jueves, 31 de marzo de 2016

Vamos al Cine con Oracle Cinema Live a partir de este mes de abril 2016



Communication - Cinema Live

Estimados Lideres,

Nos complace informar el calendario de las Sesiones periódicas del Cinema Live, presentadas por expertos en Soluciones Oracle Cloud.

¡Esta es la oportunidad de compartir con sus usuarios contenidos relevantes!

Solicitamos su apoyo informando la fecha de cuando compartan el Cinema Live entre sus usuarios, así tendremos la posibilidad de evaluar los resultados de esta iniciativa.

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Tema
Horario*
Inscríbete
Transformando el modelo tradicional
de venta (CX Sales)
Todos los Jueves 11:00
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Mejorando la percepción, la atención y la obtención
de valor para sus clientes (CX Services)
Todos los Jueves 14:00
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Tema
Horario*
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Atraer e Incorporar al mejor Talento (HCM Recruiting)
Todos los Martes 14:00
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Tema
Horario*
Inscríbete
Empodérate de la información de tu compañía a
través de BICS (Self-Service Analytics)
Todos los Miércoles 10:00
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Tema
Horario*
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Disminuya costos y obtenga una Planificación Financiera
rápida y confiable (Planning and Budget Cloud)
Todos los Miércoles 14:00
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Mejorando la visibilidad, la colaboración y la gobernabilidad de los procesos financieros (Financial Cloud)
Todos los Martes 13:00
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Tema
Horario*
Inscríbete
¿Cómo convertirse en un líder de compras
moderno? 
(Procurement Cloud)
Todos los Miércoles 13:00
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Oficina de Proyectos Eficaz
(Projects Cloud)
Todos los Jueves 13:00
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*El horario indicado corresponde a la hora local en México (CST)

Saludos cordiales,

LAD Customer Programs Team

miércoles, 30 de marzo de 2016

Oracle Hot Topics and News: Baddata Script To Check Database For Corrupt column data

Alerts

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Mon, 28 Mar 2016 13:07 GMT-06:00

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Tue, 29 Mar 2016 08:53 GMT-06:00


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Oracle exige a Google una indemnización de 9.000 millones de dólares


Diario Digital de León / Texto e Imagen: www.fayerwayer.com

Se abre un nuevo capítulo de la lucha entre los dos gigantes tecnológicos. La gente de Oracle sigue enfadada conGoogle y busca quedarse con una tajada del pastel de ganancias que ha generado Android, exigiendo una indemnización de 9.300.000.000 millones de dólares. 

El pleito de Oracle vs. Google, detonado originalmente por el uso de APIs de Java dentro del sistema operativo móvil Android, es algo que lleva desarrollándose desde el año 2010, y que en más de una ocasión ha puesto en duda el futuro de esta plataforma.

Ahora, de acuerdo con una noticia de Business Insider, el próximo 27 de abril se realizará una audiencia legal, de cara al nuevo juicio entre ambas firmas, programado para el mes de mayo, y en ese marco Oracle aprovechará para exigir el pago de la millonaria indemnización.

La astronómica cifra está compuesta por 475.000.000 dólares bajo el concepto de daños y licencia de uso de cada API, mientras que los 8.829.000.000 dólares se conformarían a partir de los beneficios a los que tendría derecho la empresa por las ganancias que ha logrado Android desde su aparición, gracias a su sistema de desarrollo de apps e inserciones publicitarias en la interfaz.

Google sigue con la idea de defender su inocencia y la expectativa, según Fortune, es que la compañía se atenga al vereedicto del juicio o en todo caso, en caso de que lo fuesen a declarar culpable, llegar a un acuerdo con Oracle para pagar una cifra menor.

sábado, 26 de marzo de 2016

Oracle Launches New SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS Cloud Services to Help Organizations in their Journey to the Cloud

Press Release

Powerful new cloud services help organizations leverage the latest in business transformation trends, including big data, social and mobile

Redwood Shores, Calif.—Mar 24, 2016

Oracle today announced that it has expanded its cloud portfolio, releasing new Oracle Cloud services over the past several months to help companies transition to the cloud. The new services enhance the breadth and depth of Oracle’s extensive cloud portfolio across all layers of the stack—SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS. 

