Data Breaches Put Millions of Consumers at Risk for Identity Theft
It seems that we're at risk for identity theft everywhere we go. We're warned about throwing away credit card offers and prescription bottles, about giving out information over the telephone, and about phishing scams that invite us to "update" financial data for existing accounts. Now, a Broward County Sheriff's Department video is warning us that we can become victims of identity theft while we're conducting everyday business.
But one of the greatest threats to the security of your personal information is one that you have little or no control over: Various details about your personal identity can be found in countless databases all over the world. Your personal data is stored on servers, laptops and printed files located in banks, schools, doctor's offices, retailers, insurers, government agencies and even relatives' homes.
Corporate employees, cyber thieves, gangs, terrorists, and even burglars commit data theft. Each of these thieves may use your personal information for different reasons such as to purchase items, sell your personal data, or even obtain medical services. The most common illegal uses of your personal data are frequently grouped under the heading of "identity theft". Any of these circumstances may affect your credit rating, which can be devastating for anyone-especially if you have just begun to rebuild your credit after bankruptcy.
Medical identity fraud, while underreported, is on the rise in recent years. It is estimated that 200,000 or more people are victim to medical identity fraud each year. Thieves use a fake id to obtain medical services and give a fake address for billing purposes. Consumers won't know about it until a delinquent doctor's bill shows up on their credit report. This type of identity theft can impact a consumer's financial records and medical records.
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Some consumers find out medical fraud has occurred when they are applying for a new job. Consumers applying for jobs in certain professions are required to release a health history to the prospective employer. Depending on the type of medical services the identity thief received, the consumer may be denied the position.
Experts predict that identity theft will increase a great deal over the next few years, even as legislation is passed to tighten data security for the government and many corporations attempt to design impenetrable computer systems. Even the FBI and the United States Secret Service are working to stop cyber criminals intent on acquiring identity data, your personal data will continue to be vulnerable to thieves as the demand for identity data continues to increase.
Every week, we see reports of stolen files, laptops or security breaches at organizations including the corner convenient store, well-known corporations and large government agencies. You will want to consider ways to protect your identity and credit history. Many states now have freeze statutes enacted so consumers can stop thieves from opening new bank or credit accounts using their stolen identity information.
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Are You at Risk for Identity Theft?
Recent Data Security Breaches
Data Breaches Updates for May 9, 2008
In Los Gatos, California, an ATM and credit card reader at a checkout aisle at Lunardi's supermarket was switched to a fraudulent unit and more than two dozen people have reportedly become victims of identity theft as a result. Officials from Lunardi's supermarket on 720 Blossom Road contacted the Los Gatos/Monte Sereno Police Department after they realized that there was a problem with the card reader and the police say that reports by victims began pouring in after the report by the supermarket. CBS 5 Crimewatch reported that recent shoppers at Lunardi's should scrutinize their bank account and credit card accounts and look for fraudulent charges.
The Staten Island Advance has reported that computer equipment that was stolen from a hospital finance office in Rosebank, New York during December contained the personal data of approximately 88,000 patients who have received treatment at Staten Island University Hospital. Although it has been 4 months since the theft, hospital administrators are only just not beginning to send letters to patients whose data, including Social Security and health insurance numbers, were contained in files on the hard drive of the stolen desktop computer and backup drive. Those who are affected in this data breach are being offered one year of free credit monitoring service at the expense of the hospital. A hospital spokesperson said that no medical information was contained on the stolen computer equipment.
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In Denver, Colorado, it has been reported that a mortgage office closure may have opened the door to identity theft of former customers. The Denver Channel reported that mortgage files containing sensitive personal information were recently found in a trash dumpster, along with two discarded laptop computers that also contained sensitive data. The Arapahoe County Sheriff's Department has reportedly secured the dumped personal data that was found behind offices formerly used by Cove Creek Mortgage and Front Range Mortgage. The information in the files and on the computer hard drive contained names, addresses, Social Security numbers, and bank, credit and investment account information of former customers of Front Range Mortgage. The computers and files were abandoned by the company when the office was closed in January and were apparently placed in the trash behind the building on April 26, 2008. All former customers of Front Range Mortgage are urged by the district attorney to place a fraud alert on their credit reports and monitor all financial accounts closely.
The Iredell County Tax Collector's Office in Statesville, North Carolina has issued a statewide notice about a recent data breach. A courier vehicle that was providing services for First Citizens Bank was stolen in Charlotte, North Carolina on April 22, 2008. The vehicle reportedly contained data related to Iredell County tax payments and has not been recovered. Prime Newswire reported that the stolen data contained a computer report of 468 taxpayer's check information that included account numbers, check numbers, check amounts and routing numbers of the customers' bank accounts. Tax bills were also included and those documents contained the names, addresses and other public information of taxpayers. Officials in Iredell County are working to notify taxpayers who may have had personal information exposed in this data breach, and First Citizens Bank is notifying all of the taxpayers who had checks processed and deposited. Taxpayers in Iredell County are urged to protect themselves against potential identity theft by reviewing their credit reports and closely monitoring all financial accounts.
Data Breaches Updates for April 28, 2008
Approximately 2.1 million University of Miami patients could be vulnerable to data theft since computer tapes containing personal data were stolen from a van owned by a private off-site storage company. The records of every person who has been a patient of a University of Miami physician or visited a University of Miami facility since January 1, 1999 were likely to have been included on the tapes. The included information could have contained names, Social Security numbers and health information. The Miami Herald reported that the credit card numbers of 47,000 people may have also been included in the data on the tapes. UM says that although not impossible, it is unlikely that a thief would be able to extract any usable data from the tapes due to the complex and proprietary format of the data and the compression technique used on the tapes.
A laptop computer that was stolen from a vendor contained the data of approximately 3,400 current and former students of the Connecticut State University System. The computer was password protected but the data was not encrypted. The files on the computer contained the names and Social Security numbers of some students who attended Central, Eastern, Southern and Western Connecticut State universities between September 2001 and December 2004. The university system has notified all current and former students who may have been affected by the data breach. There have been no reports of identity theft related to the incident, according to the News-Times.
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A school computer containing the names, test scores and Social Security numbers of between 400 and 800 students who attend three high schools in Stokes County, North Carolina was stolen from a locked closet, according to a WXII 12 News report. The school system has sent letters to parents of the students to notify them of the theft. The computer had been used for grading exams in career and technical courses at West, South and North Stokes high schools. The information on the computer is protected by two separate security systems which require passwords.
The personal information of more than 7,000 students, staff and faculty members of the University of Virginia was contained on a laptop that was stolen from a UVa employee. The university mailed letters to all of the people who were affected by the data breach, and the Albemarle County Police Department is investigating the theft. Officials believe that the private and sensitive data on the computer was not the target of the theft. The Daily Progress reported that there have been no reports of identity theft as a result of this data breach.
It is believed that several current and former students of Williamsville North High School in New York were able to hack into the school district's computer system to copy secure files that contain personal information and Social Security numbers of school employees. This was the third such data breach within a month involving area school districts, according to the Buffalo News. The superintendent of the school district sent letters to the district's 1,800 employees to notify them of the data breach and to advise them to notify the police of any suspicious activity on their credit card or bank accounts. The students involved could face charges including unauthorized computer use, stealing and possessing confidential information, and using the information to commit other crimes. There has been no reported misuse of the information thus far.
Data Breaches Updates for April 25, 2008
Pfizer Inc. has announced that a laptop computer that was stolen by a burglar from the home of a contractor on February 7th could open up approximately 800 current employees and contractors to the threat of identity theft. The Day of Connecticut reported that a lawyer for Pfizer indicated in a letter dated March 19th to the attorney general's officers of several states that there have not yet been any reports of identity theft in connection with the data breach, but the company is continuing to investigate and monitor the situation. Pfizer has said that the stolen laptop was password protected.
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A briefcase containing the personal information of about 30 clients was stolen from the car of an employee of Norfolk's Community Services Board in Virginia on March 24. The car was parked in a Virginia Beach parking lot when someone smashed a window and took the briefcase, according to a report by WVEC 13 News. The case worker violated the agency's policy by removing the sensitive information from the office. The information included in the briefcase included patient information that likely included Social Security numbers. It is not clear whether or not medical information was also included. The agency is taking the time to retrain all of their 42 case workers on state and federal privacy laws in the wake of the data breach.
The sensitive personal data of up to 71,000 families in Georgia who are members of a health insurance program for the poor and working poor was exposed when the information was accidentally posted on the Internet for several days, according to a report by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Tampa-based WellCare Health Plans Inc. says that some of the personal information, including 10,500 Social Security numbers, may have been viewed by unauthorized individuals. The data breach affected members of Wellcare of Georgia. The state of Georgia was notified of the data breach but the data was not removed from the Internet until April 2nd. It is not known exactly how long the data was available online. Letters are being sent to the families who may be at risk for identity theft as a result of the breach and Wellcare of Georgia will provide one year of free credit monitoring services to those who were affected by the data breach.
