All Topics

• Phoenix Receives Failing Grade for Driver Safety

  Staff Writer | April 07, 2007 9:30 AM | 0 CommentsPhoenix, AZ

  Men's Health Magazine just published its rankings for the safest and most dangerous drivers in the country. It based its rankings on the rate of fatal accidents, as well as the deaths caused specifically by speeding, both from the National Highway traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). In addition, we pulled city statistics on accident frequency from Allstate Insurance. And then we used...

• Your Identity Could Cost Just Fourteen Dollars

  Staff Writer | March 26, 2007 10:13 AM | 0 CommentsPhoenix, AZ

  I just learned from an article in the on-line publication Infoworld that your identity and all sorts of personal information associated with it may be available for purchase on the internet for just fourteen dollars. A research report generated by the Symantec Corporation suggests that identity theft criminals can purchase confidential personal information as follows:U.S.-based credit cards...

• TJX Company Data Breach Leading to New Legislation

  Staff Writer | February 25, 2007 6:33 PM | 0 CommentsPhoenix, AZ

  The fallout from the data breach involving confidential data stolen from the TJX Companies continues. In Massachusetts, legislation has recently been introduced to shift the cost of a data breach onto retailers who do not follow security standards designed to prevent identity theft. Banks and credit cards currently protect consumers against fraudulent credit card use. However, according to...

• Several States Reporting Fraudulent Credit Card Use after TJX Companies' Data Breach

  Staff Writer | January 25, 2007 4:25 PM | 0 CommentsPhoenix, AZ

  According to an article in today's on-line publication Computerworld, the Massachusetts Bankers Association (MBA) reports that identity thieves have been using stolen confidential credit and debit card information stolen by hackers who breached computer systems at The TJX Companies sometime in May of 2006. According to the MBA, compromised cards have so far been used to make fraudulent...

• Identity Thieves Steal Data from Marshalls and TJMaxx Computers

  Staff Writer | January 18, 2007 9:49 AM | 0 CommentsPhoenix, AZ

  Apparently late last year, hackers compromised and stole data from computer systems storing credit card and other confidential information belonging to customers of TJ Maxx and Marshalls stores. If you have been a customer of either of these stores, you may become the next victim of identity theft. The company chairman and acting CEO disclosed the security breach in a message to customers...

• Tort Refrom Criticism from the Oklahoma Supreme Court

  Staff Writer | December 21, 2006 1:45 PM | 0 CommentsPhoenix, AZ

  I recently came across an opinion from the Oklahoma Supreme Court released onto its web site on December 19, 2006 but not yet formally published which presents an interesting analysis of tort reform in the state of Oklahoma. The Oklahoma Supreme Court in an almost unanimous decision struck down a tort reform initiative requiring an expert affidavit of merit to accompany every new medical...

• Department of Homeland Security Lacking Computer Security

  Staff Writer | October 08, 2006 8:07 PM | 0 CommentsPhoenix, AZ

  Talk about ironic, the Deparment of Homeland Security has apparently joined the growing list of other government agencies which overlooked cybersecurity. The Inspector General's Office conducted a recent audit of ninety-four of the Department's laptop computers and found:"significant work remains to be done" by the inspector general's office in the areas of configuration, patch and inventory...

• AT&T On-Line Store Hacked

  Staff Writer | August 30, 2006 12:37 PM | 0 CommentsPhoenix, AZ

  Well, AT&T has become the next corporation to allow hackers to steal private data concerning its customers. About nineteen thousand consumers who shopped on-line through an AT&T web site have had their credit card and other personal identification information stolen. In this case, apparently AT&T offered to pay for credit monitoring services to assist consumers for awhile. The extent of...

• New Data Theft Problems

  Staff Writer | August 29, 2006 3:20 PM | 0 CommentsPhoenix, AZ

  In the past few days across the electronic spectrum, we've seen data thefts involving a university, a bank, and a few US agencies. We have also seen employees from an internet provider leak out sensitive search engine query information concerning the search habits of its customers. A variety of problems have occurred with the protection of sensitive information leaving consumers in a worse...

• Jury Service

  Staff Writer | August 02, 2006 1:32 PM | 1 CommentPhoenix, AZ

  Yesterday, the East Valley Tribune editorial department wrote an opinion piece addressing a recent challenge to Maricopa County jury selection procedures adopted in February of this year. Recently, the Maricopa County judiciary modified its jury selection procedures to make it more likely for jurors to be chosen for service at a court within a close geographic proximity to their home. Court...