2009 July

Monthly Archives: July 2009

At last! After 35 years of ID theft, victim “elated” over attacker’s arrest

July 31, 2009 – 12:28 pm

How much time do identity theft victims spend trying to clean up the mess? Tom Lesh, of Coos Bay, OR, said he’s spent thousands of hours of a 35-year period writing letters to credit card companies, banks and government agencies.
But, with yesterday’s arrest of Clark Mower, 58, Lesh’s long ordeal might be coming to an [...]

By admin | Posted in LifeLock, identity theft justice | Tagged Clark Mower, Tom Lesh | Comments (1)

LifeLock review: FTC delays Red Flag Rules enforcement … AGAIN!

July 29, 2009 – 2:54 pm

The FTC announced today it will not begin enforcing the Red Flag Rules on August 1, as previously announced. This time they’ve extended creditors’ compliance deadline to November 1.
If you’ve ever seen the 1993 movie “Groundhog Day”, you have a glimpse of what it’s like to write about the Federal Trade Commission’s enforcement of the [...]

By admin | Posted in Red Flag Rules | Tagged Federal Trade Commission, FTC, Red Flag Rules | Comments (0)

LifeLock review: AT&T temp took out $70,000 in online loans using co-workers’ info

July 24, 2009 – 12:59 pm

Apply in minutes. Get an answer in seconds. Apply now and get cash by tomorrow.
That’s verbiage from PayDayOne’s website, the same one Cassandra Walls allegedly used to obtain most of the $70,000 in online loans she obtained using stolen identities.

Walls was indicted this month, and accused of using her position as a temporary employee at [...]

By admin | Posted in identity theft risks | Tagged AT&T, Cassandra Walls, Karen Milligan, LifeLock review, online loans, payday loans, PayDayOne, QuickClick | Comments (1)

LifeLock review: Insider data breaches increasing; 1.33 million records stolen by insiders in 2008

July 15, 2009 – 2:23 pm

Yes, there was a time when a hacker was a pimply-faced guy sitting in his parents’ basement surrounded by pizza boxes and bulky PCs. But that’s not who’s responsible for data breaches in this millennium.
Increasingly, it’s insiders who are stealing their organizations’ information, according to recent studies.

By admin | Posted in data breach | Tagged Cisco, data breach, Identity Theft Resource Center, LifeLock promotion code, Ponemon Institute, Verizon Business, Verizon Business Data Breach Investigations Report | Comments (2)

LifeLock and FBI summit focuses on ID theft and P2P software

July 10, 2009 – 2:26 pm

In less time than it will take you to read this blog post, Robert Boback and millions of other people can find your income tax return and download it. Within minutes, they’ll know your name, address, phone number, birth date, Social Security number, place of employment, annual income and account numbers.
Think that’s scary? They’ll know [...]

By admin | Posted in identity theft prevention | Tagged data breach, file-sharing, Identity theft, LifeLock promotion code, LimeWire, P2P, peer-to-peer | Comments (4)

Researchers prove Social Security numbers easy to guess and not secure

July 7, 2009 – 1:15 pm

The idea of identity thieves stealing Social Security numbers has always been frightening. With every data breach, the risk of identity theft is determined by the security of the keys to the castle—the constituents’ SSNs.
Results from a Carnegie Mellon University study shows that the numbers don’t have to be stolen; they can be discerned with [...]

By admin | Posted in identity theft risks | Tagged Allessandro Acquisti, Carnegie Mellon University, CMU, Social Security Fraud, Social Security number | Comments (0)

LifeLock reviews: June data breaches at colleges and universities

July 1, 2009 – 3:04 pm

June saw only seven reported data breaches at institutions of higher learning—not a terrific month, but certainly not the worst of the past year; that distinction is shared among July, September and December, 2008, when each month showed 13 reported data breaches. Total number of lost or exposed records for June is 171,611.
Last month, there [...]

By admin | Posted in Education data breach | Tagged Cornell University, data breach, Johns Hopkins University, Kirkwood Community College, LifeLock promotion code, Oregon Health & Science University, University of Nevada, University of North Dakota, Virginia Commonwealth University | Comments (0)