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Police in Joliet, Illinois say that a student of Joliet West High School hacked into the school's computer system using a school computer and was able to access personal information about every student enrolled at the school. The Herald News reported that on March 7th George C. Janecek, 18, downloaded a list of names and Social Security numbers to his iPod and showed it to other students. One of the students notified a teacher and the school conducted an internal investigation before notifying the police on March 13th. Janecek was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of computer tampering and police seized his iPod. A letter was sent to all of the people whose personal information was on the list that Janecek downloaded, but officials say that there is no reason to believe that there is a risk of identity theft as a result of the incident.
The New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center in Manhattan has said that a theft by one of its employees may have put 40,000 patients at risk for identity theft. The worker is believed to have stolen records containing names, phone numbers and some Social Security numbers of patients. The Associated Press reported that the data theft was exposed by a federal investigation and an internal audit. The hospital is not aware of any incidences of identity fraud associated with the theft but are taking the matter very seriously. The U.S. Attorney's office in Manhattan, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the U.S. Secret Service are conducting investigations of the incident.
Data Breaches Updates for April 18, 2008
Antioch University in Yellow Springs, Ohio recently disclosed that the Social Security numbers and other personal data of more than 60,000 students, former students, employees, applicants and vendors may have been compromised by multiple intrusions into its main server according to a Computerworld report. The security breaches of a Sun Solaris server that had not been patched against a previously disclosed FTP vulnerability were discovered on February 13. If the security patch had been installed, it would have protected the server from these break-ins. An IRC bot had been installed on the system but the university says that there is no indication that the data on the server was downloaded or copied. The University says that it has taken steps to notify those who may have been affected.
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The UC Irvine police say that identity thieves have already used the stolen data of 93 students to file fake tax returns and that a total of 7,000 current or former graduate students could also be at risk for identity theft. Many of the 93 students who have become victims of identity theft already discovered the theft when they attempted to file electronic tax returns this year. The Orange County Register reported that the university has been checking and double checking the security of all of its databases and computer systems but has not yet found the source of the data breach.
The Okemo Mountain Resort ski area in Vermont has announced that it has experienced a data breach involving more than 46,000 credit and debit card transactions. Computerworld reported that the Okemo data breach sounds similar to the recent and massive Hannaford data breach. The credit card transactions appear to have been compromised over a 16-day period in February by a system intrusion and the data appears to have been stolen as the credit and debit cards were being authorized.
The Peoria Journal Star reported that a former Illinois Eye Center receptionist may have stolen confidential information including the names, Social Security numbers and birthdates of female patients between the ages of 18 and 35 to use in an identity theft scheme. The Peoria County Sheriff's Department says that there have been seven or eight reports of attempts to use patient's credit information. In one case, unauthorized access to credit information has been reported. The suspect has not been named, and it is believed that she no longer lives in Illinois.
Two dozen officers and civilian employees of an Army agency are now at risk for identity theft after a spreadsheet containing a hidden column of Social Security numbers was left on the agency's website for approximately five months after they were notified of the data breach, according to a report on Federal News Radio. The Army's Acquisition Support Center took their website offline in order to remove the personal data from the spreadsheet after being contacted by Federal News Radio for an interview about identity theft.
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Data Breaches Updates for April 4, 2008
The financial information of up to 56,000 customers of Advance Auto Parts, a leading auto parts retailer, may have been exposed in a data breach. The company has begun sending letters to those who may have been affected according to a eWeek.com news report. Advance Auto Parts reported that a "network intrusion" that exposed financial information is the focus of a criminal investigation. Fourteen stores located in Georgia, Ohio, Louisiana, Tennessee, Mississippi, Indiana, Virginia and New York are believed to have been affected. The company is offering credit monitoring services for one year to all customers who were affected.
Whitier Daily News reported that about 5,000 past and current employees at Presbyterian Intercommunity Hospital in California have had their private information stolen. The stolen data included Social Security numbers, birth dates, full names and other records. These records were stored on a desktop computer that was stolen on February 11 from a Fullerton data management group. This data breach is even more far-reaching though, as the computer also contained the personal information of 35,000 other people from 18 other companies. Those who were affected in this data breach will be given a one-year subscription to LifeLock, a credit protection and monitoring service. The hospital sent letters to the employees who were affected on March 13.
A vulnerability in the PlayStation Network may have given hackers access to PSN passwords as well as the personal info of the Network's users, according to a report by Wired.com. Sony says that the loss of vital credit card info is "very unlikely and that it has fixed the vulnerability.
Antioch University says one of its computer systems that contained personal information on about 70,000 people was breached by a hacker three times last year according to an Associated Press report. An investigation by law enforcement is underway but the university says that there is no conclusive evidence yet that any personal information was stolen. The system that was hacked contains such personal information as names, Social Security numbers, academic records and payroll documents for current and former students, applicants and employees going back to 1996. The data breaches reportedly happened on June 9, June 10 and October 11 of last year. The university is mailing letters to all of the people who may have been affected by the data breach.
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The personal information of 3,500 people who volunteered or visited San Quentin State Prison in a group tour was contained on an unencrypted flash memory drive that is now lost. The data on the drive contains names, birth dates and driver's license numbers according to a report by the San Francisco Chronicle. Prison officials say that the flash drive was used each evening to move the data from the administrative office to computers at the two entrance gates so that guards could identify volunteers or groups that tour the prison. The flash drive did not contain any Social Security numbers, but the prison has sent letter to anyone who may be affected and advised that they should monitor their credit files and place a fraud alert on them to prevent identity theft.
Lassell College in Massachusetts has said that a hacker was able to access computer data files containing the personal information of about 20,000 current and former students, faculty, staff and alumni. MSNBC reports that the information contained names and Social Security numbers, but that there is no indication that the information has been misused and there have been no reports of identity theft connected to the data breach. The college has sent out emails to notify those who may have been affected in the breach.
In Pennsylvania, a data breach has forced the close of a voter registration website. The website had a security breach that exposed sensitive data about Pennsylvania voters. InfoWorld reported that there was a problem in the voter registration application form that exposed the registration data of the approximately 30,000 people who used the online form. The web program error allowed anyone on the Internet to view the name, date of birth, driver's license number and political party affiliation. The last four digits of the voters' Social Security numbers were also visible on some of the applications. The Pennsylvania's Department of State disabled the registration on the website after learning of the data breach.
A university employee at Binghamton University in New York mistakenly e-mailed an attachment containing the names, grade point averages and Social Security numbers of junior and senior accounting students to another group of 288 School of Management students. The Press & Sun Bulletin reported that Brian Perry, the Coordinator of Undergraduate Advising for the School of Management, sent the e-mail. It was supposed to be delivered to accounting faculty members seeking input on student awards and should not have contained the Social Security numbers of the students. There have been no reports of misuse of the information.
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The Deseret Morning News reported that unauthorized persons might have accessed the personal information of about 500 people during a security breach at the Utah Division of Finance. A spokeswoman for the Department of Administrative Services said that it is highly unlikely that the person who breached the computer system was able to access the personal information. The Department of Administrative Services will attempt all of the people potentially affected by the data breach as a matter of precaution. Utah attorney general special agents assigned to the Identity Theft Task Force are investigating the data breach.
One of the largest data breaches in history has reportedly happened at the Hannaford Bros. supermarket chain exposing millions of people to identity theft. WMUR9 reported that approximately 4.2 million credit and debit card numbers were exposed in the data breach and 1,800 cases of identity theft have already been reported. A class action lawsuit is in the works against Hannaford for mishandling customer data.
Firefighters in Minneola, Florida are now fighting more than fires. Due to a data breach that exposed the Social security numbers, phone numbers, addresses and personal information of nine firefighters, they are now fighting to keep their credit reports clean. Central Florida News 13 reports that the information contained on the firefighters' union applications was accidentally posted on the Minneola city website and remained online for more than 36 hours. The city clerk accidentally put the information on the website while she was updating the city council meeting agenda.
A laptop that contained the personal information of possibly 4,800 patients of University Healthcare in Utah was stolen, putting the patients at risk for identity theft. The laptop was stolen when someone broke into a locked office at the hospital. Authorities do not believe the intention of the theft was to retrieve patient information. KUTV News reports that the stolen laptop was password protected. The hospital is notifying all 4,800 patients of the potential data breach and will provide them with one year of free credit monitoring services.
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The Buffalo News reports that 40,000 Healthnow New York members in Western and Northeastern New York may be at risk for identity theft because a former employee's laptop that may have contained confidential information was lost or stolen several months ago. Healthnow has notified the people who may have been affected. Healthnow officials are not sure what, if any, information the laptop contained but say that it could have had names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, addresses, employer group names and health insurance identifier numbers. The computer did not contain any health or medical claims information. Anyone affected by this potential data breach will be provided with one year of free credit monitoring services at the expense of Healthnow. The information on the laptop was not encrypted but Healthnow says that going forward all laptops will be encrypted as a matter of policy.
A Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) web server was hacked last month and The Harvard Crimson reports that the personal information of 10,000 students may have been compromised. The information that was potentially breached included 6,600 Social Security numbers and 500 Harvard ID numbers. Harvard has begun to notify those students who may have been affected in the security and data breach after initially concluding that no personal information had been accessed. The university will give all of the potential identity theft victims access to free identity theft prevention services.
