stuff.

I publish a newsletter on personal privacy and I am the author of a forthcoming book on this subject. Most of the books in this field--and I have them all--are full of generalizations and rehashed ideas. Kevin McKeown furnishes some surprising new information and co-author Dave Stern writes in an entertaining (if sometimes disorganized) fashion. If you wish to find out how private investigators can track you down, buy this book.

This book is WAY past its pull date. Full of warnings about not calling back the unrecognized number on your pager (pager?), the ease of using a consumer-grade scanner to evesdrop your cell phone calls (not since the cell network went digital!), and how you should shred paperwork with identifying information on it (duh!).

The over-riding assumption is that anyone with something to hide must be a criminal. The reader is told to vary your hours, commute route, and habits so 'they' can't catch you, because you must be trying to get away with something. For the rest of us law-abiding types, the message is "privacy is obsolete. get over it."

Even worse, the author and the ghost-writer (this is one of those books by someone WITH someone else) must have been paid by the word. It goes on and on and on, just to convey the merest morsel of a factoid.

But worst of all, the author is such a big shot, you're supposed to be really impressed with the names he drops and the James Bond-style exploits he pulled. He walked right into office buildings after-hours and stole bags of trash! He staked out the parking lot of the YMCA residence and guessed that the only non-hoopty in the lot belonged to the embezzeler! He shoulder-surfed the old man in line in front of him at the bank to learn his identity! Shaken-not-stirred stuff, you bet!

I have a lot of books on my shelf, and I don't mind reading a lot of pages to get a little information. But this turkey yielded NO information of use, and so it went right back in the box and back to Amazon.

I was unable to put the book down it was so easy to read! Lots of great advice on ways to protect yourself from con artists who want to steal your identity. Who knew that it was so easy to have someone get personal information on anyone? This book is worth reading to protect you and your family!

I work with research and the Internet all the time. Nonetheless, it was still amazing to me what people can learn about you. I found the book useful for the everyday person, who should learn this.

The man from the Bay area must not have read the same book that I read because I loved it. However, he is entitled to his opinion, albeit a misguided one. (smile)

Yes, some of the information is a bit dated, but we must realize that any information on technology comes with a quick expiration date. Even with a revised edition, the information is dated the moment it goes to print, so let's be fair.

This book is valuable to me for two main reasons: First of all, after reading so many doom and gloom articles on identity theft and fraud, I found this book to be refreshing and timely. It is entertaining yet educational about today's reality of fraud and, gives a look on the newest scourge: Identity Theft, the #1 growing crime in America today, which is quickly becoming the bane of our financial existence.

Secondly, I know a lot of people with their heads still stuck in the sand when it comes to the issue of identity theft, thinking that it would never happen to them. They were like me, scared to death after reading and watching the latest reports.

This book clearly demonstrates how easy it is for us to expose ourselves to the world through our habits and routines. I loved the way Kevin McKeown writes. He weaves entertaining stories and humor on this very serious topic. Although it is a great read, it is not fluff. I felt informed and empowered after reading it, and if that was some of Mr. McKeown's objectives in writing this book, he has clearly met them. I hope Mr. McKeown realizes the great impact this book will have on our society, that is, if we all choose to read and apply it.

I will be purchasing copies for my entire family, because this may be the only book (on this subject) they would actually read.

I saw the book in a bookstore and bought it on a whim. Interesting, funny, and also educational. Some of the issues of infringement into your privacy are scary. A very, very good read!

This book shows you just how simple it is for another person to get information from you and about you, to be used in good or bad ways.
After reading this book, you are sure to change a few of your daily routines and be more concerned about your trash and phone conversations besides other things

A great read - a must have for everyone concerned about privacy

The book in total represents a small tutorial of the methods used to gather information about the criminally inclined. Small tutorial, because it doesn't give the long checklists, and it doesn't give a structured "here is how and why you do it."

It adds color and depth to some of the books that claim to teach searching public records or tracing lost love ones. It hasn't made me love the "information industry", but I have gained both respect and fear. The bothersome part is that not all who know these techniques are "Good Guys".

Well written book, with great examples. Although, there are some missing details that should have been included. Would have been nice if the author could have included an instance when he was less than perfect. Seems as if some information was left out that could have been easily included. Still a good read.