Security expert warns against online family trees

Security expert warns against online family trees


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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- An Internet security expert says posting a family tree online can be a dangerous move that sometimes results in identity theft.

Linda Criddle told attendees at the Utah Attorney General's Economic Crime Conference on Thursday that family trees can be dangerous because a mother's maiden name is a common security question for online accounts.

Criddle says criminals also frequently check birth announcements, wedding registries and obituaries for information that might be useful.

She says those announcements also provide notice to potential identity thieves that a person may be going through an emotional time and not notice new debts.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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