Camera Straps Don't Make You a Target for Thieves

BUT . . . a good quality, purpose-built strap can prevent a lot of grief.

Using a camera strap emblazoned with the camera maker's logo is no more or less an invitation to theft, while traveling or on vacation, than it is the sign of a good photographer.

It's only the work of about an hour and a half to poke around on the CIA World Factbook web site and search through annual crime stats and victim reports published by newspaper web sites in different countries to develop a reasonable estimate of losses suffered by photography tourists.

I have heard, third or fourth hand, about people who've been the victims of snatch & dash thieves, but I've never actually met anyone first-hand who has lost any gear to snatch & dash thieves. I know it happens because I've traveled to some nasty areas at home and abroad in which I've occasionally seen obvious thieves 'casing' my gear.

Published and widely available crime stats and analysis and incident reports from Canada, the U.S., UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy show that 85% of all thieves only look for targets of opportunity however. In fact, somebody walking down the street with a camera slung over their shoulder or neck along with a camera bag and one hand on the camera body is a very difficult proposition for a thief who just wants to run in and run out as fast as possible. While I don't want to minimize the real gear losses that some people may have suffered due to thieves, stats from around the world seem to show that the vast majority of tourist camera gear is stolen out of unguarded camera bags, when the owners' attentions are elsewhere. Street kids in some countries are drafted to hang around local tourist sites in some cities and simply watch for tourists to put their camera bags (or large purses or whatever) on the ground when they sit down to rest or to take a photo unencumbered by their load. The signal is given to the lurking thief and the gear is stolen while the tourists' attentions are elsewhere. The same thing happens in restaurants, museums and airports. Actual assaults by thieves attempting to run up or run by and rip a securely strapped camera or bag from someone's shoulder are very rare. Physical muggings, in which a tourist or photographer is confronted at gun or knife point in a secluded area, are even more rare.

These days, the word "Nikon" or "Canon" on a neck or shoulder strap is only a hint for any thieves that happen to be about to try and check out what's actually slung or stored in the bag. The fact is, experienced thieves know that an uncomfortably large percentage of what at first glance looks like Nikon, Canon, Rolex, Breitling, Louis Vuitton, etc., may not in fact be the real article. I think most people realize that thieves don't steal goods for their own use. They steal in order to sell goods for cash to a Fence or Pawnbroker. Too many thieves have been badly 'burned' by risking arrest and imprisonment for what turned out to be fake goods. So even in the poorest areas, a camera strap emblazoned with the bright yellow Nikon logo is often only a warning sign rather than a green light.

Throughout decades of travel, a determined attitude when walking (always have a destination in mind, but wander as you please at the eventual destination), the habit of always hanging onto my gear, and never, ever shouldering so much gear that I end up sweating and exhausted with my bag sitting on the ground beside me while I rest (far too many gear hounds haul around far too much on a day walks and night walks, and general walkabouts), has helped keep thieves away from me and my gear.

Knowing your route while walking is also a good idea. Plan your route while you're still at the hotel. Gazing vaguely about in public while referencing a map book offers an opportunity for a thief to walk up and ask if you need any help. If you need to reference your map book while walking, do yourself a favor and stop at a cafe for a cold drink or a coffee. Place your camera bag under the table, wrap the strap around your leg, enjoy your juice or coffee and pore over your map book.

The main reason I don't use Nikon straps has nothing to do with being afraid of advertising the brand of gear I use. I hate Nikon straps because they're thin pieces of irritating junk suitable only for use on top of a thick jacket or over a heavy shirt collar. I don't like heavy gear slung around my neck and the camera maker's straps are by & large useless on the shoulder. They're just too insecure because they slide off too easily. As far as I'm concerned, they're truly meant to be little more than an excuse to display the camera maker's logo in a prominent spot. I see quite a few people in many places around the world using the branded strap supplied with the camera, and I just don't understand why the camera owners haven't replaced them with vastly more comfortable and useful third-party straps.

So what straps are good? I'm hooked on the UpStrap these days for shoulder carry. The design is tried and tested and remains about the best insurance against accidentally dropping your camera in awkward situations. BlackRapid makes a superb, highly usable strap for cross-shoulder (across the chest) carry. Domke's standard shoulder strap works well when used on clothing or jackets with coarse weaves or textured surfaces. Lowepro neck straps have a wide, shock absorbing neck section that distributes weight extremely well. Tamrac neck straps also use a well designed shock absorbing neck pad that works. OpTech uses more extensive shock absorbing material in a design which may be the best of its type. Taking anywhere between 30-60 minutes in a camera shop to actually attach and try out a variety of straps will save you much aggravation and disappointment later (say, in the middle of a photography trip or a family holiday). One thing you can be sure of no matter which camera strap you choose is that a strap which works properly for your particular carry is a vastly higher priority than any consideration about whether or not the strap displays a camera maker's logo.

Your GPS And Hackers

According to an article at ITPro, exploits have been found which can lead you down the garden path or misdirect you via the unencrypted data transfer protocols your GPS system uses. To be honest with you, the idea of this is pretty scary because I can see people blindly following the instructions given to them, getting into accidents, trouble, robbed or even killed.

