Posts tagged Identity Theft

• Public Relations Problems after Data Theft

  Staff Writer | November 19, 2006 9:10 AM | 1 CommentPhoenix, AZ Category: Miscellaneous
  

  Well we have heard many stories about compromised data, stolen laptops, disappearing hard drives and personal information gone missing. Too often we hear corporate or agency executives telling us not to be concerned. Too often we hear suggestions that although sensitive personal data has been compromised, no evidence exists that actually proves thieves have accessed this confidential...

• Starbucks Employees Possible Identity Theft Victims

  Staff Writer | November 05, 2006 10:52 AM | 2 CommentsPhoenix, AZ Category: Miscellaneous
  

  Just this past week, Starbucks lost track of four laptop computers containing sensitive information including social security numbers, addresses and names of over 60,000 company employees. Looks like this company may know how to serve up some Java but needs some lessons on how to protect sensitive employee information. These employees may become the next victims of identity theft as a result...

• British Banks Fail to Safeguard Customer Information

  Staff Writer | October 29, 2006 9:48 PM | 0 CommentsPhoenix, AZ Category: Miscellaneous
  

  After all the news footage we've reviewed recently, I was not really shocked to see a BBC news story expressing concern about several British banks which have apparently failed to secure confidential customer information. The difference in this story which caught my eye was that this time, the problems had nothing to do with computer security.This time the story related to confidential written...

• Online Brokerages TD Waterhouse and E-Trade Most Recent Sources of Identity Theft

  Staff Writer | October 24, 2006 5:22 PM | 0 CommentsPhoenix, AZ Category: Miscellaneous
  

  I read today that over the past three months, oversees identity thieves broke into customer accounts at brokerages TD Waterhouse and E-Trade and participated in a stock-trading fraud scheme leading to $22 million in losses. Sophisticated oversees hackers were able to use keylogging programs to obtain private information and log onto customer accounts in order to participate in a "pump-and-dump"...

• Marine Computer Containing Confidential Data Missing

  Staff Writer | October 10, 2006 10:03 PM | 0 CommentsPhoenix, AZ Category: Miscellaneous
  

  This past week, I have been posting messages which show that the risks of identity theft can be minimized by simply prioritizing data security. Problems at the United States Department of Energy, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid and the United States Department of Homeland Security demonstrate that our government has not yet prioritized data protection. Simple encryption tools, password...

• Department of Homeland Security Lacking Computer Security

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

  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...

• Department of Energy Computer System Security Problems Exposed

  Staff Writer | October 06, 2006 3:14 PM | 0 CommentsPhoenix, AZ Category: Miscellaneous
  

  Well I found yet another agency with computer security problems amid the ever-growing list of government agencies which have not yet prioritized computer security. This time, according to an article in Computerworld Security Magazione,The information systems used by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), an agency of the U.S. Department of Energy, are vulnerable to cyberattacks...

• Report Shows Identity Theft Risks at Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services

  Staff Writer | October 05, 2006 12:11 PM | 0 CommentsPhoenix, AZ Category: Miscellaneous
  

  The lessons involving the recent theft of laptop computers at the Veterans Administration have apparently been ignored by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). According to the General Accounting Office (GAO), its review of computer systems:revealed 47 weaknesses in electronic access controls and other controls. A key reason for these weaknesses was that CMS did not always...

• Encryption Software Installed onto Veterans Administration Laptops

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

  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 Category: Miscellaneous
  

  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...