With these new advancements, Oracle provides all of the cloud-based services that organizations need to capitalize on key transformative technologies such as big data analytics, social, mobile, and IoT, as well as continue to extend foundational use cases that enable organizations to move enterprise workloads to the cloud. Oracle continues to help organizations drive innovation and business transformation by increasing business agility, lowering costs, and reducing IT complexity. The new PaaS and IaaS services can be deployed wherever an organization chooses—in the Oracle Cloud or in their own data center via the Oracle Cloud at Customer offering

“In today’s digital age, consumers are more informed, connected, and selective than ever before. As a result, technology providers need to offer highly personalized and secure cloud services in order to stay competitive,” said Thomas Kurian, president, Oracle. “With these new Oracle Cloud services, Oracle is enabling organizations to leverage the industry’s most flexible, proven, and secure cloud infrastructure. With it, organizations are able to enjoy the double benefit of moving their enterprise workloads to the cloud while providing their customers with highly innovative and accessible cloud-based services.” 

Oracle Cloud Applications deliver the only complete suite of modern cloud applications that are integrated with social, mobile, and analytics. Oracle Cloud Applications help organizations deliver the experiences customers expect, the talent to succeed, and the performance the market demands. The latest additions to the portfolio include:
  • Customer Experience: Oracle CX Cloud helps organizations deliver consistent, personalized experiences that connect every customer engagement with their brand. New services include: Customer Experience for Financial Services, Customer Experience for Telecommunications, Customer Experience for Consumer Packaged Goods, Customer Experience for Media and Entertainment, Customer Experience for High Technology, Customer Experience for Manufacturing, Social Engagement and Monitoring, Marketing Collaboration, Commerce Assisted Selling, and HIPAA Cloud Platform.
  • Supply Chain Management, Enterprise Resource Planning and Enterprise Performance Management: Together the Oracle SCM, ERP and EPM Cloud services provide companies with the tools needed to fast track innovation, streamline business processes and deliver new insights. New services include: Quoting and Order Capture, Order Management, Configurator Modeling, Configurator, Supply Chain Orchestration, Planning Central, Manufacturing (Discrete), Fleet Management, Costing, Advanced Financial Controls, Account Reconciliation, and Financial Reporting.
  • Human Capital Management: Oracle Human Capital Management (HCM) Cloud enables modern human resources organizations to find and retain the best talent and increase global agility. New services include: Talent Management for Midsize, Talent Acquisition for Midsize, Assessments Delivery, and Learning and Development.
The Oracle Cloud Platform provides a complete suite of services to rapidly build and deploy rich applications—or extend Oracle Cloud SaaS applications—using an enterprise-grade cloud platform based on the industry’s #1 database and application server. The latest additions to the portfolio include:
  • Data Management: Oracle Data Management Cloud provides a complete and integrated set of capabilities for building, deploying, and managing data-driven applications. New services include: Oracle Big Data Cloud, Oracle Big Data Discovery Cloud, and Oracle Database Exadata Cloud.
  • Application Development: Oracle Application Development Cloud, an end-to-end Java EE framework, simplifies application development by providing out-of-the-box infrastructure services and a visual and declarative development experience. New to the family is the Oracle Application Builder Cloud Service.
  • Enterprise Integration: Oracle Integration Cloud provides organizations with a unified and comprehensive solution to integrate disparate cloud and on-premise applications. New services include: Oracle SOA Suite Cloud with API Manager and Managed File Transfer, Oracle API Catalog Cloud, and Oracle Internet of Things Cloud.
  • Data Integration: Oracle Data Integration Cloud provides a comprehensive way for customers to prepare, extract, transform, move, and govern both batch and real-time data between heterogeneous data sources and targets. New services include: Oracle Golden Gate Cloud and Oracle Big Data Preparation Cloud.
  • IT Operations Management: Oracle Management Cloud is a suite of next-generation integrated monitoring, management, and analytics cloud services that provides real-time analysis and deep technical and business insights. New services include: Application Performance Monitoring Cloud, IT Analytics Cloud, and Log Analytics Cloud.
  • Content and Process: Oracle Content and Process Cloud enables business users to easily collaborate anywhere, simplify business automation, and communicate more effectively. Oracle Documents Cloud Service is now integrated with Oracle Social Network and Oracle Sites Cloud.
  • Business Analytics: Oracle Analytics Cloud delivers business analytics for traditional data and big data across the entire enterprise. The newest service is the Oracle Data Visualization Cloud Service.
Additionally, Oracle has added a number of new services to its IaaS portfolio:
  • Infrastructure: Oracle’s IaaS portfolio delivers a complete set of core services for running enterprise workloads like elastic compute, networking, and storage. New services include: Oracle Compute Cloud, Oracle Network Cloud – Virtual Private Network and Fast Connect, Oracle Storage Cloud – Bulk Data Transfer, and Oracle Messaging Cloud.
The Oracle Cloud has shown strong adoption, supporting 70+ million users and more than 34 billion transactions each day. It runs in 19 data centers around the world.

