Category: "财经"
Target's huge data breach likely to be followed by more, experts warn
当今，人们已经习惯于用卡购物，很少人会怀揣大数额的现金出入商场。这种新的购物付款方式，一方面给我们的生活带来了方便，另一方面也给我们的生活带来了新的烦恼。最麻烦的是安全问题。比如，我自己就有信用卡三个半月连续被盗用多次的经历。又比如，近日爆出美国一家大零售店Target有4000万顾客卡的信息被盗，且在黑市被卖。无可置疑，偷盗变卖卡的信息，已经成了困扰百姓日常生活的一个新的犯罪行为；而不幸的是，有关部门尚且没有有效的防御措施来保护顾客的利益。更不幸的是，这一批利用网络和高科技的技术来作案的歹徒频频得手后，依然能美滋滋地挥霍他人的钱，逍遥法外地享受着。读读下面这篇文章，我们大家都应该加强防范意识，把自己的卡看护更紧些。
（Steve Johnson San Jose Mercury News - Friday, December 20, 2013）
Amid reports Friday that credit and de**-card information stolen from up to 40 million Target customers already is being sold on the black market, security experts warned that such attacks not only will continue but could worsen.
While businesses are experimenting with new ways to deter cyber-thefts, the experts noted, the crooks are getting smarter about exploiting vulnerabilities in the growing ranks of companies whose operations are linked across the world's vast computerized networks. "The reality is that these incidents are only going to increase," said Paul Lipman, CEO of Redwood City security firm Total Defense. "It's a result of the increasing connectivity of everything we touch."
Lower Your 2013 Tax Bill
美国是一个多税的国家，税法繁杂且多有变化，常常弄得纳税者头昏眼花。2013报税年将至，研习报税法又成了百姓的热门话题。读一读这篇文章，应该对了解今年如何报税会有帮助。
You might think that tax planning would be easier this year. You could be wrong.
On New Year's Day, Congress finally agreed to settle many unresolved issues, raising taxes for most Americans. But only one change was simple: the end of a two-percentage-point cut in Social Security taxes, which is costing wage earners up to $2,274.
Most of 2013's other tax increases are less broad-based and more complicated.
This year's code includes two new taxes, a new top income-tax rate, a new top rate on long-term capital gains and dividends, a new inflation adjustment to the alternative minimum tax, or AMT, and two revived tax-benefit "phaseouts." (See table on page B10.)
