Miscellaneous

• Health Insurance Premiums Continue to Skyrocket

  Staff Writer | October 02, 2006 7:00 AM | 0 CommentsPhoenix, AZ

  This week, the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation released its annual study about health insurance premiums across the country. Great news! Across the country, your health insurance premiums only increased an average of 7.7%. Of course, the overall rate of inflation increased by 3.5% and workers salary increased by 3.8%. While our health insurance premiums are skyrocketing, keep in mind that...

• Encryption Software Installed onto Veterans Administration Laptops

  Staff Writer | September 30, 2006 9:00 AM | 0 CommentsPhoenix, AZ

  The Veterans Administration has begun to take privacy and security more seriously these days. Over the past few weeks, it has installed encryption software onto more than 15,000 laptop computers in an effort to prevent future exposure of sensitive data to possible identity thieves. In May, 2006 a laptop computer containing sensitive personal information about over 26.5 million veterans was...

• Medical Identity Theft

  Staff Writer | September 28, 2006 1:29 PM | 0 CommentsPhoenix, AZ

  The risks of identity theft are high and getting even higher. Now these risks have invaded our health insurance and medical care systems. On September 25, 2006, the Los Angeles Times reported on problems associated with medical identity fraud. According to the LA Times, Although the most typical of the millions of identity theft cases in the U.S. each year involve credit cards, a 2003...

• US Commerce Department Laptop Problem

  Staff Writer | September 23, 2006 4:01 PM | 0 CommentsPhoenix, AZ

  The Commerce Department recently reported that it lost over 1000 laptop computers over the past few years. Well after the laptop security incident involving two laptops at the Veterans Administration and the exposure of personal data involving military personnel, hopefully the Commerce Department learned lessons about data security. According to public reports, the Commerce Department...

• Health Insurance Crisis

  Staff Writer | September 19, 2006 10:01 AM | 0 CommentsPhoenix, AZ

  A recent article in the LA Times discussed a different type of health insurance crisis affecting small business owners and people with individual health insurance policies. The crisis is very real and not a feigned one resting on catchy slogans. In fact, the crisis relates to health insurance companies arbitrarily terminating coverage for sick people in times of need. According to insurance...

• Annual Free Credit Reports Available

  Staff Writer | September 18, 2006 2:49 PM | 0 CommentsPhoenix, AZ

  This time each year, consumers may obtain a free copy of their credit report from any of the three credit reporting agencies according to the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003. Today the Federal Trade Commission reminded consumers to exercise their right to obtain a credit report in part to guard against identity theft. According to the Federal Trade Commision: As mandated by...

• Increase in e-mail spam projected

  Staff Writer | September 14, 2006 6:08 PM | 0 CommentsPhoenix, AZ

  Have you notice an increase in junk e-mail messages? Do you notice regular messages promising cheap viagra or work-from-home job opportunities which can make you millions? Well unfortunately, brace for more junk messages in the future. According to a research released by an internet security software maker, corporate e-mail directory theft has increased by thirty-percent. The article I...

• Efforts to Prevent Identity Theft

  Staff Writer | September 10, 2006 12:20 PM | 0 CommentsPhoenix, AZ

  It looks like some companies are finally understanding that identity theft prevention should be a high priority for anybody choosing to have an internet presence. Just within the past few weeks, credit card companies have banded together to come up with workable data security standards, AT&T filed suit against various data brokers for misappropriating customer data and a company has released a...

• 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...