viernes, 25 de marzo de 2016

Oracle Hot Topics and News: GI install fails with SEVERE: [FATAL] [INS-40911]

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Oracle alerta sobre una vulnerabilidad grave en Java

Fuente: http://www.silicon.es/

Las versiones afectadas son Java SE 7 Update 97, Java SE 8 Update 73 y Java SE 8 Update 74 para Windows, OS X, Linux y Solaris.

Si hace unas semanas era Adobe la que lanzaba un parche para Flash Player, ahora es Oracle la que ha tenido que meter mano en Java.

Y es que, según explica la firma de Redwood City en una nueva Alerta de Seguridad, existe una vulnerabilidad grave que afecta a su software cuando se ejecuta en ciertos ordenadores de sobremesaa través de un navegador web. Se trata de la vulnerabilidad conocida como CVE-2016-0636.

En concreto, las versiones afectadas son Java SE 7 Update 97, Java SE 8 Update 73 y Java SE 8 Update 74, todas ellas compatibles con Windows, OS X, Linux y Solaris. Estarían a salvo las implementaciones de Java en servidores, las aplicaciones de escritorio independientes y el software basado en servidor.

Oracle recomienda aplicar cuanto antes la actualización que ya ha emitido para las versiones que se encuentran bajo riesgo. Habría que tener cuidado también con el tipo de páginas web que se visitan.

No en vano, si alguien consigue explotar la vulnerabilidad con éxito, acabará perjudicando a “la disponibilidad, integridad y confidencialidad del sistema”, según detalla Oracle. Para beneficiarse de CVE-2016-0636 no haría falta ni nombre de usuario ni contraseña. Y se puede hacer de forma remota.

Para qué participar en OTN TOUR LATINOAMERICA 2016.?


A principios del 2010, tuve la desgracia de involucrarme con la creación del Grupo de Usuarios Oracle de Costa Rica y como si no fuera suficiente, tuve que conocer a un tipo chileno, llamado Francisco Muñoz, quién decía ser el "Presidente del OTN TOUR LAD".
Este desafortunado personaje, se le ocurrió la loca idea de crear un evento en Latinoamerica, que tuviera como participantes, a los mejores expositores en distintos temas, del mundo Oracle.

Bueno; es que he empezado mal, pues se me ha olvidado contarles, que desde 1990 he sido esclavo a sueldo del mundo de bases de datos de Oracle. En pocas palabras, ya son un poco más de 25 años; más de la mitad de mi vida, que actualmente se acerca poco a poco a los 48 calendarios.

