What are parents' responsibility when it comes to school shootings? Episode #13

Welcome everybody to the Security Guy and the CIA Spy Show podcast, where we are keeping you on top of what is new and ahead of what is next at all times on all things security, tech, and digital literacy. Knowing that when good people like you want to make sure that their money, their family, and their business is safe and secure from attackers, hackers, and thieves, or you just want to make sure your tech is running smoothly, my name is Robert Siciliano. I am the Security Guy, and along with my co-host Peter Wormka, who is a real and retired United States CIA spy, we will give give you every single tool, tip, tactic, and skill that you need to fight the bad guy and keep your physical and digital life secure, worry less, and even make you happier. This podcast will help you breathe easier with less stress and a greater sense of well-being. So let's get at it, and welcome to The Security Guy and CIA Spy. I am Robert Siciliano, and this is Peter Wormka. How you doing, Peter?

I'm doing well, busy. Looking forward to the holidays. I'm not quite ready for them yet, but, uh, really been busy. I'm traveling right now. I'm in Washington, D.C. Are you back? Are you back home in Boston?

I am, I am back in Boston, and, uh, yeah, busy. Um, you know, I have seen so much going on this holiday season, uh, a lot of disturbing things and a lot of enlightening things, you know. Um, this time of the year, um, security experts of all kinds You know, they kind of talk about what's gone on this year, and we have a few things we're going to hit upon that, you know, touch upon that. One thing specific, you know, very recently, I think it's really important we discuss this, the school shooting very recently where the parents bought the gun for the kid. You know, this is not the first time we've seen parents buying firearms for children and children using those firearms against their fellow students. You know, um, that's a problem. And it's— in the biggest part of the problem is the fact that the parents don't recognize that their child, uh, isn't— is in such a way that they would use that firearm against others for, uh, the wrong reasons, right? Uh, you know, look at— I am perfectly for buying your kid a gun if the kid is responsible to have the gun. You know, I wouldn't put a child behind the wheel of a vehicle unless I knew 1,000% they were perfectly safe enough to drive, and I definitely wouldn't give them a firearm unless I considered them 100% okay to use that firearm. That's me. The problem with the parents who put the kid behind the wheel of the car that shouldn't be driving and to give them the gun they shouldn't have it is that the parents generally are not qualified to make those decisions in the first place because they're just not smart or good or healthy or intelligent people. That's the problem we have here.

I completely agree. I mean, this is why we have a designation of adulthood, right? Being— coming an adult and individuals who are in formation of becoming future adults. And there are, you know, children at different levels of maturity and responsibility, but at the end of the day, who's responsible for the formation of their children? We can say that the schools are, but schools are very limited on what they can do because many times their hands are tied. Even their hands are tied by the parents. So ultimately, I really believe, I believe, and I agree with you, the parents are responsible. In this case, It was not only buying the gun, it was when they were being called to the school. We were concerned about an issue, and they pretty much just washed their hands and say there is no issue and walked away. I mean, that's like, especially, especially in this case, I truly believe that they are responsible.

It's so disturbing. So they were called in because that morning a teacher saw concerning drawings, and written statement says The Daily Beast, and went to the counseling office of Dean of Students. Police have said the drawings included a handgun of a person who had been shot, laughing emojis, a bullet, and the phrase, "The thoughts won't stop. Help me. Blood everywhere. My life is useless and the world is dead." Now, that parent— that, that, that teacher did her job with bringing that red flag to the attention of the Dean of Students.

Absolutely.