In Salt Lake City, Utah a surplus store sold a bundle of scrap paper to a local schoolteacher for her fourth grade class. KSL News reports that when the teacher took a closer look at the paper she had purchased, she realized that she had been sold the medical records of 28 Central Florida Regional Hospital patients. The medical records that were sold to the teacher included detailed medical histories, phone numbers, addresses, Social Security numbers and insurance information. Officials blame the mix-up on a shipping error. The box of medical records was one of three that had been shipped to a Las Vegas company for a Medicare audit. The box apparently got lost or could not be delivered and was sold by UPS as an unclaimed package.
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A hard drive that was recently stolen from a company in Orange County, California contained the personal information of approximately 2,200 employees of Torrance Unified School District. The Daily Breeze reports that Systematic Automation Inc. of Orange County had the hard drive because it assists agencies with the administration of employee health benefits. The names, addresses, birth dates and Social Security numbers of the employees were contained on the stolen hard drive. District employees found out about the data breach through a letter from Systematic Automation Inc.
People who have bank drafts set up with Mecklenburg County, North Carolina are being warned that their bank account information may have been exposed in a recent data breach. WBTV News reports that the bank account details of 400 people in Mecklenburg County were stolen when a county employee's car was stolen. Inside the stolen car was a printout of bank draft transactions for the Park and Recreation Department during the months of January, February and June of 2006. The county is notifying people who may have been affected and advising them to contact the credit reporting agencies and their banks. The county now has a policy in place prohibiting the storage of sensitive information in vehicles.
The Wisconsin Office of Privacy Protection has reported that the office of Kurt Bischoff Tax & Accounting, Inc. was burglarized on February 21, 2008 and a desktop computer was stolen. The computer contained sensitive information such as the names, addresses, birth dates, social security numbers, and bank account numbers of approximately 600 people.
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The Boston Herald has reported that the personal information of nearly 500 seniors who received flu shots in Wellesley, Massachusetts has been lost or stolen. An envelope containing the Social Security numbers, addresses and dates of birth of about 480 senior citizens who received flu shots from the town last fall was mailed from the town's health department to a Medicare office in Boston. When the envelope arrived in Boston, it was open and the contents were gone. The U.S.P.S. is trying to determine if a mechanical failure is to blame, or if the information could have been stolen. In the meantime, the seniors are being notified that their personal information may have been compromised.
Newscenter 13 has reported that 103,000 doctors' Social Security numbers were posted on a website by mistake. The doctors affected in this data breach are from Wisconsin and 10 other states. The Vice President at Marshfield Clinic confirmed that the Social Security numbers of the doctors at Marshfield and of thousands of doctors across the Midwest were posted on a website by Health Net Federal Services based in Rancho Cordova, California and remained available on the Internet for two months. The company is a government contractor that handles the health insurance administration for military families and veterans. Health Net Federal Services has notified the doctors who were affected in the breach and will provide credit monitoring services and credit restoration services to anyone affected by the breach who may become a victim of identity theft.
A woman in Washington D.C. has filed a $54 million dollar lawsuit against Best Buy because they lost her laptop and refused to let her know that it was missing until she pressured them about returning it to her. The lost laptop contained her tax information, personal information and photographs and documents related to her work with an Asian non-profit company. Best Buy violated the law in Washington D.C. by failing to inform Raelyn Campbell that her laptop, which contained sensitive personal information that could be used to steal her identity, was missing until after it had already been gone for several weeks.
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A recent data breach affected employees of Lexmark International. The company informed the workers that information that could personally identify them was posted on a company file transfer site by mistake. The Herald-Leader reports that it is not known whether or not the file was accessed by anyone outside of the company, and Lexmark is being tight-lipped about what type of personal data was potentially exposed. The employees are being offered free identity-theft insurance and credit monitoring services for one year.
The Carthage Press has reported that one of the largest aid agencies in Carthage, Missouri was burglarized, with files that contained the personal data of about 2,000 families being stolen. The Crosslines Ministries of Carthage was robbed on February 15. Among the things that were stolen were paper files that contained the names, addresses, social security numbers and other personal information of 2,000 individuals served by the agency. The local police have recommended that anyone who has provided any personal data to Crosslines Ministries take steps to avoid identity theft. Since the files are missing, the agency has no way other than the media to contact those who may have been affected by this data breach.
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A computer was stolen from an online benefits enrollment company in Fullerton, California that contained the Social Security numbers, names and salaries of about 4,000 employees of the Clovis Unified School District. The Fresno Bee reports that the police do not believe that the intention of the theft was to commit identity fraud. Those affected by the potential data breach have been urged to contact the credit reporting agencies to have a fraud alert put on their credit files. The school district also held two fraud-prevention seminars for employees.
The Eagle reported that the names and Social Security numbers of 3,000 current and former Texas A&M University agricultural employees were exposed when a computer file containing the information was posted online by mistake. The file was available to the public for three weeks before the error was discovered. The information was not accessible through a web page; however the information could have been retrieved by anyone with software designed to search online databases. The file was eight years old and didn't appear to contain names and Social Security numbers of A&M employees hired after May 1, 1999.
A computer stolen from a vendor in Los Angeles contained the personal information of more that 8,300 Los Angeles Department of Water and Power employees. DWP notified their employees of a potential data breach and informed them that steps were being taken to protect them from identity theft. The Daily News reported that the data contained on the stolen computer contained the names, Social Security numbers, dates of birth employee identification numbers, salaries, work locations, deferred compensation balances, insurance plan coverage and health care benefits selection.
In Fort Lauderdale, Florida, the police are investigating the discovery of a load of documents containing sensitive personal information in a garbage dumpster outside of a University of Phoenix Building. CBS News reported that the information that was discarded in the dumpster included Social Security numbers, credit card information, addresses and other personal information that could open up the possibilities for identity theft. The boxes of files and paperwork belonged to the now defunct First Magnus Financial.
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A news report on WTOC11 indicates that the patients of two Low Country hospitals near Hilton Head, South Carolina could now be vulnerable to identity theft. Officials say that an employee of Tenet Healthcare Corporation, which owns Hilton Head Regional Medical Center and Coastal Carolina Medical Center, stole the private information of about 90 patients. Tenet has notified approximately 37,000 patients who may have been affected and advised them to protect themselves from identity theft.
The Daily News Journal of Murfreesboro, Tennessee has reported that the Social Security numbers of 1,500 current and former Middle Tennessee State University students may have been breached. A hacker gained access to a computer with the names and Social Security numbers of the students; however there is evidence that the computer was used to send spam e-mails and that the sensitive information may not have been accessed. A letter explaining the situation was sent to everyone who is at risk from the potential breach. No identity theft has been reported as a result of the potential breach.
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Memphis Online reports that there are two laptop computers missing from Lifeblood, Mid-South's primary blood supplier. The computers contained the names, birth dates, addresses, Social Security numbers and other sensitive information of approximately 321,000 blood donors. People who donated blood as far back as 1990 are being warned about the data breach. The laptops are presumed stolen and Lifeblood has hired a private investigator and searched local pawnshops in an attempt to locate them.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that confidential court records were mistakenly released in Milwaukee County. Officials say that the records were released and put on a citizens group's web site that details payments for tests and other costs linked to mental competency, paternity and guardianship cases. The Citizens for Responsible Government Network posted the sensitive and confidential information on its web site and was asked by the county to remove it, although it remained available to the public for some time. It is not known exactly how many people accessed the confidential information that was posted on the web site.
Long Island University has notified approximately 25,000 to 30,000 students that the tax forms that were mailed to them were in defective mailers and that problem could lead to identity theft. Newsday reports that the students have been advised to put fraud alerts on their credit reports. Apparently the annual 1098-T Tuition Statements that were mailed to students were mailed in envelopes that were missing adhesive on one side, leaving the mailer open. United States Postal Service processing machinery damaged approximately half of the envelopes further, exposing the students' names, addresses and Social Security numbers to postal workers.
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The personal information of people who have shopped on Major League Soccer's MLSgear.com website has been compromised by a series of attacks on the servers that host the website. The information that has been exposed includes names, addresses, credit and debit card data, and MLSgear.com passwords according to a report by Computerworld. A letter has been sent to all customers affected by the data breach.
A desktop computer stolen from an Administrative Systems, Inc. (ASI) office in Seattle, Washington may have contained the names, dates of birth, mailing addresses and Social Security numbers of customers or employees of several of the firm's clients including Continental American Medical, EyeMed Vision/Kelly Services Vision, and Jefferson Pilot Financial Dental according to a report by Pogowasright.org.
My Fox Colorado reports that there are concerns about sensitive student information being breached after a laptop computer and jump drive was stolen from the home of a Jeffco Public Schools school district employee. The stolen jump drive may have contained the personal information of up to 2,900 special education students including their names, date of birth, student ID number, school location and the names and contact information of the students' parents.
The Modesto Bee reports that a computer hard drive which contained the names, addresses, birth dates and Social Security numbers of 3,500 Modesto City Schools employees has been stolen from a Southern California data processing firm. The computer hard drive was stolen after a window was smashed in at Systematic Automation Inc. in Fullerton, California. The information on the hard drive was not encrypted.