Volviendo al tema del primer párrafo, este señor Muñoz, tuvo la "genial idea" de convocar a unos personajes sin importancia alguna, en los últimos 6 años, tales como Tom Kyte, Tim Hall, Debra Lilley, Arup Nanda, Graham Wood, Kuassi Mensah, Dana Singleterry, Ronald Bradford, Edward Roske, Roy Swonger, Daniel Morgan, Hans Forbrich, Bjoern Rost, Kyle Hailey y una veintena más de nombres y recorrer Latinoamericana compartiendo conocimiento y experiencias.
Aún hoy nadie los conoce. Es más, usted ingresaba en San Google y no encontraba nada que tenga que ver con ellos. Son un montón de desconocidos, aburridos, sin experiencia alguna. Es más, en algunos países, hay que pagar un pequeño monto para poderles escuchar. Ni que fueran estrellas de cine, jugadores de fútbol, políticos ( no mejor con estos no nos metemos ), etc.

Es una verdadera perdida de tiempo.

Mi vida cambió desde ese enero del 2010. Con 41 años, era necesario que hiciera algo con mi abrumadora rutina. Por un momento, me vi a mi mismo, detrás de un escritorio y me dí lástima.

Francisco, me dio una nueva vida. Me dio la oportunidad, de involucrarme con con gentes de muchos países y tener esperanza, que podía cambiar el futuro y hacer lo que realmente quería por muchos años. En muchas formas, Francisco, la Comunidad, me salvo de ser un número.

OTN TOUR Latinoamerica, es parte de la vida de cada uno de los que participamos en este evento. Cada año, nos ponemos objetivos más grandes, con el fin de compartir nuestra experiencia, conocimiento y pasión. Somos una gran familia, que nos reunimos cada año, algunos por una semana entera y compartimos la esencia de cada uno de nosotros. Queremos que la gente, se supere y sueñe con un mundo mejor, al igual que lo hacemos nosotros.

Es difícil en algunas pocas líneas, describir el cariño que recibimos en cada lugar que vamos, ya que la gente se da cuenta, que entregamos hasta la última gota de sudor y que siempre estamos dispuestos a una pregunta más.

Base de datos, inteligencia de negocios, alta disponibilidad, sitios alternos, servidores de aplicaciones, Java, PL/SQL, CLOUD, Big Data, Aplicaciones Empresariales, Sistemas operativos, etc. La lista de temas es tan extensa, como nombres de participantes hemos tenido en las pasadas 6 ediciones del OTN TOUR.

Rusia, China, Alemania, Estados Unidos, México, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Colombia, Argentina, Perú, Brasil, Finlandia, Canadá, Venezuela, Ecuador, Chile, Uruguay, son algunos de los países que han aportado expertos en distintas ramas de conocimiento.

Pero la pregunta principal es: Para qué participar en el OTN TOUR LAD 2016?

Bueno, creo que hasta este punto, no he dicho nada que les pueda convencer de asistir. Durante estos 6 años, más de 25 mil personas han participado en el evento. Se han compartido más de 500 charlas y un centenar de laboratorios. Para este 2016, se encuentran confirmados 10 países, pero aún podría agregarse, un par de destinos al TOUR. El año pasado, participaron 13 países.

Gracias al esfuerzo de muchas personas a lo largo del continente, hoy Latinoamerica cuenta con Grupos de Usuarios Oracle, casi en todos los países de la región. El número de miembros del Programa Oracle ACE, ha crecido a 46 miembros, reconociéndose la labor que se hace en la región. En el 2012, eramos sólo 14 personas. Para este 2016, Latinoamerica cuenta con 8 Oracle ACE Directors, lo que es realmente éxito, por el trabajo, empeño y dedicación que exige el Programa.