And then they brought it to the guidance counselor's office, and the guidance counselor engaged the parents. The parents made little of it. The parents basically washed their hands of it, like you said. And the guidance counselor basically was in a position where, okay, well, the parents don't think it's a big deal, the kid seems okay, you know, what am I supposed to do? And at that time they kind of, you know, let it go, which obviously was not the right move. You know, this particular situation, it brings to mind that the guidance counselor themselves may not have been enough of an alarmist to actually push the issue. They did threaten the parents a little bit, by saying that they're going to call child services. The biggest problem here is that they didn't bring in local law enforcement. Because if the guidance counselor was enough of an alarmist— and I consider myself somewhat of an alarmist, right? And I think that I need to be in order to bring attention to the issues that I speak to, to raise the bar, to raise the alarm, as to, you really need to pay attention to this. You can't just discount what's happening here. And to really like grab people by the throat, to shake them and say, you really need to recognize the level of risk that's going on here. And that wasn't done. And if local law enforcement was brought in, I think that would've changed the equation quite a bit because it would have shown not just the parents, but the child, that this is real, that, that what you wrote, the thoughts you're having, what you— the way you've expressed yourself, it matters and it means something. And the guidance counselor failed to do that. But the buck doesn't stop at the guidance counselor. The buck stops with the dean of students, because it's a dean of students that ultimately should have impressed upon the guidance counselor, this is serious stuff. And we can't— look at this particular issue, will change the course of how schools address this type of information going forward.

I hope so. I really hope so.

The problem is, is that as time passes and memories fade there will be another one just like it that will slip through the cracks, unfortunately. Parents, smarten up, you know. Teachers, guidance counselors, deans of students, pay attention.

I think parents think they have this attitude that they know their kids better than— you know, it's better for the best for their kids, better than what the schools do, right? And, uh, but obviously they don't know their kids in some of these cases.

They don't know their kids at all, especially parents that are just not good parents. They're just not good, smart people, plain and simple, you know. And, and these, these people seem to fit the bill. Yeah, and I'm judging. Yeah, yeah, okay.

I mean, almost all these cases where these kids have gone into, uh, you know, these mass shootings, the parents ultimately have some responsibility. But with this one It is so obvious that, you know, if, if these parents aren't held accountable, then forget it. Yeah, forget it. You know, we're wasting our time.

And, you know, and I'm not going to get into the, um, semantics of gun control here. I'm not going to do that. But I will say that this particular incident, this particular issue, is not a gun problem. This particular incident, this particular issue boils down to a parenting problem, okay? Uh, should the 15-year-old have had access to a semi-automatic firearm? Definitely not. Um, that boils down to a parenting problem. You know, the fact that the parents provided him the firearm, that they didn't tell the school about that that they saw the drawings and knew what the kid was saying, that boils down to a parenting problem.

You know, it's just unfortunate that you have— how many? 8, 8 victims, I mean, who lost their lives, and then countless victims beyond who have been impacted by this.

4, I believe. 4 dead, 8 shot.

Yeah, I think all the families now this upcoming holiday season that are going to be grieving Yeah, awful, awful.

All right, next in line, the virtual phone farm scammers use to set up fake, fake accounts. So I thought this was really interesting because I get hit up on a regular basis by scammers via mobile phone and via email constantly, and I come across fake websites all the time. Okay, so Because of the nature of our business here and how out there I am in regards to my communications, I just get contacted by scammers, or I find them and I, and I see it because I am able to recognize it a little clearer than obviously, like, you know, most others because of what we do. That being said, um, it's always interested me how they're able to set up all these fake phone accounts. And this particular article by Vice talks about the virtual phone farm scammers use to set up fake accounts. So many sites force users to verify their identity with the phone number. Scammers turn to services like 5SIM where they can rent a phone number for pennies. And this particular article talks about how when a scammer wants to set up a, an account on Amazon, Discord, or spread other online, or other online services, Sometimes the thing standing in the way is SMS verification. The site will require them to enter a phone number to receive a text, which they'll then need to input back into the site. Sites often do this to prevent people from making them— from making fraudulent accounts in bulk.

