Hackers got into BMO & CIBC’s Simplii Financial

[Catsumi]

Tyler, go back a page, read, enjoy my rant.

[normaM]

I now have a second card - back up. Would have been hooped had I been travelling and was card was flagged.
Been told they read them the most at places that bring the machine to your table to pay and gas stations.

Not sure what damage they can do with a SIN.

[Catsumi]

My point, which I obviously didn't make clear, is that we MUST, by law, give up SINs to institutions that get hacked.

Credit cards and debit cards are tied to your bank info (which is hackable)

We can endlessly change PINs and passwords, but until Banks have a perfect firewall against hacks, all our efforts to protect our privates are pretty much useless.

Maybe retinal image or even a thumbprint would be more useful. Long overdue.

I know, I know, someone will chop off digit, but that would be shortlived as smell eventually overwhelms others at ATM. Eyeball better as surgery messy.

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A stolen SIN is a good point to start building a false identity. Years ago at a Cdn embassy in Thailand(?) stacks of blank passports were being "sold" off to whomever by staff members, a SIN to go along with, an added bonus. This was a big scandal at the time which was hushed up by our gov't. Unsure whether embassy staff still allowed to issue passports or not. Anyway, this is all moot.

[TylerM4]

Tyler, go back a page, read, enjoy my rant.

OK, but why? I was simply re-affirming your position.

Agree with your rant tho. As a victim of identity theft myself I've learnt a lot about the system and it's horrible. So horrible your average street junkie can abuse it :(

[GordonH]

Every time I hear of one of these major corporation being hacked, then find out at their year end they recorded "X" monster amount in profits.
My very first thought is why are you not spending some of that on much better security for your clientele, who trust you with their private information. Oh right it's the shareholder who are so much more important, to hell with client base.

[Catsumi]

GordonH, I couldn't agree more.

Since these institutions harbour OUR private info they should be doing everything they can to ward off hackers, but no, the onus is on their hapless customer to change PINS and passwords. It's like holding up a fishing net to act as an umbrella.

And, they get away with it, both the hacked institutions and the hackers.

Biometrics is the answer, so why hasn't it been implemented? The technology is there and being used elsewhere successfully. There are just NO reasonable excuses for these repeated breaches of privacy on us, the clients.

BTW, did you ever determine if your bank does or does not have your SIN? If not, would love to know how you dodged that.

[csm]

The hackers will be sadly disappointed in the fact the bigger racketeers got into my account first - The Liberals!!!

[csm]

^^^So then, you MUST provide SIN to your bank or credit union, correct?

You are correct. To make an investment or to obtain credit you MUST provide your SIN number.

About the only service you don't have to provide a SIN for is a no-interest savings or checking account.

That's so Revenue Canada can monitor to make sure you pay every single "obsolete" penny they think they deserve. You might say when it comes to our Federal Government and thier Tax grab's it's like the old Dire Straits song "Money for Nothing".

[Catsumi]

Tyler, go back a page, read, enjoy my rant.

OK, but why? I was simply re-affirming your position.

Agree with your rant tho. As a victim of identity theft myself I've learnt a lot about the system and it's horrible. So horrible your average street junkie can abuse it :(

Hey TylerM4, I for one am curious as to how your identity was stolen. How did it happen and when and how did you finally rid yourself of the bloodsucking tick? Were charges laid, jailtime, fines? I realize that this is private but you can disguise it, yes?