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The US Marine Corps Japan website has reported that officials at Camp Foster in Okinawa, Japan are investigating the theft of a laptop computer. The computer contained the personal data of up to 4,000 clients of Marine Corps Community Services' New Parent Support Program. The Marine Corps advises that the data contained on the laptop could include the names, ranks, social security numbers, dates of birth, children's names and mailing addresses of U.S. military service members, U.S. government employees and Status of Forces Agreement personnel on Okinawa and Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni. No banking or credit card information was stored on the computer. The laptop was password protected.
The Boston Globe reports that four computers have been stolen from Diocese of Providence in Rhode Island. One of the computers that thieves made off with contains the personal data including names, addresses and social security numbers of approximately 5,000 current and former Catholic school employees. All of the computers that have been stolen were password protected.
Memorial Hospital of South Bend, Indiana has notified hospital workers that a laptop containing the names, addresses, birth dates, ID numbers and social security numbers of approximately 4,300 full and part time employees and retired workers is lost. A hospital employee lost the laptop while traveling. WSBT News reports that the laptop was not encrypted. The employee had taken the laptop on board with her during an American Airlines flight and a flight attendant took it away from her because there was no room to store it where she was sitting. The hospital has offered one free year of credit monitoring services to those people who were affected in this potential data breach.
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WCCO has reported that Dr. Theodore Nagel, a doctor at the University of Minnesota's Reproductive Medicine Center, has lost a flash drive that has been used to back up data on his computer. The doctor's computer contains the sensitive details about infertility treatments for 3,100 patients who have received treatment or consultations since 1999. The information on the backup drive that has been lost is not encrypted or password protected, so anyone who finds the drive will have instant access to all of this personal patient information. According to University of Minnesota regulations, doctors are required to encode the information on flash drives, however in this case that was not done. Nagel owned up to losing the drive and has written the patients a letter of apology. The information on the flash drive does not contain financial information or social security numbers, but the clinic has set up a hotline for concerned patients to call for more information.
The Times and Democrat in South Carolina reports that a laptop with the names and Social Security numbers of about 400 state health department employees on the hard drive is lost. The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) has said that the computer was stolen from an employee's vehicle when it was parked outside a convenience store in Spartanburg, South Carolina. The laptop computer is reportedly password-protected, but thieves often find it easy to get around such a simple method of protection. The personal information of employees of the state health department branches in Spartanburg, Cherokee, Union, Greenville and Pickens counties is at risk.
The Star-Ledger has reported that more than 300,000 members of Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey are being notified that their names, social security numbers and other personal information are now potentially at risk. A laptop computer containing all of the personal information of these members was stolen in Newark, New Jersey on January 5 after being taken home by an employee who routinely works with member data. The health insurance company is advising members that there is no reason to believe that the personal data was compromised. The data on the laptop was not encrypted, but the company says that it was password protected and other security features were in place to protect the sensitive information. The computer was programmed to automatically destroy the data on January 23. The members of Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey that were affected are being offered one free year of credit monitoring services to help protect them from any potential identity theft.
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A sophisticated computer hacker broke into Great Falls, Montana financial services company's database and was able to access the names and Social Security numbers of 226,000 of the company's current and former clients, according to a report by the Great Falls Tribune. The Davidson Companies database also included account numbers and balances, but a company spokeswoman has said that the hacker was not able to access the accounts. The company is confident and assuring customers that their accounts are untouched and that their assets are secure, but they are warning their customers about the potential risk of identity theft and advising them how to reduce the risk of the information being misused.
Georgetown University's newspaper, The Hoya, has reported that an external hard drive containing the Social Security numbers of nearly 40,000 Georgetown University students, alumni, faculty and staff was stolen from the office of Student Affairs on January 3. This data breach potentially exposes the thousands of students to identity theft. The hard drive that was stolen had been used to back up billing information for several student services. Although the hard drive was not encrypted, there have not yet been any reports of misuse of the information that it contained.
Investment News reports that 35,000 current and former participants in many different plans with T. Rowe Price Retirement Plan Services have been notified that their names and Social Security numbers have been potentially compromised because their personal information was contained on the hard drives of computers that have been stolen. The stolen computers were taken from the office of CBIZ Benefits and Insurance Services Inc. CBIZ prepares 5500s for T. Rowe Price, and that is why they were in possession of the files and personal data of T. Rowe Price clients. The addresses and birth dates of plan participants were not contained on the computers that were stolen. T. Rowe Price is providing one year subscriptions to an online credit monitoring service and up to $25,000 of identity theft insurance to those who were affected by this data breach.
A Wake County, North Carolina Emergency Medical Services laptop computer which contained patient information disappeared from the WakeMed Emergency Department on January 24, according to a news report by WRAL. The computer was equipped with security that would make it difficult for a thief to access the information on the hard drive. EMS officials are notifying patients whose information was on the computer of the potential data breach, but they say that they have no reason to believe that the laptop was stolen for the medical information that it contained.
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A recently reported data breach at an undisclosed "major retailer" may have resulted in many consumers having their debit cards forcibly reissued by their banks. Consumers have also reported getting unusual calls from their banks to verify recent purchases. This activity started around Christmas and continued well into January. The breach was apparently of all types of credit and debit cards, and there was an indication that stolen cards were used to make in-store purchases. The name of the retailer will not be revealed until the thieves are apprehended.
The personal information of approximately 650,000 J.C. Penney customers and up to 100 other retailers could be compromised because a computer tape has been lost. The missing computer tape included the Social Security numbers of about 150,000 people. The backup tape was discovered missing from a warehouse last October. There is no record of the tape being checked out, but it can not be located. There has been no indication of theft or that the information on the missing tape has been misused.
Federal investigators are blaming city officials in Kansas City, Missouri for the loss of 26 IRS computer tapes containing taxpayer information in 2006. Treasury Department's inspector general for tax administration said the city failed to follow "proper safeguards for protecting federal tax return information." The computer tapes had been delivered to City Hall in August 2006 so that revenue officials in Kansas City could verify that people who work or live in the city were paying the 1 percent earnings tax owed to the city. The tapes were discovered missing and an investigation began on December 19, 2006. The investigation went on for nearly a year, but the tapes were never located. The IRS has never disclosed the nature of the information on the tapes or how many taxpayers were affected.
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The personal information of nearly 30,000 patients of Fallon Community Health Plan was contained on a vendor computer that has been stolen. The laptop computer that was stolen is believed to contain the names, date of birth, some diagnostic information and medical ID numbers that may be based on Social Security numbers of members with Fallon Senior Plan and Summit ElderCare coverage. The computer was stolen from the offices of a third-party vendor that handles medical claims management for Fallon.
OmniAmerican Bank has been targeted and attacked by an international ring of hackers. Account numbers were stolen, new PINs were created, and debit cards were fabricated and used to withdraw cash from ATMs around the world in locations including Eastern Europe, Britain, Canada and New York. OmniAmerican Bank says that although the scheme was elaborate, the losses wee minimal and no depositors will lose money. Less than 100 accounts were compromised, and all had a daily withdrawal limit of less than $1,000.
A Penn State University laptop containing archived information and the Social Security numbers of 677 students who attended the university between 1999 and 2004 has been stolen from a faculty member. The theft is believed to have been random and not connected with Penn State. There have been no reports of misuse of the data contained on the stolen computer.
A man in Seattle went dumpster diving and found that Visa Services Northwest had discarded sensitive documents containing his personal information without shredding them. Steve Gillett found documents with his name, Social Security number, credit card information and a copy of his signature in the dumpster where anyone could have retrieved them. The company had discarded documents containing similar information of hundreds of people. The company says that the information found in the dumpster was an isolated incident and that files with sensitive information are routinely shredded before being thrown out.
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The University of Akron has notified 800 students and graduates of the College of Education that a portable hard drive containing their personal information is missing and may have been discarded or destroyed in December. The missing hard drive contained the Social Security numbers, names and addresses of students and graduates. University officials believe that there is a low risk of identity theft in connection with the incident.
The University of Iowa College of Engineering has notified approximately 216 of its former students to let them know that some of their personal information, including Social Security numbers, was inadvertently exposed on the Internet for several months.
The file containing the personal information was discovered in early January 2008. The information that was exposed did not include any credit card numbers, birth dates or specific grades. University officials do not think there is a high risk that the information was or will be misused, but they are advising those affected by the data breach to take precautions to protect themselves from identity theft and to place fraud alerts on their credit files with the three major credit bureaus.
A private software company has obtained the Social Security numbers, dates of birth and other sensitive information about Texas kindergarten students from the Texas school districts. The school districts insist that the information is safe and that they did not need parental consent to release the information. The software company, OZ Systems, has received at least $2.3 million in state money to create databases of preschool and kindergarten student records.
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TSA has contacted a number of people who submitted personal information on their website when they filed applications online. At least 247 travelers clicked an unsecure "file your application online" link and provided their names, Social Security numbers, eye color, place of birth and other sensitive personal information. TSA has informed these people that they are at a heightened risk for identity theft because the online application process was unsecure.