Okay, well, this has application also, for example, when you set up an email account, right, like Google, probably Hotmail, Yahoo, and other ones where they will ask you that So you could do this, use this also to establish those email accounts. Like, for example, when I look a lot at LinkedIn and I see how fraudulent LinkedIn accounts are set up, hey, LinkedIn requires an email, you know, for verification. But to set up that email, you could use something like that. So it'd be very easy for a fraudster to use this service to set up the email, the fraudulent email that then is used to verify the account. And if it's a— this is a one-time, uh, you know, this isn't quite clear from the article if this is a one-time number or can that number be maintained for a period of time.

So the way it works is you get access to a mobile phone number that you can then use to set up a fraudulent, say, PayPal account or a fraudulent LinkedIn account or a fraudulent, you know, um, you a Zelle account, and so on. And so that phone number, often associated with an email address, often a Google Voice number, is how the perpetrators ultimately get paid. Because with that Zelle account and that PayPal account, that's how they ultimately get paid. So this is a really cool article to go through, and I think people should understand how that— how this happens. And one thing to be aware of is, for example, I spent a little bit of time here and there on Facebook Marketplace. Okay, so occasionally, you know, I might clean up my father's garage and I'll have a— he'll have a few things left over, or I'll clean up my own garage and I'll, you know, sell a few things on Facebook Marketplace. Okay, and in order to do so, you know, I, you know, have to have a Facebook account, and I've set that up, you know, previously, a long time ago. And so when I list something, 9 out of 10 times when I list something, immediately somebody responds to me. And they go, oh, I'm interested in that. I wanna buy it. Give me your phone number.

Yeah, you don't wanna give them your phone number.

The second that they say, give me your phone number, what they're, the reason why they want that, and I know what they're trying to do, the reason why they want that is they wanna see if my mobile phone number is associated with a Google Voice number. And what they'll try to do from that point on, if they get my phone number, is they'll try to socially engineer me and they'll try to open up a Google Voice number that they can use for themselves to establish other various online accounts. So if you're on Marketplace and anybody ever asks you to provide a phone number, immediately say no, right? And delete them and even report them to Facebook if that's— if you should so desire. So be very careful, and you and I have talked about this a number of times, with sharing your mobile phone number with the general public these days because your phone number today is a lot like your Social Security number has been all of your life. Okay, so that's that. Be careful sharing your phone. All right, right here, Peter, how criminals are using synthetic identities for fraud. This is an article from Dark Reading. So it goes on to say that synthetic identity fraud was already a problem before COVID-19 pandemic shifted spending uh, to— and work online. But it's becoming a bigger problem now as criminals take advantage of looser rules around credit and the sheer number of personal information exposed via data breaches. The fraud begins with stolen data, obviously establishing new credit card accounts and other payment accounts with retailers, banks, and other financial services companies using a fake identity allows fraudsters to house They're stolen funds. Their transactions aren't attached to any one victim, making it harder for the companies to detect accounts are fraudulent. They can easily— they can basically use it, and nobody's checking any statement because it wasn't a stolen credit card. So rather than stealing a card, they're stealing the data, creating the data to create the card itself. So let me explain how this works, Peter. Do you understand synthetic identity theft and how that works?

I do, but I think this is a new term to something that's been around for quite a long time. It's sort of like identity theft, right? But the term synthetic is something that seems like it makes it new, but, uh, this has been around for quite a while.

It's only—

it's just becoming a bigger and bigger problem because there's so much information now available to the fraudsters to be able to do this than previously, right?

So there's a number of ways to skin the synthetic fraud cat. The way it works basically is that your Social Security number is ultimately the key to the kingdom. It's what's used to open up new lines of credit under your name, okay? And when a bad guy obtains what's called a FULLZ, F-U-L-L-Z, which is a trove of data that represents you— your name, your address, your phone number, and your Social Security number, and maybe even your email address, and possibly even your mobile phone number. Okay, a fulls could be 6 to 8, uh, uh, points of data. Now, name, address, Social Security number really is all they need. And with that, the bad guy poses as you and opens up new lines of accounts as you with a new address, not your address, because you won't get notification. So that new address, along with a variation of your name or a completely different name associated with that Social Security number, is what synthetic identity theft becomes. So the way it works is with a different address and a different name, but your social they can then establish new lines of credit using your social but a different name and a different physical address.