It's quite weird, but the trust some of us have placed in some of the information given to us is quite scary. I was on public transportation just the other day and I overheard a conversation between two college girls. One remarked to the other how she thought the other girl was very lucky because she had been to Cairo, and then went on to explain how Cairo was this holistic and spiritual centre. She then went on to state that she was being silly and of course her friend obviously knew this because they both watched "Charmed" ("What?!!!" my brain screamed). Oh brother. I was laughing so hard I almost wet myself. Is fictional TV what the youth of today are using as sources of 'facts' and knowledge? And is the popular media the source of information which they think is worth putting their faith in? If this is the case, no wonder we're in trouble.

Sometimes maybe the idea of a nanny state doesn't seem so bad.

Paid By Credit Card At TK Maxx?

If you have been to a TK Maxx store and have paid for your items by credit card between July 2005 and December 2006, then I suggest that you check your credit card statements for any unknown or unfamiliar activity.

TK Maxx has said that their systems were first accessed by intruders in July 2005, and then subsequently on several other dates in 2005, and again from mid-May 2006 through to mid-January 2007. They have also indicated that all data posted during December 2006 was secure (I'd check anyway). TK Maxx has also stated that it doesn't know whether any fraudulent use of the stolen data has occurred.

Security is apparently a real issue these days.

Survey Says 1 in 10 Britons Victims Of Online Fraud

The results of a recent survey conducted in the UK show that one in ten Britons have been victims of online fraud. I'm guessing that this survey, which interviewed only 2600 people, is like many polls — highly suspect and not necessarily representative. On the other hand, and more interesting than the poll itself, it seems that many of these people who were polled were stupid enough to use only one password on all the sites they visit. Come on folks, that's like leaving the keys to your car on a post outside your house.

(Ed. Note: If there are that many bad passwords out there, maybe the 1 in 10 result isn't so suspect after all?)

Gozi Might Get You (or maybe it already did?)

A new internet trojan called Gozi was detected earlier this year. It's news because this one was and remains particularly nasty. The trojan was originally designed using state-of-the-art techniqes to infect Windows PCs through Internet Explorer 6, gathering personal financial information from mostly home-based computers. According to security research reports, apparently none of the security companies knew of Gozi's existence for as long as 50 days after it was first deployed in the wild. The St. Petersburg, Russia server (to which data is still being sent evidently) was fully set up with a sophisticated database to organize the information, a graphical user interface for crooks to purchase the information, and some other functionality. Most of this stuff has reportedly been disabled now and the database no longer appears to be on the server. More information here and here. Identity theft is not fun.

Details of the Trojan and the stolen information were uncovered in January by Don Jackson, a security researcher at SecureWorks Inc., an Atlanta, GA based managed security service provider. Jackson noted that there are at least two more known variants of Gozi, meaning new attacks are likely. Maybe the Gozi authors are having some trouble cracking Internet Explorer 7? Let's hope the companies which develop and update our security software do a better job at finding out about and protecting us against the Gozi variants which are undoubtedly going to appear soon (if they haven't already).

Now for the good news (not really). Because the server was only 'disabled' as of March 12, check your bank statements for October, November and December 2006, and for January, February and March 2007. The same goes for credit card statements. You are checking this stuff every month anyway, aren't you? If you did get caught caught by Gozi, you probably should review the risk inherent in some of the web sites you've been visiting.

The Digital Divide - No Big Deal

In the UK, Tech pundits are shaking their heads at the possibility that a third of Britons have not been online. I'm not so bothered, not everyone is beguiled or even enthralled at the idea of going online. In fact many of these folks, will probably be quite happy to spend the rest of their lives without doing so. So, why are these pundits bothered? Milestones and medals — they want to be able to pin a big fat piece of metal on their collective chest, or maybe grab a knighthood in return for the 'achievement' of actually being able to say that 100 percent of the population in the UK are cybersurfers. The real problem is confidence and ease of use. With many manufacturers not taking real pains to make their solutions easy to use and the ever present threat of viruses, spyware, identity theft and other dangers, I can't say I blame people for their lack of confidence in the Internet.

The onus is also on us tech heads to get our heads out of the clouds and to take more seriously our job of producing technology that is useful and usable. We don't need any more people wearing white coats and trying to baffle us with buzzwords. We also need more effort from manufacturers at some kind of standardization, rather than the constant battles over new media, file formats and proposed standards. If you want people to embrace and use technology you have to make it both easy and safe to use.

Stolen Laptops, Identity Theft And Other Evils

In recent months a number of laptop thefts have left some high profile organisations particularly vulnerable. Laptops are amongst the most easy and also highly targeted hardware items. So why when this is the case do we still find individuals who insist on storing sensitive data on these devices. Especially when we can get easy access to secure network protocols and fast internet connectivity. The kinds of organizations that hold sensitive private data should be able to afford the kind of protection that current security measures and technologies provide. It should be illegal for these companies and organizations to allow such potential breaches and dangerous storage of private and sensitive information. Is your data safe?

Microsoft Securty Patch Blitz On Tuesday

Microsoft has plans to release a dozen security patches on Tuesday. The patches include about four "critical" patches. These patches usually deal with security issues which could allow an attacker to gain full control of affected systems with no or minimal action by the user.

Microsoft stated that critical fixes are lined up for Windows, Office, MDAC and the security tools. They have provided no further details on the problems being fixed, other than that some of the updates may require a system restart.

Make sure you get yours...