Foros de discusión en nuestro idioma español en My Oracle Support. Sitio en internet para la comunidad. Charlas en español en el canal de Youtube y decenas de artículos compartidos en la red.

Esto es OTN TOUR LAD. No es tan sólo un día de charlas, son meses de preparación y trabajo, para que en cada país, podamos contar, con la oportunidad de escuchar a gente muy capacitada y con gran conocimiento y aun costo ridículo.

No te pierdas la oportunidad de vivir la experiencia OTN TOUR. Consulta la agenda para tu país, que se comparte a través de las distintas redes sociales y participa. Te prometo que la vida, te cambiará de color.

miércoles, 23 de marzo de 2016

Oracle: El uso adecuado en la evaluación de variables BOOLEAN con valor NULO dentro de una condición CASE

Hoy me encontré una publicación de Steven Feuerstein, que me llamó la atención desde el primer momento.

La reproduzco totalmente a continuación como referencia, pero la pueden observar en el siguiente link: http://stevenfeuersteinonplsql.blogspot.com/2016/03/the-case-of-confusing-case.html

TUESDAY, MARCH 22, 2016

The Case of the Confusing CASE

This odd little piece of code was featured in the weekly PL/SQL Challenge quiz 12 March - 18 March 2016.

What do you think will be displayed after executing the following block?

DECLARE
   my_flag   BOOLEAN;
BEGIN
   CASE my_flag
      WHEN my_flag IS NULL
      THEN
         DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE ('my_flag is NULL');
      WHEN TRUE
      THEN
         DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE ('my_flag is TRUE');
      ELSE
         DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE ('my_flag is FALSE');
   END CASE;
END;
/
At first glance (if you are like me), you would say "my_flag is NULL", right?

After all, my_flag is initialized to NULL when declared, and I don't change the value.

But, lo and behold, you will see:
my_flag is FALSE
Curious, right?

So what's going on? Well, we have a very confused and confusing piece of code: I have written a simple CASE (which is of the form CASE expression WHEN ...), but then my WHEN clauses follow a typical searched CASE format (CASE WHEN expr1 ... WHEN expr2 ...).

CASE is a really wonderful feature in PL/SQL (and many other languages, of course), but you need to make sure you use it properly.
Definitivamente curioso el caso. Por supuesto no me pude quedar tranquilo y tuve que experimentar por cuenta propia como resolver el problema y la buena noticia es que lo encontré.

Veamos, partamos de definir el escenario. Mi máquina virtual con OEL 6.5 y Oracle Database 12c R1 12.1.0.2 SE2

SQL> select * from v$version;

SQL> set linesize 200
SQL> /

BANNER                                                                        
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Oracle Database 12c Standard Edition 2 Release 12.1.0.2 - 64bit 
PL/SQL Release 12.1.0.2                                     
CORE    12.1.0.2                                              
TNS for Linux: Version 12.1.0.2                     
NLSRTL Version 12.1.0.2                                 

El seudo código que responde de manera adecuada al problema planteado por Steven es el siguiente:

SQL> host more 10.sql
DECLARE
   my_flag   BOOLEAN;
BEGIN
   CASE WHEN my_flag is NULL
      THEN
         DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE ('my_flag is NULL');
      WHEN TRUE
      THEN
         DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE ('my_flag is TRUE');
      ELSE
         DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE ('my_flag is FALSE');
   END CASE;
END;
/
SQL> @10
my_flag is NULL

PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

Si la condición de la variable boleana es de una vez evaluada durante la ejecución inicial del CASE y no posterior a su declaración dentro del CASE, el verdadero estado de la variable devuelve el valor correctamente.

Si inicializamos el valor de la variable en el código anónimo a "TRUE" el valor también es devuelto correctamente.