Now, you know that then when— let's say, for example, we always encourage people on a, you know, at least once a year if not more, pull, uh, your credit file, you know, do it, pull that file to see if there's any new lines that have been opened.

Would—

if they're using your Social Security number Will those always typically come up? Will you be able to pull that in a credit bureau check or not? Do you think so automatically?

The answer is no. The problem with synthetic identity theft is that the fraud, the new lines of credit that have been opened up under your name, will not show on your credit report.

But it's linked to your Social Security. Isn't the Social Security That is correct.

But that being said, it still will not show up on your credit report. So when a bad guy opens up new lines of credit with a different name and a different physical address, that information doesn't show up on your credit report, which means that somebody out there is functioning with a different name and a different physical address but using your social. Now, the good news here is that it does not ultimately affect your credit standing because the accounts aren't being opened up under your name. It's being opened up on— under somebody else's name, which could be a fictitious name, with another address, which generally wouldn't be your address either. So again, the good news is that may not affect you?

Not you directly, but it affects all of us in the sense of, uh, this cost is passed on to all consumers. Because when the bank— with it, wherever the credit— the credit issuing agency, whatever it is— when they eventually figure out, hey, this person's not paying me back, you know, they close that account. They— it's very difficult then for them, you know, they can maybe report this, but nothing's gonna— the individual, the fraudster, is not going to be found. It's, it's pretty much all lost. Correct.

That is correct. It does hurt all of us. All that being said, there is always the possibility that that lender would do some additional checks into that social, and it's not too difficult for them to get the actual name associated with that social. So it's possible that bill collectors could contact you should your social be used with other accounts not associated with your name or address. So like you said, make sure you check your credit at least annually to make sure that everything on it is clean. Uh, even if you have a fraud alert, a credit freeze, and identity theft protection— all three of those things are good to do, I have all three— you should still be checking your credit at least on an annual basis. You could do it for free at annualcreditreport.com. And if you subscribe to an identity theft protection service like one at protectnowllc.com— is a plug for us— uh, you can get one free credit report a month based on the, um, level of identity theft protection that you provide or subscribe to.

Okay, so that's a great deal.

Yeah. All right, so, uh, uh, last but not least, check this out. Fox 5 talks about 'Apple AirTags being used by car thieves— what you need to know to protect yourself.' So the, um, this is pretty crazy. Apple AirTags, which I think are pretty cool, right?

Uh, I've heard of this. There's, there's not just Apple, there's other ones. I'm trying to remember the name of it. It's called, uh, there's another type of tag. We were actually looking at getting them. It was— it's through the telephone network. I mean, basically, I think they piggyback on Tile and such. Yeah, Tiles, right? But it depends on what other phones are in the vicinity where they can piggyback on. If you went to a really remote area where they could not use those other tags or tiles to be able to jump from one, uh, they're useless. But I didn't— I wasn't aware that Apple had something similar.

Yeah, and Apple is, you know, the end-all be-all in that regard too, right? They're going to put companies like Tile out of business, I would think. So what are thieves doing? Fox 5 goes on to say, according to the police, Uh, in the York Region, which is located in the Ontario province— what's happening in Canada right now, uh, and I'm sure here— uh, they have identified a new method that is being used by thieves to track and steal high-end vehicles, right? So since September 2021, officers have investigated 5 incidents where suspects have placed small tracking devices on high-end vehicles so they can later locate and steal them. Read a portion of the statement. Brand name AirTags are placed in out-of-sight areas of the target vehicle when they are parked in public places like malls and parking lots. Thieves then track the targeted vehicle to where the victim's residence is, where they are stolen from the driveway. So as you could see here, the AirTag, about the size of, say, you know, the tip of your finger, maybe a little bit larger, if you look on the left-hand side, If you don't know what that is, that is the receptacle where you would install an adapter to tow your vehicle. So a plug goes in there where you would plug in the adapter for your, uh, say your boat or your trailer for your trailer lights. Okay, there's an adapter that goes in there, and what you see in the bottom, that's actually the COVID and the top is the receptacle where that adapter would go. So That cover covers up that receptacle. Anybody who has a pickup truck or an SUV with the tow hitch on it would know what that is. That being said, uh, that, uh, AirTag just sits in there and it allows the criminal to remotely track that vehicle, which is by itself a criminal act because it's illegal to, uh, put a tracking device on a vehicle.