The Department of Social Services in Suffolk, Virginia has mailed about 1,500 letters to warn of a "potential security breach" involving a department computer that police suspect was used to commit fraud. Officials say that they don't think that any clients' personal information was compromised, and there is no evidence the data used for the fraud was retrieved from the computer. A woman who worked at the Department of Social Services is charged with credit card fraud and forgery and is accused of using her work computer to apply for a credit card using her landlord's information.
The names and Social Security numbers of 990 Tennessee Tech University students were contained on a portable storage drive that has been lost. The school has notified students who lived in Capital Quad and Crawford residence halls during the fall 2007 semester that their information could be at risk.
Dahlgren base workers have been warned that they could become victims of identity theft. Two pages of a 13-year-old report listing names, Social Security numbers and birth dates for Navy employees were found when four people were arrested in Bensalem Township, Pennsylvania for attempted identity fraud. A Navy employee was notified by police that someone had stolen his identity and was trying to use his credit card to buy a television.
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As homeowners in Maryland attempted to register online for a property tax exemption, a security flaw on a Maryland government website left 900 Social Security numbers unprotected. Residents who were applying for the homestead-tax credit at the Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation website may have had their Social Security numbers exposed on December 31st because the application system did not encrypt the information before sending it. A spokesperson for the department said that the numbers may have been briefly exposed, but they were transferred to a secure server within "a minute or so" and that the chance of a data breach, while possible, is improbable.
The Pan American Center has reported that a computer hard drive that contains the names and Social Security numbers of current and former New Mexico State University employees has been stolen. A NMSU official said that it is highly improbable that the information on the external hard drive could be accessed. The hard drive was stolen from an office at the NMSU Special Events Department at the Pan Am sometime between December 20th and January 2nd.
Even geeks sometimes have security breaches. Geeks.com has notified an unspecified number of customers that there was an intrusion by a hacker on their website and their personal and financial data may have been breached. Genica Corp., the owner of Geeks.com, discovered the security breach on December 5th. The hacker may have been able to access the names, addresses, telephone numbers and Visa credit card numbers of some customers who have shopped at Geeks.com.
A vendor hired by the state of Wisconsin printed Social Security numbers on about 260,000 informational brochures sent out to recipients of SeniorCare and other state programs. This error marks the second time in 13 months that Social Security numbers have been included on mailings from state departments in Wisconsin. In December 2006, the Wisconsin Department of Revenue mailed out 171,000 tax booklets with the recipients Social Security numbers printed on the address labels. EDS, the vendor responsible for the most recent data breach, will provide free credit monitoring to those who were affected.
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A New Jersey resident has filed a $5 million class action lawsuit against Sears, following the news that Sears' ManageMyHome.com website provided customer purchase data to any online visitor who asked about it. Plaintiff Christine Desantis filed a complaint in Cook County, Illinois alleging that Sears' exposure of consumer data represents a breach of contract and a violation of the Consumer Fraud Act. Desantis is seeking $5 million to cover payments to affected Sears' customers, lawyers and the cost of injunctive relief. The lawsuit alleges that Sears failed to take reasonable steps to make sure that their customers' private data was kept secure.
A hacker was able to gain access to a University of Georgia server containing the personal information, including the Social Security numbers, of more than 4,000 current, former and perspective residents of a university housing complex. UGA officials are attempting to contact anyone who may have been affected by the security breach that happened sometime between December 29th and December 31st. Officials say that a computer with an overseas IP address gained access to the personal information contained on the university server.
Court papers filed by the Texas attorney general accuse a facility owned by a Pennsylvania-based physical therapy company of violating state identity theft protection laws. Investigators in the attorney general's office allege that Select Physical Therapy operates a rehabilitation center that dumped around 4,000 intact pieces of sensitive customer information in garbage cans behind its facility in Levelland, Texas. The information that was dumped contained Social Security numbers, credit and debit card account numbers, names, addresses and telephone numbers of customers. The trash cans were also stuffed with sensitive medical information and copies of checks from large corporations that had contracted with the facility for employee physicals and drug tests.
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A hacker was able to access the administration site for Robotics Online on or about December 10th, 2007. Robotics Industries Association announced that the hacker had gained access to individual orders which contained customers' credit card information. The company did not announce exactly how many customers had their credit card information breached, but it is known that seven New Hampshire residents were affected. After the incident, all of the credit card information was deleted from the Robotics Online website database and the site temporarily stopped accepting credit card orders.
A laptop computer containing Social Security numbers and other personal information for about 2,800 people and 1,400 companies was stolen from one of Utah's largest insurance companies. The laptop was stolen on December 9, 2007 from a car that was parked in the home garage of an auditor for the Utah Workers' Compensation Fund. The Utah Workers' Compensation Fund decided not to make an announcement about the theft of the laptop immediately because it did not want to alert the thieves that the computer contained any information that could be used for identity theft. All employees and companies who may have been affected have now been notified and the Utah Workers' Compensation Fund is providing identity theft protection for those who are at risk.
In Richmond County, Georgia, Dorothy Hains Elementary School was vandalized and burglarized over the holiday vacation. Windows were broken, American flags were burned, parts of the building were set on fire and electronics at the school were stolen. This was the second break-in at the school since November. During this incident, the library door at the school was kicked in and the circulation computer containing the Social Security numbers of all the students and teachers was stolen.
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A laptop computer that was stolen more than a month ago contained the names and Social Security numbers of thousands of Health Net employees in Connecticut and other states. So far there have been no reports of identity theft as a result of the breached data. Data files on the computer had information on about 5,000 Health Net employees as well as an undisclosed number of health-care providers. The company has hired Kroll Inc. to provide credit monitoring and identity theft protection for employees affected by this data breach.
In Florida, five state computers that contained personal information were stolen from a Department of Children and Families office in Orange County on November 7th and 8th, 2007. The stolen computers contained applications for child care center licenses and the theft has compromised the Social Security numbers, birth dates and other personal information of thousands of day care workers.
A privacy advocate reportedly discovered a data leak on a website that allows consumers to compare prices for digital phone, Internet and television services. The website, DigitalLanding.com, is owned by Acceller, Inc. and is leaking the addresses of people with unlisted telephone numbers. Initially, Acceller claimed that since the information was publicly available, there actually is no data breach on the site. When a telephone customer pays to have their number unlisted, the address connected with the telephone number is not meant to be made public. Apparently Acceller realized this and has since said that they are in the process of securing their data so that the information of people with unlisted telephone numbers will not be available to the public in the future. As of December 27, 2007 the information was still available on the site, which also raises questions about how well the telephone companies are actually protecting the information that they are paid to protect.
An identity thief has used the website of the Franklin County Municipal Court in Ohio to steal Social Security numbers. Police have indicated that hundreds of people in five states have been victims of identity theft in connection with this data breach. The thief manually entered random numbers into the Social Security number search field on the website until matches were made. Once the thief made a match, the victim's name, address, age and other personal information was supplied by the website to go with the Social Security number. Many of the victims may not even know yet that their identities were stolen. People in Ohio, Kentucky, South Carolina, Texas and Wyoming were affected in this data breach.
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In Connecticut, the Department of Motor Vehicles lost a computer from a mobile service center vehicle when it was stolen while the vehicle was in the shop for repairs. The Connecticut DMV is now notifying 155 customers that their personal data may have been contained on the stolen computer's hard drive. The personal data on the computer included the names, addresses, birth dates, driver's license numbers and digital copies of the signatures of Connecticut DMV customers. The DMV says that the data would probably not be accessed because it was protected by a number of security features on the computer, including a program that automatically begins to delete data when the computer is turned on. The data did not contain any Social Security numbers, and any credit card information that was on the hard drive of the computer was encrypted.
In South Carolina, the personal information of hundreds of current and former Greenville County School District employees was stolen from computers containing state insurance information. The school district notified employees about the data theft and informed them that their names, home phone numbers and Social Security numbers have been stolen. The Department of Homeland security monitors all government computers for suspicious activity and alerted South Carolina state information security officials who notified the district that the data on their computers had been compromised. According to the Department of Homeland Security, the school district was one of several governmental agencies who experienced data theft in a similar manner.
In New York, several computer data tapes that contained the Social Security numbers, addresses and phone numbers of up to 800 current and former employees of the state Dormitory Authority vanished from a UPS envelope while in transit. The agency funds and oversees the construction of college dorms and other projects. They contacted employees via e-mail to let them know about the missing data tapes and to offer advice on how to learn about identity theft precautions. The data contained on the tapes was not encrypted, but the tapes do require special equipment in order for the data on them to be read. UPS has conducted a trace to try to find the tapes, but they were not found and now have the official status of "lost."
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In Pennsylvania, a laptop computer owned by the state Department of Aging was stolen during a home break-in on December 5th. The laptop contained the personal information of almost 21,000 senior citizens including names, addresses, Social Security numbers, some medical information and the services that the clients had received. The laptop was stolen from a department employee who works with the agencies on aging in Indiana, Union, Snyder and Clearfield counties in Pennsylvania. Police have said that they believe the computer was stolen for its street value, rather than by someone attempting to steal the data on the computer. There has been no report of misuse of the data that was stolen, and the computer was double password protected. The department has since encrypted the information on its computer systems. All of the senior citizens who were affected in the breach are being notified, and credit protection from TransUnion will be provided for 90 days at a cost to the state of $23,000. Seniors will then have the option of having the credit protection extended for a year at the state's expense.
