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Blog / June 2006

Laptop theft exposes 243,000 Hotels.com customers

Jun 2, 2006 by Tom Fragala

CNET has this story… A seemingly random theft has led to another potential breach of personal data--this time name, address and credit card data from Hotels.com customers. A laptop belonging to an Ernst & Young employee was stolen in a...

Jun 2, 2006 by Tom Fragala

Computerworld has an article under the heading of “continued coverage: data security breaches. Tim O'Pry, his wife and his son are all veterans, and they're among the 26.5 million vets whose personal data was stolen this month from the home...

Jun 2, 2006 by Tom Fragala

Computerworld has a rather strange article. It says, Banks can enhance their reputation for security by acting as custodians for personal identity credentials designed to make identity theft difficult. This idea was advanced by Graham Alston, a partner in Unisys...

Jun 6, 2006 by Tom Fragala

TechWeb has this report… Protecting customer records is a magnitude less expensive than paying for cleanup after a data breach or massive records loss, a research company said Tuesday.Gartner analyst Avivah Litan said in a research note that data protection...

Jun 7, 2006 by Tom Fragala

TNCNet via the Dallas Morning News reports on another data breach. (Dallas Morning News, The (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge). Don't breathe easy just because your student loans are long paid off: Names and Social Security numbers from accounts closed...

Jun 7, 2006 by Tom Fragala

The data security breaches continue at a breathtaking pace. This time Washington Post has a story about the huge grocer Royal Ahold (Stop & Shop, etc.): Grocery retailer Royal Ahold NV has lost personal information for an unknown number of...

Jun 7, 2006 by Tom Fragala

The WaPo has a new story on the VA data breach reported on this blog here and here. This breach included sensitive personal data on active duty personnel. That’s especially devastating I feel because if those folks are overseas and...

Jun 9, 2006 by Tom Fragala

Good lord. CNET News.com has this story. Add the U.S. Department of Energy to the list of federal agencies beset by theft of their employees' personal data in recent months.Officials appearing before Congress on Friday went public for the first...

Jun 9, 2006 by Tom Fragala

The Providence Journal tells us how yet another laptop is involved in a data breach. The statement by the YMCA referenced in the article almost seems to downplay the significance of checking account and routing numbers by saying that only...

Jun 11, 2006 by Tom Fragala

Brian Koerner from About.com has this important follow up story. In the case of the University of Michigan Credit Union, where the breach occurred last summer, such compromise of personal information has been confirmed to have led to cases of...

Jun 11, 2006 by Tom Fragala

Intersections, Inc., the NASDAQ-listed company behind the IdentityGuard products, has a new marketing campaign. It’s called “stop ijacking” and you can see for yourself at www.stopijacking.com. Apparently the goal of the campaign is to create a new term they “own”...

Jun 11, 2006 by Tom Fragala

Brian Koerner has another interesting story brewing at About.com. Reportedly Ohio University has suffered yet another security breach, making it its fourth breach reported in less than two months. As of June 9, 2006 Ohio University posted on their website that...

Jun 16, 2006 by Tom Fragala

Lou Dobbs did a story on Audra Schmierer, who had her Social Security benefits from 14 years of work wiped out, owes $1 million in back taxes, and was detained by customs. All because her social security number was sold...

Jun 17, 2006 by Tom Fragala

Netcraft reports on this insidious scam (my emphasis added). A security flaw in the PayPal web site is being actively exploited by fraudsters to steal credit card numbers and other personal information belonging to PayPal users. The issue was reported...

Jun 17, 2006 by Tom Fragala

WSJ.com has this news brief. Verizon Communications Inc. has notified employees that the theft of two company laptop computers may leave them vulnerable to identity fraud.In a letter dated March 1, Verizon alerted workers that computers stolen from a company...

Jun 18, 2006 by Tom Fragala

IdentityGuard is offering U.S. veterans six months of free fraud protection (in light of the recent VA data breach we reported here and here). They say they are providing this offer “because we value and appreciate your service to our country.” But, wait,...

Jun 19, 2006 by Tom Fragala

Truston was mentioned in a Wired News article last week. Ryan Singel authored the well-written article....

Jun 20, 2006 by Tom Fragala

AP has this report. A credit bureau suffers a data breach of its own employees data. Equifax Inc., one of the nation's three major credit bureaus, said Tuesday a company laptop containing employee names and Social Security numbers was stolen from...

Jun 21, 2006 by Tom Fragala

The Veterans Administration announced today that the agency will provide one year of free credit monitoring to individuals whose Social Security Number may have been stolen in the data breach incident. However, they have not selected a vendor yet and...

Jun 21, 2006 by Tom Fragala

More on one of my favorite scams going, Heightmax. Here’s an excerpt from an ABC News WFTS TV report. (Hat tip to Rob). The following is a conversation between ABC Action News reporter Linda Hurtado and the president of Sunny...

Jun 22, 2006 by Tom Fragala

Army Times reports Rep. John Salazar, D-Colo., a member of Buyer’s committee, introduced a bill Tuesday that would require the VA to provide free credit monitoring and credit reporting for any veterans whose personal information was on the stolen computer....

Jun 22, 2006 by Tom Fragala

Grant Gross of ComputerWorld has this story. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA's) offer of free credit monitoring to the 26.5 million military veterans affected by a recent data theft is not enough to fix the problem, the chairman...