Yep.

And to tamper with somebody else's vehicle. Yeah, so according, uh, to Fox 10 in Atlanta, an Atlanta police officer once found an AirTag placed near a gas tank of a car. However, they did not elaborate if the AirTags are being used in a similar manner as the one described in Canada. So AirTags, of course, are, um, a coin-sized device that could be attached to keys, backpacks, purses, and other items used to track people, uh, track people down via their iPhone if they're misplaced. So look, I, I don't even know how to begin to explain how you would protect yourself from this type of a scam, you know, other than, right, if you, um, have an alarm on your vehicle. You know, I know a lot of vehicles today don't actually come with any type of an alarm. Um, you have to, you know, install via a third party. That's one way to go about it. Uh, you can install a third-party alarm You can install a switch that would disable the vehicle in addition to, say, you know, your key, which there's ways to hack the key. There's switches you can install that would interrupt the ignition. There's also tracking via, say, OnStar and other tracking services should your vehicle be stolen. So there are additional third-party services or ways in which you could disable the vehicle should you be that concerned.

I would think, I mean, I would think if not already offered, that insurance companies should think about offering this, these type of things. Because, uh, that, you know, if you're talking about especially high-end vehicles, if installing a, what do you call it, a disruptor, a switch, yeah, make the difference of, you know, them getting away with the vehicle or it all was installing, that there should be a discount with someone's insurance, car insurance. But I don't know. That exists.

I believe they do offer them for alarm services. So, you know, an alarm installed in the vehicle, that, that might be an option for your carrier. So, Peter, uh, so, uh, happy holidays to you.

Same to you.

And, um, let's just say, uh, are you gonna— are you working for the next few weeks?

Uh, sort of, but I'm going back home tomorrow and spend a little bit more time with family and just kind of like tying up some loose ends. But, uh, It's been a great year, and before I forget, I want to submit— you, you highlighted, I think, last time that I was doing TED Talks, and I can probably say that the first one has hit the air about 5 days ago. So anyone that's interested in, in, in the art of human hacking, I go into it. It's an 18-minute video. Just search for my name, Peter Wormka, and TEDx on YouTube, and it will pop up. And I appreciate the views. That's one thing I want to put a plug in. And also, we're talking about the holidays. I'm sorry to put plugs in for myself, but why not, right? Another thing I'm doing is promoting my book, of course. And if you go to the website counterintelligenceinstitute.com, you can be able to order the book, a signed copy of the book. There's a special price for a signed copy for yourself or maybe as a gift to someone. Love it.

Perfect. And you deserve it, Peter. Congratulations on the TED Talk. Uh, and, uh, a quick plug, uh, check us out at protectnowllc.com. Uh, please, uh, subscribe to our newsletter and, uh, please share this podcast to all those in your life. Uh, thank you so much. Happy holidays. And Peter, last words.

Everybody enjoy the time with your families and with your friends. It's a blessing to have families and friends and you know, watch out for each other. Pray for, pray for others that, that, uh, you know, have harder times than we do, especially the victims of such senseless violence. But just be safe out there.

Agreed. And be nice to each other. Thank you, Peter. Talk to you soon.

Okay, take care.