In Texas, employees of the Brownsville school district were startled to learn that forms with the personal information of employees were littered along the fence of the school district's warehouse. Included in the information were confidential letters with names, bank account numbers and Social Security numbers. Some of the forms were more than 10 years old, but still contained valuable information. The district has a department that is in charge of these old records, and these documents should have been shredded; however, the district says that these documents slipped through the cracks. The mess has been cleaned up and the district says they will take measures to prevent such incidents in the future.
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Due to a glitch in the Ohio Child Welfare system, information from sealed adoption records is being revealed. Some child advocates say this is a massive violation of confidentiality. The data breach involves children who were in the foster-care system but have been adopted and are now enrolled in a children's health insurance program. When medical personnel look up a child's health records using the Medicaid cards that have been issued, the system reveals certain sealed data such as the child's birth mother's name.
A laptop containing the names, social security numbers, phone numbers, addresses and patient care information of 42,000 patients in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area was stolen from a home care nurse's home. The West Penn Allegheny Health System said they are not aware of any inappropriate use of patient information. The hospital has said that the data on the laptop was protected once the computer was either shut off or the battery ran down.
The personal information of an undisclosed number of Deloitte & Touche partners, principals and other employees was contained on a laptop which was stolen from a contractor who was responsible for scanning the accounting firm's pension fund documents. The computer contained the personal data, including names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, and other personnel information, such as hire and termination dates of employees. The information on the laptop was not encrypted, but was protected by a password.
A security firm says a new variant on the "Prg Banking Trojan" malware which targets commercial banking customers is believed to have come from Russia. The botnet-controlled Trojan is robbing commercial online bank customers in the United States, UK, Spain and Italy with a botnet called Zbot.
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At least 45 customers, but possibly as many as 100, have been victimized at an Arco gas station in El Monte, California. Police say that the debit card information of the customers was stolen, and thieves got away with thousands of dollars in stolen funds. A computerized theft device was apparently used to steal information concealed in the magnetic strip of customer's debit cards. The information was picked up from the outside pay-at-the-pump terminals.
A contractor working for the Department of Natural Resources in Des Moines, Iowa, has lost or misplaced a computer jump drive that contains the names and Social Security numbers of 7,000 people. The worker believes that the jump drive likely fell off of his desk and into the trash. That's why he did not announce that it was missing on November 21st and waited until he was sure it wouldn't turn up when making his December 5th announcement that it was lost.
Sutter Lakeside Hospital in Lake County, California has announced that a laptop computer which contains the personal and medical information of around 45,000 former patients, employees and physicians was stolen from the residence of a contractor. The information on the laptop dates from 2005 and earlier, and was supposed to be transferred as part of an equipment upgrade. However, the contractor violated hospital policy and downloaded the information to the laptops's hard drive. When the hospital learned what the contractor had done, they terminated the business relationship.
In Texas, Cameron County employees are being notified that their personal information, including their names, Social Security numbers and salaries, was sent out in an e-mail. Former county auditor Mark Yates is being investigated in connection with the e-mail, and may face criminal charges for releasing the information.
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Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tennessee announced on December 6th that hackers may have gained access to a non-classified database containing the names, Social Security numbers and birth dates of every lab visitor between 1990 and 2004. The sophisticated cyber attack may have been an attempt to gain access to the computer's access of many laboratories and institutions across the country. The data thieves sent out phony e-mails containing Trojan attachments, which when opened, allowed hackers to gain access to the lab's computer security. The lab notified approximately 12,000 potential victims of this data breach.
A laptop containing the names, addresses and Social Security numbers of current and former employees and directors of Forrester Research in Cambridge, Massachusetts was stolen from the home of an employee. The laptop may have not been encrypted, but it was password protected. Forrester has not disclosed how many people may have been affected in this data breach, but they sent out letters to the affected parties on December 3rd advising them of the potential beach. The obvious irony is that Forrester Research is a technology consultancy company, and they failed to encrypt this sensitive data. Simple password protection does not protect information on a hard drive from identity theft thieves.
Memorial Blood Centers in Duluth, Minnesota have reported that a laptop computer which contained personal information of donors was stolen. They have begun the process of notifying 268,000 blood donors who may have had their name and Social Security numbers compromised. Luckily, the information contained on the laptop had been secured through multiple layers of password protection, and access to the information by thieves would require the use of other technologies. Memorial Blood Centers have said that the information on the stolen laptop did not contain any medical information of donors. A hotline has been set up to assist donors who may have questions and that number is 888-333-1491. Anyone with knowledge of this theft is encouraged to call the Minneapolis Police at 612-692-TIPS.
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At Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, the Social Security numbers of approximately 1,400 law school applicants may have been exposed when illegal access to a school computer occurred. School officials don't know for sure that the information was accessed, but they are contacting the people who may have been affected as a precaution. The hacker could have possibly gained access to other personal information such as e-mail addresses and passwords created to view the application status of 1,900 current applicants.
Electric service customers of Indianapolis Power and Light may be startled to learn that the private information of 3,000 residential customers was posted online for about four years. The breach occurred between 2003 until November 2007. The personal data that was freely available on the Internet included names, addresses and Social Security numbers of the customers. IPL has set up a hotline for questions about the situation, and concerned people can call 317-261-4845 for more information.
United Healthcare posted the Social Security numbers of doctors at Columbia University's faculty practice on a public Web site. United posted the taxpayer identification numbers, some of which were Social Security numbers, alongside the names of 993 providers at Columbia University who participate in the insurer's network. The list was supposed to be accessible only to Columbia University employees during the current open enrollment period.
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More than 500 former University of Florida students might have been put at risk for identity theft after their Social Security numbers were posted on the university's Computing & Networking Services Web site. A news release from the Liberty Coalition, a group that works to preserve the privacy of individuals, said 14 files on the Web site contained "sensitive information" of 534 former University of Florida students, including 415 Social Security numbers. Students who suspect that their Social Security numbers were exposed can do a search at www.ssnbreach.org.
A laptop stolen from an auditing firm contained the personal information of employees from up to 10 businesses, including Springfield-based Ohio Masonic Home Battelle & Battelle LLC has not disclosed the exact number of individuals affected by the theft but Masonic Home officials said information on 600 of its employees was stored in the laptop.
During an investigation at a man's home, police discovered a computer that held about 1.8 million Social Security numbers from the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs. The man had worked as an auditor at the Veterans Affairs office. Officials have said only 185,000 numbers are at risk because many were repeated in the file.
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A.J. Falciani Realty Company of Vineland, New Jersey announced on November 16, 2007 that computers containing the personal information of between 500 and 1,000 clients of A.J. Falciani Realty Company were taken in a burglary. Many of the stolen computers stored the names, addresses, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, telephone numbers and other information on the company's clients.
On November 15, 2007, Roudebush VA Medical Center in Indianapolis, Indiana announced that two personal computers and a laptop had allegedly been stolen from an unsecured room. One of the stolen computers contained the names, Social Security numbers and dates of service of approximately 12,000 veterans.
On November 13, 2007, Commerce Bancorp Inc. revealed that an employee in Cherry Hill, Pennsylvania gave out personal information on an unspecified number of the Cherry Hill Bank's customers. The Bank discovered the breach through an internal investigation and sent letters to the affected customers. The bank does not know if the information included account numbers and Social Security numbers.
On November 7, 2007 it was reported that a paramedic working for Carolinas Medical Center - Northeast in Concord, North Carolina left a laptop on the back bumper of an ambulance and drove away. The lost laptop contains names, addresses, phone numbers and Social Security numbers of approximately 28,000 people who have been cared for by the Cabarrus County EMS over the last four years.
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Jonathan Murray was fishing in a trash container for boxes in Sarasota, Florida when he found what could have been a thief's dream come true.
He was searching near the trash from a Blockbuster video store and found that the store had discarded completed membership forms and employment applications that included names, addresses, credit card numbers and Social Security numbers.
Murray said, "The sad part is that even after I told Blockbuster about it, I went back the next day to go get some more boxes, and this time I found credit card stuff."
Federal and state officials said no law was broken in the incident, but Florida law requires Blockbuster to inform its customers of the potential data breach.
"There is a statute that requires businesses who maintain records and databases with consumer personal identification to alert them if their information has been breached or hacked," said Sandi Copes, spokeswoman for the attorney general's office. "They do have to reach out to consumers."
Randy Hargrove, a spokesman for Blockbuster Inc. said "According to our corporate policy, documents generated in store, including customer information, must be destroyed when no longer kept on file."
Hargrove said that Blockbuster is conducting its own investigation into the matter and those responsible will be subject to disciplinary action.
Murray has turned the documents over to the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office. It is a very lucky thing that an honest person found these documents and a serious data breach was avoided, this time.