SQL> host more 10.sql
DECLARE
   my_flag   BOOLEAN := TRUE;
BEGIN
   CASE WHEN my_flag is NULL
      THEN
         DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE ('my_flag is NULL');
      WHEN TRUE
      THEN
         DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE ('my_flag is TRUE');
      ELSE
         DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE ('my_flag is FALSE');
   END CASE;
END;
/

Ejecutando el seudo código anterior

SQL> @10
my_flag is TRUE

PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

Al probar con el seudo código original, el valor es incorrectamente devuelto.

SCRIPT ORIGINAL
SQL> DECLARE
  2     my_flag   BOOLEAN;
  3  BEGIN
  4     CASE my_flag
  5        WHEN my_flag IS NULL
  6        THEN
  7           DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE ('my_flag is NULL');
  8        WHEN TRUE
  9        THEN
 10           DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE ('my_flag is TRUE');
 11        ELSE
 12           DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE ('my_flag is FALSE');
 13     END CASE;
 14  END;
 15  /

my_flag is FALSE

PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

SQL>

Resumen: 
La forma correcta de evaluar la condición de una variable con condición boleana en un CASE es utilizando la sintaxis:
...CASE WHEN my_flag is NULL   THEN
y no
CASE my_flag  WHEN my_flag IS NULL     THEN

Latinoamerica OTN TOURA 2016 - Ingreso de propuestas para presentación



Bueno el día de hoy he realizado mi inscripción para participar en nuevo OTN TOUR LATINOAMERICA. Para esta ocasión, en nuestra séptima edición, he preparado tres charlas y he escogido como países a Argentina, Chile y Perú.

Ahora queda esperar que los responsables de cada uno de esos países, acepten mis propuestas y pueda estar con ellos.


Esta es la descripción de las charlas que estaré brindando este año, en el OTN TOUR LAD 2016

  • Oracle Database Hacking Etico

La ética informática es el comportamiento en el uso de la tecnología informática que infringen la ley.
El delito informático, es un acto ilícito, son acciones ilegales realizados a través de conocimientos y tecnologías informáticas.

En esta charla, demostraré algunas brechas de seguridad que existen en la base de datos y como resolverlas.

  • Oracle Database, Cómo correr y ejecutar correctamente una sentencia SQL en una base de datos Oracle

La regla #5 de Codd:
La regla comprensiva del sublenguaje de los datos: el sistema debe soportar por lo menos un lenguaje relacional que tenga una sintaxis lineal. Puede ser utilizado de manera interactiva.
Soporte operaciones de definición de datos, operaciones de manipulación de datos (actualización así como la recuperación), seguridad e integridad y operaciones deadministración de transacciones.

Él SQL ( Lenguaje estructurado de consulta ) es el lenguaje de programación lineal, que nos permite interactuar con la base de datos Oracle.
Pero sabemos con certeza, como el motor de la base de datos, interpreta y ejecuta estas sentencias.?

  • Oracle Database Standard Edition 2, Single Tenant

Entendiendo, comprendiendo y sacando beneficio, de las nuevas características de arquitectura de la versión SE 2, que sustituye a las anteriores versiones Standard Edition y Standard Edition One en oracle Database 12c 12.1.0.1 y versiones inferiores.

FBI STOLEN IDENTITY REFUND FRAUD, Alert I-032316-PSA

March 23, 2016

Alert Number

I-032316-PSA

Questions regarding this PSA should be directed to your localFBI Field Office.

Local Field Office Locations:www.fbi.gov/contact-us/field

Each year, criminal actors target US persons and visa holders for Stolen Identity Refund Fraud (SIRF). SIRF is defined as the fraudulent acquisition and use of the Personally Identifiable Information (PII) of US persons or visa holders to file tax returns. The fraudulent tax returns are sent to bank accounts or pre-paid cards that are held under their control. SIRF is relatively easy to commit and extremely lucrative for criminal actors. While all U.S. taxpayers are susceptible to SIRF, over the past year, criminal actors have targeted specific portions of the population, including: temporary visa holders, the homeless, prisoners, the deceased, low-income individuals, children, senior citizens, and military personnel deployed overseas. This may be due to the perception by criminal actors that these individuals are less likely to be aware of or receive notification that their identity has been stolen.

