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IDENTITY THEFT News:

20080806

Hacking

Business

Computer

Consumer

Data

Identity Theft

Privacy

Ukraine

China

"Theft ring accused of hacking 41 million credit card numbers." ... "Eleven people, including a U.S. [United States] Secret Service informant, have been charged in connection with the hacking of nine major retailers and the theft and sale of more than 41 million credit- and debit-card numbers, the Justice Department announced Tuesday." ... "The data breach is believed to be the largest hacking and identity-theft case ever prosecuted by the Department of Justice, which said the suspects were charged with conspiracy, computer intrusion, fraud and identity theft." ... "Three of those charged are U.S. citizens, while the others are from places such as Estonia, Ukraine, Belarus and China."

-StarTribune

20070609

2008 Election - Consumer - Money - Law - Ariz - Identity Thieve - Ad - "An awkward ad by Fred Thompson: He promotes the firm of a man once accused of deceiving consumers." ... "Possible [2008 election] presidential candidate Fred D. Thompson is lending his voice to radio commercials for a company that says it fights identity thieves and that was co-founded by a man accused of taking money from consumer bank accounts without permission." ... "The one-minute commercials are airing across the country on behalf of Tempe, Ariz.-based LifeLock Inc., which said nearly 200,000 customers pay about $10 a month for services that include placing fraud alerts on their credit files." ... "LifeLock was co-founded in 2005 by Robert J. Maynard Jr., whom the Federal Trade Commission accused in 1996 of deceiving consumers with advertisements that suggested his credit-repair company could remove records of bankruptcies and delinquent payments." ... "The FTC also alleged that Maynard and another executive at National Credit Foundation Inc. collected checking-account data from its customers for "verification" when the real purpose was to make unauthorized withdrawals from those accounts." (1, 2) -By Joseph Menn -LAtimes

20060612

Hacker - Government - Nuclear - Energy - Computer - Identity Theft - New Mexico - "Energy Dept. Tells Workers of Data Theft." ... "Energy Department officials have informed nearly 1,500 individuals that their Social Security numbers and other information may have been compromised when a hacker gained entry to a department computer system eight months ago, a spokesman said Monday." ... "The computer theft occurred last September, but Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman and his deputy, Clay Sell, were not informed of it until last week. It was first publicly disclosed at a congressional hearing on Friday." ... "The file that was compromised contained the names, Social Security numbers, security clearance levels and place of employment of 1,502 people working throughout the government nuclear weapons complex [in New Mexico]." -H. Josef Herbert -AP via -HoustonChronicle.com

20060610

Hacker - Government - Nuclear - Energy - Military - Intelligence - Computer - Identity Theft - N.M. - "DOE computers hacked; info on 1,500 taken." ... "A hacker stole a file containing the names and Social Security numbers of 1,500 people working for the Energy Department's nuclear weapons agency." ... "The data theft occurred in a computer system at a service center belonging to the National Nuclear Security Administration in Albuquerque, N.M. The file contained information about contract workers throughout the agency's nuclear weapons complex, a department spokesman said." ... "NNSA Administrator Linton Brooks told a House hearing that he learned of the security breach late last September, but did not inform Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman about it. It had occurred earlier that month." ... "Brooks blamed a misunderstanding for the failure to inform either Bodman or Deputy Energy Secretary Clay Sell about the security breach. Brooks' NNSA is a semiautonomous agency within the department and he said he assumed DOE's counterintelligence office would have briefed the two senior officials." -By H. Josef Herbert -AP via -BusinessWeek