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Dixie State College in St. George, Utah has announced that an unauthorized person gained access to college's computer system and gained access to personal information of 11,000 people, which included Social Security numbers, birth date information and addresses for some alumni and current Dixie State College employees.
The incident reportedly took place on September 11 and the college says that no credit card of financial data was accessed.
The compromised files were apparently accessible through an internal Dixie State College search engine for a period of up to 14 months, but it seems that the files were not available through public search engines such as Google or Yahoo!.
Those potentially affected by this data breach are urged to take precautionary measures by monitoring their bank and credit card statements. In addition, individuals are encouraged to request a free copy of their credit report and review it thoroughly and, if necessary, place a fraud alert on their credit.
To further assist, update and provide as much information as possible, Dixie State College has created a Web site dedicated to this issue at www.dixie.edu/idprotect. Dixie State College has also established a toll-free telephone hotline accessible at 1-866-295-3033. Individuals may also e-mail questions and concerns to idprotect@dixie.edu.
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Two documents that were inadvertently made publicly accessible by Bates College contained the records of nearly 500 recipients of the federal Perkins Loan. Included in the breached data was each recipient's address, date of birth, Social Security number, legal name and loan amount. The documents were uncovered on the Bates network by The Bates Student on Oct. 13. The files containing all of the information were easily accessed by anyone with a Bates College username and password. The mistake was attributed to the Information and Library Services Office at Bates.
Because this information could be used for identity theft, Maine statute 1346 known as "the Notice of Risk to Personal Data Act," which was enacted this past spring, requires Bates to notify the affected students that their personal data has been potentially breached.
A Federal Perkins Loan is a need-based student loan provided by the U.S. Department of Education with a fixed interest rate of five percent. Loan limits for undergraduates are $4,000 per year with a lifetime maximum loan of $20,000.
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The restaurant chain Not Your Average Joe's in Massachusetts issued a statement that said that its restaurants have been targeted by one or more people who were seeking to illegally obtain the credit card data of the restaurant's customers. The chain said that an external investigation into the matter was ongoing.
The company's statement said in part, "The activity occurred largely between early August and late September; there has been no evidence of any fraudulent activity subsequent to September 29. Based on preliminary conversations with the credit card companies, it appears that this issue has impacted significantly fewer than one percent of the nearly 350,000 customers we served during that period. Investigations indicate that no member of the Not Your Average Joe's staff was involved."
Not Your Average Joe's said that the data compromised included credit card numbers, expiration dates and names associated with the cards. The restaurant chain did not offer details about how the data was accessed but has posted a Q&A section on its web site for customers who have questions about the data breach.
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Administaff, Inc. of Houston, Texas has said that their current and former workers personal data may be compromised because of a stolen laptop. The data was not encrypted when it was stored on the portable computer, but the computer was password protected. About 159,000 people may now be at risk for identity theft, as data stored on the laptop included names, addresses and Social Security numbers for most employees paid by Administaff during 2006.
Home Depot has announced a data breach affecting 10,000 of their employees. A laptop computer containing employees' personal data was stolen from a regional manager's car. The laptop was password protected and did not contain any information about Home Depot customers. The computer did have the names, home addresses and Social Security numbers of around 10,000 Home Depot employees though.
A major data breach affecting almost all Louisiana college applicants and their parents for the last 9 years has happened. Sensitive personal data was contained in a case lost last month during a move. The personal data included Social Security numbers for applicants and their parents. Bank account information for START account holders was also involved in the data breach. For more information, please contact the Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance or visit http://www.osfa.state.la.us/notice.htm
Thousands of University of Cincinnati students and graduates are now at risk for identity theft because their personal information has been stolen. A flash drive that contained the Social Security numbers and other personal information of more than 7,000 people was taken from a University of Cincinnati employee last month.
Two laptops that belonged to a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) contractor, Integrated Biometric Technology, that contained detailed information on 3,930 people have disappeared. The laptops had the names, addresses, birthdays and commercial driver's license numbers, and in some cases Social Security numbers of commercial drivers from across the county who transport hazardous materials. The Social Security numbers for drivers who needed security clearances were the ones contained in the stolen data. Integrated Biometric Technology was advised by the TSA to encrypt the data on its hard drives after it was discovered that previously deleted information on the missing laptops could be recovered.
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An unknown hacker remotely accessed an online server at Montana State University. The server contains the personal data, including Social Security numbers and credit card numbers of 1,400 students who enrolled online for MSU Extended University courses. Luckily, the data was encrypted and the university says that it is unlikely that personal information was actually stolen.
King County Transportation Department, in Seattle, Washington has announced that a laptop computer containing the records and personal data of 1,400 current and former employees has been stolen. The employees' names, Social Security numbers and addresses were on the password protected laptop, but the information on the laptop was not encrypted.
Commerce Bank in Wichita, Kansas has reported that a hacker gained access to a database that contains about 3,000 customer records and accessed the data of about 20 customers. The bank says that they are contacting those customers who could have been affected. The hacker was detected quickly, and then denied further access. The incident was reported to law enforcement.
A data breach at Wheels, Inc., the company that provides cars to Pfizer for the use of their sales force, may have exposed the personal data of over 1,800 people, including the spouses and domestic partners of Pfizer employees. After the breach at Wheels, the names, addresses, birth dates and driver's license numbers, but not Social Security numbers of those affected were exposed on the Internet.
Pembroke Schools in Pembroke, Massachusetts, has said that because of a weakness in the school district's computer system, the personal data of anyone who worked or volunteered for the Pembroke Schools in the last four years was accessible via the Internet. The information at was exposed included names, Social Security numbers and birthdates.
Semtech of Camarillo, California has said that a laptop computer and personal belongings were stolen from one of its vendors. Although the computer was not stolen from a Semtech facility, it may have contained computerized data relating to Semtech employees.
Two laptop computers were stolen from the office of a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Both of the computers were believed to have contained significant personal identifying data, such as Social Security numbers.
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The Massachusetts Division of Professional Licensure has said that the Social Security numbers of about 450,000 licensed professionals were accidentally released. The information was mailed last month to agencies that submitted a public records request for the names and addresses of professionals licensed by the division. The division mailed out 28 computer disks to 23 agencies that use the information as a marketing or promotional tool. The disks would normally contain only the names and addresses of individuals licensed through the Division of Professional Licensure and the Division of Health Professions Licensure. However, another mistake was made and the disks also included Social Security numbers.
The personal data of approximately 800,000 people who applied for jobs at one of Gap, Inc.'s brand stores was contained on a laptop computer which has been stolen. The computer was stolen from the offices of an experienced third-party vendor that manages job applicant data for Gap Inc. The data stolen was that of the people who applied online or by phone for store positions with the company between July 2006 and June 2007. The Social Security numbers of applicants were included in the information on the laptop. For more information and assistance please visit: http://www.gapsecurityassistance.com/.
Voxant customers may be at risk for identity theft because the Voxant online ecommerce store server was reportedly hacked using what appeared to be a typical phishing scheme. The server is separate from the primary business at www.voxant.com. The affected server was immediately taken offline and the offending phishing pages were removed. Customers should be aware that encrypted credit card numbers could have been accessed during the incident. Although the credit card numbers were encrypted, the encryption key was not well protected. The database up through June 19-20 could have been affected, and the data of approximately 4,500 U.S. customers was potentially exposed.
Americhoice, Inc has announced that 67,000 TennCare enrollees are at risk of identity theft after a courier service lost their personal information. The lost information includes names, Social Security Numbers, birthdays and addresses. The company is offering free identity theft protection for those people who were affected at (800) 690-1606.
Gander Mountain has said that a computer potentially containing the credit card information of anyone who had shopped at their Greensburg store has been lost or stolen. The store opened five years ago and the computer could have contained the data of all shoppers at the store since it opened. The company said credit card information for 112,000 customers might have been compromised. That includes 10,000 records with names, card numbers and expiration dates.
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The Pennsylvania Public Welfare Department has said that two of their computers containing the mental health histories of more than 300,000 medical-assistance recipients were stolen. The computers were stolen when an office was burglarized. Luckily, the mental health information on the computers identified people by codes and not by name, but the information is still out there. The information was protected by multiple passwords, but the full names and Social Security numbers of nearly 2,000 people were also on the computers.
Purdue University has warned those who were students in the fall of 2004 that information about them was inadvertently posted on the Internet. The information was contained in a document that had the names and Social Security numbers of 111 students of the Animal Sciences 102 class. The page was no longer in use but was on a computer server connected to the Internet. An internal search recently discovered the document and it was reported to the chief information security officer at Purdue University.
McKesson Health, a health care services company in San Francisco, California, is alerting thousands of its patients that their personal information is at risk after two of its computers were stolen from an office.
De Anza College in Cupertino, California has announced that 4,375 former students might be at risk for identity theft after an instructor's laptop computer, containing students' personal information, was stolen last month. The computer contained the students' names, addresses, grades and in many cases Social Security numbers.
University of South Carolina in Columbia, South Carolina has announced that 1482 files containing Social Security numbers, test scores and course grades were exposed online. It appears the person responsible for the breach may have been a computer novice and did not realize that the information could be accessed outside the university system.