Jun 22, 2006 by Tom Fragala

Martin McKeay's Computerworld Blog says so. According to GovExec.com, the reason the Veterans Administration didn't have a centralized IT security authority was because the VA's general council argued that the CIO's responsibility was to 'ensure' FISMA compliance not 'enforce'. Martin...

Jun 22, 2006 by Tom Fragala

Hope Yen of the AP has this story in the Seattle PI. The government agency charged with fighting identity theft said Thursday it had lost two government laptops containing sensitive personal data, the latest in a series of breaches encompassing...

Jun 22, 2006 by Tom Fragala

I was tooling around the USA today web site, and I thought I’d compile some of the stories they’ve posted on the VA data theft story. Since they are the largest US newspaper (2.5 million subs). Stories can be found...

Jun 23, 2006 by Tom Fragala

Dow Jones reports via CNN.com After losing personal information for 930,000 people in the theft of a computer server, American International Group Inc. (AIG) Thursday said it plans to offer identity-restoration services to any who are "fearful" that their identity...

Jun 23, 2006 by Tom Fragala

By now we’ve all heard about the data breach at the VA. And the VA announced on Wednesday they would provide free credit monitoring (and possibly credit reports) for at least a year for anyone effected. So, can someone explain...

Jun 23, 2006 by Tom Fragala

Updated 6/27/06 Are you a veteran or member of the U.S. military, including the reserve and National Guard? Wondering what to do after the computer theft/data breach at the Department of Veterans Affairs (aka VA or Veterans Administration)? Or are...

Jun 24, 2006 by Tom Fragala

AP Story in the Buffalo News. This data included SSN’s so it is serious stuff. The Navy News Service also has an article. The Navy has begun a criminal investigation after Social Security numbers and other personal data for 28,000...

Jun 24, 2006 by Tom Fragala

Lost in the fuss over the VA and Navy data breaches was the disclosure last week that AIG had a computer server stolen that contained sensitive data on 970,000 customers. It’s stunning that a breach of 1 million identities is small...

Jun 26, 2006 by Tom Fragala

InformationWeek has an article about how the data breach notification laws often result in extended times for disclosure. The AIG breach was made public over three months after the theft of the equipment. Companies can use considerable discretion in how fast,...

Jun 26, 2006 by Tom Fragala

Update 6/26 6:20pm PT: In respone to criticism from veterans groups, the VA just announced that “An individual who chooses to sign up for the credit monitoring service, including the insurance, will not be asked or required to relinquish any...

Jun 27, 2006 by Tom Fragala

A press release is going to hit the wire services shortly. We are announcing our free credit monitoring service and premium ID theft recovery services. They’ll be available in the 3rd quarter 2006. We’ve been working on this for well...

Jun 27, 2006 by Tom Fragala

I blogged about the “new” Navy-specific data breach here. It is getting lost in all the noise about the VA situation. But here’s some updated news. Navy News has the story. Personal information on more than 30,000 Navy Sailors and...

Jun 27, 2006 by Tom Fragala

Hope Yen of the AP continues her tireless reporting of this issue. The Department of Veterans Affairs is asking the President for emergency funds to cover the costs for dealing with this data breach, including credit monitoring. The VA asked...

Jun 27, 2006 by Tom Fragala

Jim at GuardMyCreditFile has this report. …the USDA was forced to announce last week that as many as 26,000 employees and contractors may have had their data accessed and stolen by hackers. The announcement is just another in a string...

Jun 28, 2006 by Tom Fragala

SF Chronicle has a story. San Francisco State University officials have put students and staff on alert because a thief broke into a faculty member's car earlier this month and stole a laptop with nearly 3,000 Social Security numbers and...

Jun 29, 2006 by Tom Fragala

Associated Press is reporting (via Forbes.com) The government has recovered the stolen laptop computer and hard drive containing sensitive data for up to 26.5 million veterans and military personnel, Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson said Thursday.Nicholson said law enforcement officials...

Jun 30, 2006 by Tom Fragala

The Office of Management and Budget has requested $160.5 million for free credit monitoring for veterans. One of the first things I wondered was “where does the money come from?” Well, now I know. The Office of Management and Budget...

Jun 30, 2006 by Tom Fragala

In a case that keeps growing, the Veterans Affairs worker whose laptop was stolen had written, documented approval to have the sensitive data on 26.5 million veterans. (Hope Yen at AP via WaPo)...

Jun 30, 2006 by Tom Fragala

Fort Wayne Journal Gazette is reporting that this time a computer tape was lost at an Indiana Veterans Affairs office—back in May. And it was revealed that back in 2005 the VA suffered a loss of veterans information, as well....

Jun 30, 2006 by Tom Fragala

GovExec.com tells us that the CISO for the VA says he wasn’t able to do his job and implement security. The chief information security officer for the Veterans Affairs Department, who resigned Thursday and was subsequently placed on paid administrative...

Jun 30, 2006 by Tom Fragala

GuardMyCreditFile has this story. Federal authorities announced today that they have arrested five people in connection with the data breach at Lexis Nexis, a data wharehousing company, last year. The breach which exposed more than 300,000 people was the largest...

Jun 30, 2006 by Tom Fragala

Jim at GuardMyCreditFile exposes this questionable practice by the consumer credit reporting companies. Attorneys for William A. Harris Sr., a resident of South Carolina, have filed a class action law suit against the nation’s three large credit reporting agencies; Experian,...

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Blog / June 2006

Jun 2, 2006 by Tom Fragala

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