20060607

Noteworthy - Government - Military - Intelligence - Computer - Database - Identity Theft - Law Enforcement - Maryland - "Data Theft Affected Most in Military: National Security Concerns Raised." ... "Social Security numbers and other personal information for as many as 2.2 million U.S. military personnel -- including nearly 80 percent of the active-duty force -- were among the data stolen from the home of a Department of Veterans Affairs analyst last month, federal officials said yesterday, raising concerns about national security as well as identity theft." ... "The department announced that personal data for as many as 1.1 million active-duty military personnel, 430,000 National Guard members and 645,000 reserve members may have been included on an electronic file stolen May 3 from a department employee's house in Aspen Hill [Maryland]. The data include names, birth dates and Social Security numbers, VA spokesman Matt Burns said." ... "Defense officials said the loss is unprecedented and raises concerns about the safety of U.S. military forces. But they cautioned that law enforcement agencies investigating the incident have not found evidence that the stolen information has been used to commit identity theft." ... "Army spokesman Paul Boyce said: "Obviously there are issues associated with identity theft and force protection."" ... "For example, security experts said, the information could be used to find out where military personnel live. "This essentially can create a Zip code for where each of the service members and [their] families live, and if it fell into the wrong hands could potentially put them at jeopardy of being targeted," said David Heyman, director of the homeland security program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)." ... "Another worry is that the information could reach foreign governments and their intelligence services or other hostile forces, allowing them to target service members and their families, the experts said." (1, 2) -By Ann Scott Tyson and Christopher Lee with contributions by Ernesto Londoño -WashingtonPost
Government - Military - Computer - Database - Identity Theft - People - Homes - Education - Consumer - "Data on 2.2M Active Troops Stolen From VA: Pentagon Says Data on About 2.2 Million Active-Duty Troops Among Material Stolen From VA Employee." ... "Nearly all active-duty military, Guard and Reserve members about 2.2 million total may be at risk for identity theft because their personal information was among those stolen from a Veterans Affairs employee last month." ... "In a new disclosure Tuesday, VA Secretary Jim Nicholson said the agency was mistaken when it said over the weekend that up to 50,000 Navy and National Guard personnel were among the 26.5 million veterans whose names, birthdates and Social Security numbers were stolen on May 3." ... "The number is actually much higher because the VA realized it had records on file for most active-duty personnel because they are eligible to receive VA benefits such as GI Bill educational assistance and the home loan guarantee program." (1, 2) -Hope Yen -AP via -ABCNEWS.com

20060603

Government - Military - History - Computer - Identity Theft - "IDs of active personnel on stolen laptop." ... "Personal data on up to 50,000 active Navy and National Guard personnel were among those stolen from a Veterans Affairs employee last month, the government said Saturday in a disclosure that goes beyond what VA initially reported." ... "The VA has previously said the stolen data involved up to 26.5 million veterans discharged since 1975, as well as some of their spouses; veterans discharged before 1975 also were deemed at risk if they submitted claims to the agency." -AP via -USATODAY

20060523

Police - Military - Identity Theft - Hacking - Electronic - Consumer - "Personal Data on Veterans Is Stolen: Burglary Leaves Millions at Risk Of Identity Theft." ... "As many as 26.5 million veterans were placed at risk of identity theft after an intruder stole an electronic data file this month containing their names, birth dates and Social Security numbers from the home of a Department of Veterans Affairs employee, Secretary Jim Nicholson said yesterday." ... "A career data analyst, who was not authorized to take the information home, has been put on administrative leave pending the outcome of investigations by the FBI, local police and the VA inspector general, Nicholson said. He would not identify the employee by name or title." ... "The theft represents the biggest unauthorized disclosure ever of Social Security data, and it could make affected veterans vulnerable to credit card fraud if the burglars realize the value of the data, one expert said." ... "Although publicly revealing the incident may alert the thieves to the value of the data, Nicholson said VA officials decided that veterans needed to know to monitor their credit scores and credit card and bank statements." (1, 2) -By Christopher Lee and Steve Vogel -WashingtonPost

20060321

Identity Theft - Government - Business - Accountants - Database - Marketers - Consumer - Law - Ill. - "IRS plans to allow preparers to sell data: Critics said the proposed regulation could lead to a loss of privacy for clients." ... "The IRS is quietly moving to loosen the once-inviolable privacy of federal income-tax returns. If it succeeds, accountants and other tax-return preparers will be able to sell information from individual returns - or even entire returns - to marketers and data brokers." ... "The change is raising alarm among consumer and privacy-rights advocates." ... "Criticism also came from U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D., Ill.). In a letter last Tuesday to IRS Commissioner Mark Everson, Obama warned that once in the hands of third parties, tax information could be resold and handled under even looser rules than the IRS sets, increasing consumers' vulnerability to identity theft and other risks." ... ""There is no more sensitive information than a taxpayer's return, and the IRS's proposal to allow these returns to be sold to third-party marketers and database brokers is deeply troubling," Obama wrote." -By Jeff Gelles -Philly.com