After criminal actors steal PII, they use corrupt tax preparation companies or online tax software to file fraudulent tax returns with the stolen identity information at the federal and state level. The only legitimate information needed to file a fraudulent tax return is a name and social security number. This information is obtained by criminal actors through a variety of techniques, including computer intrusions, the online purchase of stolen PII, the physical theft of data from individuals or third parties, the impersonation of government officials through both phishing and cold-calling techniques, the exploitation of PII obtained through one's place of employment, the theft of electronic medical records, and searching multiple publicly available Web sites and social media. After the criminal actors electronically file fraudulent tax returns, they use pre-paid debit cards or bank accounts under their control to route fraudulent returns. The balances on the pre-paid cards and bank accounts are depleted shortly after the tax refund is issued.

Additionally, investigative information shows cyber criminals compromised legitimate online tax software accounts during the 2015 tax season. Cyber criminals modified victims' online tax software account information, diverting tax refunds to bank accounts or pre-paid cards under their control.

Many victims of SIRF do not know they have been targeted until they try to file their legitimate tax return. Many also receive notifications in the mail that their returns are being audited or are under review before they have even filed their tax returns.

If you believe you are a victim of SIRF, contact your local FBI or IRS field office. You may consult www.identitytheft.gov which can help you report and recover from identity theft. Additional resources are available athttps://www.irs.gov/Individuals/Identity-Protection.

Tips to protect yourself:
  • File tax returns as early as possible.

  • Monitor your bank account statements regularly, as well and as your credit report at least once a year for any fraudulent activity.

  • Report unauthorized transactions to your bank or credit card provider as soon as possible.

  • Be cautious of telephone calls or e-mails that require you to provide your personal information, especially your birth date or social security number. If you are in doubt, do not provide the requested information.

  • Do not open e-mail or attachments from unknown individuals. Additionally, do not click on links embedded in e-mails from unknown individuals.

  • Never provide personal information of any sort via e-mail. Be aware, many e-mails requesting your personal information appear to be legitimate.

  • If you use online tax services, ensure your bank account is accurately listed before and after you file your tax return.

  • Ensure sensitive information is permanently removed from online tax software accounts that are no longer being used. Allowing online accounts to become dormant can be risky and make you more susceptible to tax fraud schemes.

  • If you feel you are a victim, immediately contact the three major credit bureaus to place a fraud alert on your credit records.

  • If you are a victim, file an Identity Theft Affidavit (IRS Form 14039). This form is available for download from www.identitytheft.gov.

FBI: Former U.S. State Department Employee Sentenced to Over Four Years in Extensive Computer Hacking, Cyberstalking and “Sextortion” Scheme


Department of Justice
U.S. Attorney’s Office
Northern District of Georgia

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Former U.S. State Department Employee Sentenced to Over Four Years in Extensive Computer Hacking, Cyberstalking and “Sextortion” Scheme

