Here’s a sobering way to start the new year — precautions you can/should take to minimise the risk of having your cards cloned or your bank account ripped off. By Saar Drinen of the Cambridge Computer Lab’s Security Group.

People often ask me what can they do to prevent themselves from being victims of card fraud when they pay with their cards at shops or use them in ATMs for on-line card fraud tips see e-victims.org, for example. My short answer is usually “not much, except checking your statements and reporting anomalies to the bank”. This post is the longer answer — little practical things, some a bit over the top, I admit — that cardholders can do to decrease the risk of falling victim to card fraud. Some of these will only apply to UK issued cards, some to all smartcards, and the rest applies to all types of cards.

Sobering because I’ve realised that I don’t take many of the precautions recommended.

Thanks to Charles Arthur for the link.