Last week, Blippy, a Twitter for purchases, created quite a stir when it was revealed that the company had exposedthe credit card numbers of several users.

The company's co-founder, Philip Kaplan, sought to downplay the severity of the mistake but as more and more individuals cozy up to the growing number of services that encourage 'oversharing' of financial-related information online, a number of parties involved with commerce will be affected.

Credit Card Holders & Issuers

While we take this very seriously and it is a headache for those involved, it’s important to remember that you’re never responsible if someone uses your credit card without your permission.  That’s why it’s okay to hand your credit card over to waiters, store clerks, and hundreds of other people who all have access to your credit card numbers.

Last week, Blippy, a Twitter for purchases, created quite a stir when it was revealed that the company had exposedthe credit card numbers of several users.

The company's co-founder, Philip Kaplan, sought to downplay the severity of the mistake but as more and more individuals cozy up to the growing number of services that encourage 'oversharing' of financial-related information online, a number of parties involved with commerce will be affected.

Credit Card Holders & Issuers

While we take this very seriously and it is a headache for those involved, it’s important to remember that you’re never responsible if someone uses your credit card without your permission.  That’s why it’s okay to hand your credit card over to waiters, store clerks, and hundreds of other people who all have access to your credit card numbers.

You can bet your "Bippy" that it was only a matter of time before "Blippy" exposed your PAN's (primary account numbers).  Now, I've just learned (from Mashable.com) that they can be "Googled" (see below)  



How could "anyone" NOT see this coming?  Now that I mention it, why does "anyone" still think you can type your PAN's into boxes on websites? You just can't do it.  Again, my favorite definition of insanity is the act of doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results.  You Type...The Bad Guys Swipe.  You Swipe, Your NOT the bad guys type.  It's that simple.



Here's what I had to say back in January when I first heard about Blippy: (the full post is below)  

When Blippy, which lets you twitter credit/debit card purchases rolled out earlier this month, my eyes rolled as well.

Click to Enlarge

When Blippy, which lets you twitter credit/debit card purchases rolled out earlier this month, my eyes rolled as well. Maybe because I still don't get Twitter. Somebody Tweets "I'm at Peet's" and frankly, it won't be more interesting finding out how much they spent there and what card they used. Who cares? Answer: The bad guys! 




Social networking sites have been identified as a nesting ground for purveyors of malware and phishing techniques, thus financial information gathering. It isn't difficult for them to round up needed information, but why make it easy for them by signing up to have your purchases show up as "blips" on the bad guys radar screens? I was waiting for someone else to see the naked emperor before saying anything. Cyveillance has spoken...



Blippy, could be a valuable tool for cyber criminals, warns Cyveillance. 



Blippy, a Spear Phisher’s Dream

This month, a service called Blippy was rolled out to the general public. In a CNN article this week, Blippy was described as a “financial version of twitter.com”, where users’ credit card transactions are posted to the internet much like the short tweets that people post to twitter.



On twitter, users post up to 140 characters on any topic they wish to discuss. On Blippy, a posting displays how much a person paid for a recent purchase. In the image below for example, we see that Michael Arrington of TechCrunch paid $112.64 at Amazon for a SanDisk 16GB 60MB/s Extreme Compact Flash Card.

You can bet your "Bippy" that it was only a matter of time before "Blippy" exposed your PAN's (primary account numbers).  Now, I've just learned (from Mashable.com) that they can be "Googled" (see below)  



How could "anyone" NOT see this coming?  Now that I mention it, why does "anyone" still think you can type your PAN's into boxes on websites? You just can't do it.  Again, my favorite definition of insanity is the act of doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results.  You Type...The Bad Guys Swipe.  You Swipe, Your NOT the bad guys type.  It's that simple.



Here's what I had to say back in January when I first heard about Blippy: (the full post is below)  

When Blippy, which lets you twitter credit/debit card purchases rolled out earlier this month, my eyes rolled as well.

Click to Enlarge

When Blippy, which lets you twitter credit/debit card purchases rolled out earlier this month, my eyes rolled as well. Maybe because I still don't get Twitter. Somebody Tweets "I'm at Peet's" and frankly, it won't be more interesting finding out how much they spent there and what card they used. Who cares? Answer: The bad guys! 




Social networking sites have been identified as a nesting ground for purveyors of malware and phishing techniques, thus financial information gathering. It isn't difficult for them to round up needed information, but why make it easy for them by signing up to have your purchases show up as "blips" on the bad guys radar screens? I was waiting for someone else to see the naked emperor before saying anything. Cyveillance has spoken...



Blippy, could be a valuable tool for cyber criminals, warns Cyveillance. 



Blippy, a Spear Phisher’s Dream

This month, a service called Blippy was rolled out to the general public. In a CNN article this week, Blippy was described as a “financial version of twitter.com”, where users’ credit card transactions are posted to the internet much like the short tweets that people post to twitter.



On twitter, users post up to 140 characters on any topic they wish to discuss. On Blippy, a posting displays how much a person paid for a recent purchase. In the image below for example, we see that Michael Arrington of TechCrunch paid $112.64 at Amazon for a SanDisk 16GB 60MB/s Extreme Compact Flash Card.