ATLANTA – Former U.S. State Department employee Michael C. Ford has been sentenced to four years, and nine months in prison for perpetrating a widespread, international e-mail phishing, computer hacking and cyberstalking scheme against hundreds of victims in the United States and abroad.
“This case unfortunately shows that cyber-stalkers have the ability to torment victims from any corner of the globe,” said U.S. Attorney John A. Horn.  “Hopefully, Ford’s victims can be reassured that he will serve a significant sentence for his conduct.  Members of the public must be extremely careful about disclosing their logins and passwords to anyone, even when the person on the other end of an e-mail or instant message appears to be legitimate.”
“Michael Ford hacked hundreds of email accounts, particularly targeting young women so he could extort them into sending him sexually explicit images,” said Assistant Attorney General Caldwell.  “He preyed on vulnerable victims, leaving them with indelible emotional scars.  His sentence is a necessary step in holding him to account for his crimes and helping his victims move forward with their lives.”
“The sentencing of Mr. Ford will not only hold him accountable for his despicable criminal conduct but will also deny him the ability to further victimize others.  The FBI is proud of the role that it played in bringing this case forward for investigation, apprehension, and federal prosecution and it is hoped that those who were victimized by Mr. Ford will find some relief with this sentencing,” said J. Britt Johnson, Special Agent in Charge, FBI Atlanta Field Office.
“The Diplomatic Security Service is proud of the hard work of everyone involved in the investigation including our partners at the FBI and the Department of Justice.  When a public servant in a position of trust commits crimes like cyberstalking and computer hacking on such a large scale, we will vigorously investigate those crimes and ensure they are brought to justice.  We hope that this sentence will provide some closure for the victims,” said Director Miller.
According to U.S. Attorney Horn, the charges and other information presented in court: Ford admitted that between January 2013 and May 2015, while employed by the U.S. Embassy in London, he used various aliases to commit a widespread, international computer hacking, cyberstalking and “sextortion” campaign designed to force victims to provide Ford with personal information as well as sexually explicit videos of others.  Ford targeted young females, some of whom were students at U.S. colleges and universities, with a particular focus on members of sororities and aspiring models.
Posing as a member of the fictitious “account deletion team” for a well-known e-mail service provider, Ford sent thousands of phishing e-mails to thousands of potential victims, warning them that their e-mail accounts would be deleted if they did not provide their passwords.  Ford admitted he then used the passwords to hack into at least 450 e-mail and social media accounts belonging to at least 200 victims, where he searched for sexually explicit photographs and for victims’ personal identifying information (PII), including their home and work addresses, school and employment information, and names and contact information of family members, among other things. 
Using both the photos and PII, Ford admitted that he then e-mailed at least 75 victims, threatening to release those photos unless they took and sent him sexually explicit videos of “sexy girls” undressing in changing rooms at pools, gyms and clothing stores.
When the victims refused to comply, threatened to go to the police or begged Ford to leave them alone, Ford escalated his threats, according to the plea agreement.  For example, Ford admitted that he wrote in one e-mail “don’t worry, it’s not like I know where you live,” followed by another e-mail with her home address and threatened to post her photographs to an “escort/hooker website” along with her phone number and home address.  On several occasions, Ford followed through with his threats, sending his victims’ sexually explicit photographs to family members and friends, according to the plea.
Additionally, at sentencing, the government presented evidence that Ford engaged in a related scheme targeting aspiring models beginning in 2009.  Posing as a model scout, Ford convinced young women to send their personal information, to include dates of birth and measurements, as well as topless photos for consideration for fictitious modeling opportunities.  During this ruse, Ford obtained topless and partially nude photos from hundreds of women, including several minors.  He also attempted to entice a minor to take voyeuristic videos of her peers in her school locker room.  Some of his early model-scout victims became the first victims of his charged cyberstalking scheme.
Michael C. Ford, 36, of Atlanta, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Eleanor L. Ross of the Northern District of Georgia, to four years and nine months in federal prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release.  On Dec. 9, 2015, Ford pleaded guilty to nine counts of cyberstalking, seven counts of computer hacking to extort and one count of wire fraud in connection with his ongoing criminal scheme.  The names of the victims are being withheld from the public to protect their privacy. 
The Diplomatic Security Service and the FBI investigated the case. 
The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kamal Ghali of the Northern District of Georgia, Senior Trial Attorney Mona Sedky of the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section, and Trial Attorney Jamie Perry of the Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section.  The Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs and the U.S. Embassy in London provided assistance in this case. 
Anyone who believes that they are the victim of hacking, cyberstalking, or “sextortion” should contact law enforcement.  Resources regarding hacking and other cybercrimes can be found at:https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/investigate/cyber
For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office atUSAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov
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 or (404) 581-6016.  The Internet address for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia is http://www.justice.gov/usao-ndga.

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