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On August 29, the Connecticut Department of Revenue Service started notifying taxpayers whose personal information was on an agency laptop that was stolen on August 17. The data breach may cost the state as much as $1 million, depending on how many taxpayers use the free credit monitoring service the department are providing via a third party. The Governor, M. Jodi Rell ordered new security controls over all state laptop computers. Taxpayers can search the Connecticut Department of Revenue website to find out if their personal information was on the stolen computer.
An Ohio Court of Claims judge dismissed a lawsuit brought by two Ohio University graduates against the school for data breaches. The lawsuit only requested the school pay for credit monitoring services for the individuals whose personal data was compromised. The judge said the plaintiffs failed to prove they suffered damages for which they could be compensated. The Attorneys for the University argued that the two students were basing their claims on unsubstantiated fears since no identity theft has been reported as a result of the breaches that occurred in April.
A Maryland Department of the Environment laptop computer was stolen from an employee's car at the end of August. Investigators found the car but they did not recover the stolen laptop. The sensitive data on the computer included individuals licensed by the Board of Well Drillers, Board of Environmental Sanitarians, Board of Waterworks and a database on septic inspectors. The Department notified, by mail, all 10,000 people whose names, addresses and phone numbers were on the stolen laptop.
John Hopkins Hospital experienced a data breach in July but did not notify patients affected until five weeks later. Thieves stole a desktop computer that contained personal information for 5,783 patients. The hospital filed a report with the police department two weeks after the theft occurred. Officials at the hospital delayed making a public announcement about the theft to avoid sabotaging efforts to find the computer.
Gregory Kopiloff was arrested last week and charged with mail fraud, accessing a protected computer without authorization and two counts of aggravated identity theft. According to the Federal charges, he used peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing software to steal personal information from other users. Kopiloff allegedly sifted through credit reports and income information from tax returns to determine which users had the best credit so he could have more purchasing power. He used the stolen information to set up fake bank accounts and credit cards in order to buy items worth thousands. So far investigators have identified 83 victims of identity theft by Kopiloff.
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A federal grand jury charged three men with stealing credit card numbers and using them to buy 3,200 books of stamps from Seattle-area post offices. They trio purchased almost $24,000 in just a little more than one week's time. The men allegedly used a credit-card reader to imprint stolen credit-card numbers onto retail gift cards. They then were able to use the gift cards just like a credit card to buy books of stamps from postage machines. Investigators suspect they are part of a larger ring of identity thieves.
A laptop was stolen last month from Vista Financial in California, which handles student loan applications for Pennsylvania college students. The laptop contained the names, addresses and social security numbers for 5,200 student loan borrowers from Pennsylvania. PHEAA is providing the borrowers with a free one-year subscription to a credit monitoring service including identity theft insurance.
Yuba County officials were skeptical that the data contained on a laptop computer that was stolen this week would ever be accessed and used fraudulently. The laptop was stolen from Child Support Services in Linda, California and contained birth dates, Social Security numbers and other personal information for 70,000 clients. County officials are in the process of warning everyone, whose personal data was on the laptop, to check their credit and possibly freeze their accounts.
VeriSign current and former employees received a letter recently telling them that a laptop possibly containing their personal information was stolen last month from a VeriSign employee's vehicle. The letter states that the laptop may have contained unencrypted names, birthdates, addresses, phone numbers and Social Security numbers for the employees. Even though the laptop requires passwords to access the information, they are recommending the employees put a "fraud alert" on their credit files. The company offered the employees a free one-year credit monitoring service subscription.
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Staffing and personal financial information for 33,000 Merrill Lynch employees may have been contained on a computer stolen from the corporate offices in New Jersey. The brokerage firm announced it would provide free credit monitoring to the employees affected by the data breach. Merrill stated there haven't been any reports of the data being used illegally and that no client data was contained on the computer.
Paris Hilton, Jennifer Lopez, Whitney Houston and Donovan McNabb are on a list of targeted identity theft victims in a case under investigation by the Secret Service and Philadelphia police. Andre Holmes and his alleged accomplice used change of address forms to get their victims mail sent to their homes. The identity theft ring then created fake checks and credit cards with at least 17 and as many as hundreds of victims, including the celebrities mentioned. The pair, who operated out of their home in Northeast Philadelphia, is now in custody while the authorities work on the case.
The IRS and the FBI completed their investigation with the Alabama Attorney General in an identity theft case involving Kwantrice Thornton, a former employee of Electronic Data Systems. Thornton was arrested this week in connection with the Alabama Medicaid agency data breach. Thornton allegedly stole the names and personal information for 498 Medicaid recipients and sold 50 of them to other people. The stolen identity information was then used to file fraudulent federal tax returns.
In July, Disney Movie Club members were notified that an employee of a contractor sold their credit-card information. A federal undercover agent purchased the information from the employee who has since been fired from Alta Resources. A letter from the Disney Movie Club was sent to members detailing the data breach. The number of victims has not been disclosed and the investigation is still ongoing by the Secret Service.
Potentially 580,000 military persons private information may have been stolen in a massive data breach just announced by the military support contractor SAIC. The company transmitted names, addresses, birth dates, health data and Social Security numbers over the web without encrypting the data first. SAIC notified the affected families including Army, Navy, Air Force and Department of Homeland Security personnel. The company says the security problems are fixed now to prevent future breaches.
A laptop containing names, addresses and credit/debit card numbers for Hotel.com was stolen sometime in February. The employee of the travel website's auditor, Ernst and Young Global Ltd., didn't notify Hotels.com until May 3 that his laptop was stolen in February. The computer was stolen in an unnamed Texas City, possibly not too far from Hotel.com's parent company Expedia Inc. The companies notified the approximately 243,000 customers affected by the data breach.
A data breach that has been going on for two years was just discovered by school officials at the University of Virginia. The stolen data included Social Security numbers and other private information about faculty. The hackers entered through the web site that officials said mistakenly contained the instructors' personal information. No students were affected in the breach. The FBI is assisting campus technology experts to make sure the data is secure now.
A $15 backup device for Ohio Department of Commerce was stolen from an intern's vehicle. The device contained personal information on 225,000 taxpayers, 84,000 welfare recipients, 64,000 state employees and others. The department is in the process of sending letters to financial institutions to make them aware of the potential compromise of their customer's accounts. Governor Ted Strickland subsequently issued an executive order which addresses changes in the state's procedures for handling data.
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A professor from Texas A&M Corpus Christi reportedly lost a computer flash drive while vacationing in Madagascar, located off the coast of Africa. The device contained personal information on approximately 8,000 students. School officials are not sure exactly which students' data was contained on the device. They believe it included Social Security numbers and birth dates for students enrolled in classes during 2006. Students plan to watch their credit reports for any unusual transactions.
All of the 2007-09 UC Davis student application files were breached when a hacker gained access to the data. The breach was not discovered for the 1,100 students until one tried to set up a campus computer account and was notified that it was already used. Campus officials are working with law enforcement to find out how the computer-security system was bypassed. Letters were sent out to the applicants stating the school would pay for one year of a credit monitoring service.
Fidelity National Information Services Inc. announced that a database administrator for the electronic payment processing company stole and sold customer information. The information included bank and credit card records for possibly more than 2 million customers. The employee sold the information to a data broker who sold it to direct marketers. So far there is no evidence indicating the data was used in any other way. The Secret Service is assisting with the investigation while the company puts the remaining database administrators under close watch.
On May 3 of this year, the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation discovered a security breach in one of its servers. Up to 300,000 Social Security numbers and other personal data used by real estate brokers, mortgage brokers, loan originators and pawn shop owners was compromised. The department didn't report the data breach until one month later to minimize the impact on the investigation. It appears the breach actually occurred in January of this year. The department is contacting all the licensees and recommending anyone potentially affected by the breach watch their credit reports carefully.
Each and every police officer in Texas may be at risk for identity theft after a laptop containing their personal information was stolen from a Houston software company that maintains the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement records. Approximately, 97,000 law enforcement employees' personal information was contained in the database. Everyone on the list was e-mailed about the theft while the Houston Police department works to find the thieves.
Another northern New Jersey bank security breach occurred at the Columbia Bank in Fair Lawn. The bank issued notices to all the customers affected by the breach that accessed their names and Social Security numbers. There is no further information on exactly how the breach occurred. In 2005, three other banks in New Jersey experienced security breaches. In response to the 2005 data breaches, the state passed one of the toughest identity theft prevention laws in the country.
Two individuals in Davidson County, North Carolina were charged with creating fake alien registration cards and Social Security cards by a federal grand jury. Silvia Hernandez Figueroa and Carlos Conejo Jimenez were originally arrested on May 8 in Lexington after special agents from the Department of State's Diplomatic Security Service and other agencies completed their investigation. This is just one example of small time identity theft that can have a big impact on Americans throughout our country.
During this year's hurricane season, Florida residents are being warned by the state's Attorney General to safeguard their personal documents. Identity thieves seek any opportunity they can find to steal documents that can be sold or used to steal personal data from individuals. During natural disasters, identity thieves can take advantage of residents if they leave their sensitive papers behind when they leave to go to a shelter.
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