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20051214

Canada

World

Drugs

Internet

Privacy

"Meth addicts' other habit: Online theft." ... "Hot on the trail of identity thieves, veteran [Alberta, Canada] Edmonton Police Service detectives Al Vonkeman and Bob Gauthier last winter hustled to a local motel, a cinder-block establishment where rooms rent by the hour." ... "Inside Room 24 the detectives found meth pipes, stolen credit cards, notebooks with handwritten notations about fraudulent transactions and printouts of stolen identity data." ... "Evidence in the motel room would ultimately lead them to a much bigger revelation: The Edmonton ring had gone global." ... "It no longer relied solely on dumpster-diving, mailbox-pilfering street addicts to supply stolen credit cards, checks and account statements, the grist for local thefts. Instead, it had advanced to complex joint ventures, conducted over the Internet, in partnership with organized cybercrime rings outside the country." ... "What's happening in Edmonton is happening to one degree or another in communities across the USA and Canada — anywhere meth addicts are engaging in identity theft and can get on the Internet, say police, federal law enforcement officials and Internet security experts." -By Byron Acohido and Jon Swartz

-USATODAY

20051025

GOV

Consumer

Terrorism

"RFID Chips To Travel in U.S. Passports: U.S. passports issued after October 2006 will contain embedded radio frequency identification chips that carry the holder's personal data and digital photo. Terrorism and ID theft fears drive most consumer objections." ... "The passports will have 64 kilobyte RFID chip to permit adequate storage room in case additional data, or fingerprints or iris scan biometric technology is added in the future." ... "Consumer opposition for implanting RFID chips in passports has grown during the past year as fear that identity thieves could steal personal information embedded in the chip within the passport. The State Department this year received 2,335 comments on the project, and 98.5 percent were negative, mostly focusing on security and privacy concerns, and concerns about being identified by terrorists as a U.S. citizen." -By Laurie Sullivan

-InformationWeek

20050701

Kentucky - - - "Kentucky State Auditor Issues Alert to Sanitize Surplus Computers Containing Personal Information." ... "On Tuesday Kentucky State Auditor Crit Luallen announced that a random sampling of computers, designated as surplus property to be offered for sale to the public, revealed that one computer, formerly used by the Kentucky State Police, contained records of 5,828 people who had been issued access cards to state facilities between December 1997 and August 2002." ... "The records contained personal information, including names and social security numbers, for 5,133 individuals." -GovTech.net/news

20050617

- - Consumer - "MasterCard Says Breach Exposes 40 Mln Cards to Fraud (Update4)." ... "Visa International Inc. and MasterCard International Inc., the biggest credit-card brands, said the FBI is investigating a security breach that began in 2004 and exposed 40 million cards to fraud in what may be the largest such case on record." ... "MasterCard said an ``unauthorized person,'' who wasn't identified, gained access to payment card data through a third party processor." -By George Stein -Bloomberg

20050504

- - "Your Identity, Open to All." ... "A search for personal data on ZabaSearch.com -- one of the most comprehensive personal-data search engines on the net -- tends to elicit one of two reactions from first-timers: terror or curiosity. Which reaction often depends on whether you are searching for someone else's data, or your own." ... "ZabaSearch queries return a wealth of info sometimes dating back more than 10 years: residential addresses, phone numbers both listed and unlisted, birth year, even satellite photos of people's homes." ... "Launched in February, the site has emerged during a period of heightened sensitivity about data privacy and identity theft, now among the fastest-growing crimes in America." ... "Critics say ZabaSearch is exploiting the lack of data privacy in America." ... "But the founders of ZabaSearch maintain they're not villains, and that their service is a step toward data democratization. If your information is already out there, the logic goes, at least now you'll know about it." (1, 2, 3, 4) -By Xeni Jardin -Wired

