Emmy-Award-winning reporter Mary Murphy spoke with Michael McAndrews, PacketWatch CTO, about identity theft, passwords, and stolen unemployment payments during a story on Pix11 News (NYC).
Michael explained how the volume of unemployment claims during the pandemic has created an environment for cybercriminals to take advantage of the states and the payment recipients. Using a password manager and unique, strong passwords are the best ways to protect yourself from this type of attack. Cybercriminals are constantly trolling the Internet looking for exposed passwords. There has been a tremendous increase in unemployment check fraud, it’s just a matter of time before the criminals find password that allows them to steal an identity.
You can view the entire story “Brooklyn mom victim of unemployment identity hacker“ as told by Mary on the Pix11 News website.
“Since so many state agencies have been overwhelmed by unemployment claims, they haven’t been able to audit them. So, many times, the claims are simply being paid, and therefore, the money is being sent to the criminals.” - Michael McAndrews, Chief Technology Officer at PacketWatch