20050419

- Nebraska - "Ameritrade Loses 200,000 Client Files: Ameritrade Loses Backup Computer Tape Containing Personal Files of 200,000 Current, Former Customers." ... "Leading online discount broker Ameritrade Holding Corp. said Tuesday it has informed about 200,000 current and former customers that a backup computer tape containing their personal information has been lost." ... "The [Nebraska] Omaha-based company mailed the notices to its clients last week, spokeswoman Donna Kush said." -By Emily Fredrix -AP via -ABCNEWS.com
- Databases - "DSW Data Theft Much Larger Than Estimated.." ... "Thieves who accessed a DSW Shoe Warehouse database obtained 1.4 million credit card numbers and the names on those accounts 10 times more than investigators estimated last month." ... "The company, a subsidiary of Retail Ventures Inc., announced the thefts last month after notifying federal authorities and credit card companies." ... "Besides the credit card numbers, the thieves obtained driver's license numbers and checking account numbers from 96,000 transactions involving checks, the company said." -AP via -ABCNEWS.com

20050413

- Hacking - Consumer - "LexisNexis Says Data Breach May Affect 310,000 People." ... "The LexisNexis Group, a leading compiler of legal and consumer information, said today that the security breach at its data brokering unit appeared to be about 10 times larger than it originally reported, affecting 310,000 people in the United States." ... "Personal details, including Social Security numbers, drivers license information and addresses of those people may have been stolen by data thieves through a subsidiary, LexisNexis said." -By Heather Timmons -NYTimes
Hacking - Consumer - "Concerns over ID theft mount: LexisNexis breach widens; GM credit accounts at risk." ... "Identity theft concerns mounted yesterday as LexisNexis said a security breach at one of its subsidiaries may have been 10 times more severe than an earlier estimate, and GM MasterCard rushed to replace the credit cards of customers affected by a breach at an unidentified national retailer." ... "GM MasterCard sent letters to customers late last week telling them that ''a national retailer's computer system has had a security breach and your credit card account number may be among those that were compromised." A copy of the letter was provided to the Globe by one local GM MasterCard customer." -By Bruce Mohl -Boston/Globe

20050412

Databases - Hacking - - - "March data breach much larger than first reported." ... "Data broker LexisNexis said Tuesday that personal information may have been stolen on 310,000 U.S. citizens, or nearly 10 times the number found in a data breach announced last month." ... "An investigation by the firm's Anglo-Dutch parent Reed Elsevier determined that its databases had been fraudulently breached 59 times using stolen passwords, leading to the possible theft of personal information such as addresses and Social Security numbers." -Reuterswith contributions by Adam Pasick via -USATODAY

20050329

- - - - "Thief steals UC-Berkeley laptop." ... "University of California-Berkeley police are investigating the theft of a campus laptop computer containing information on 98,000 individuals." -CNN

20050320

- - Telecommunications - "Phishing by phone--VoIP raises security concerns." ... "Some Internet phone services let scam artists make it appear that they're calling from another phone number--a useful trick that enables them to drain credit accounts and pose as banks or other trusted authorities, online fraud experts say." ... "The emerging scams underline the lower level of security protecting voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, the Internet-calling standard that has upended the telecommunications industry over the past several years." ... "Internet worms that snarl online networks can render VoIP lines unusable, and experts at AT&T say VoIP conversations can be monitored or altered by outsiders." -Reuters via -CNET /News

20050216

California - Consumer - Company - Computer - Database - Net - Hackers - "Big ID Theft in California." ... "A company that collects consumer data warned thousands of Californians that hackers penetrated the company's computer network and may have stolen credit reports, Social Security numbers and other sensitive information." ... "ChoicePoint Inc., which sells such data to government agencies and a variety of companies, acknowledged Tuesday that several hackers broke into its computer database and purloined data from as many as 35,000 Californians." -Wired

20020709

Terrorism - "Official: Stolen IDs Used for Terror." ... "Terrorists use stolen credit cards, passports and Social Security numbers to pay for their operations and create false identities to hide behind, Dennis Lormel, chief of the FBI's financial crimes unit, told a Senate subcommittee." ... "Stolen credit card numbers and identity theft affect up to 700,000 Americans each year, the Justice Department says." -By David Ho -AP via -WashingtonPost

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