July 2006
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Since the infamous laptop containing personal information of 26.5 million veterans was returned, the Bush administration has withdrawn its offer of free credit monitoring to veterans.
Rob Portman, the White House budget director, wrote House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) yesterday withdrawing the administration’s request for $160.5 million to pay for a year of free credit monitoring and citing the June 28 recovery of the stolen laptop and external hard drive by police. The FBI said it had a “high degree of confidence” that thieves had not accessed the files containing the names, Social Security numbers and birth dates of millions of veterans and active-duty military personnel.
Notice that the FBI didn’t say they were 100% sure. In any case, this “saves” the government millions of dollars. Let’s see where they’ll allocate those savings.
Source: Washington Post
Websites of Interest: Free credit report & history. Find out what lenders and employers know about you. It may be more than you think!
Written by MCruz on July 19th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Commentary and Government and Identity Theft and Veterans.
City officials in Hampton, VA have discovered a public computer - in the city courthouse - had several hundred Social Security numbers on display. The computer was only suppose to provide limited information. However, it is believed a recent computer system upgrade had corrupted the security codes in place.
The computer held information from the city treasurer’s office and include data on those who paid taxes on cars, motorcycles, boats, homes, apartments and businesses from across Hampton, Mugler said. Not everyone’s Social Security number was listed, and it’s unclear how far back the records stretch.
The computer was put in the court records building in 2002 to help title searchers go through public real estate records to make sure no back taxes were left on a property.
Source: WTKR Your NewsChannel 3
Written by MCruz on July 19th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Government and Identity Theft.
An Agriculture Department employee recently had their laptop and computer bag returned after it was stolen from the worker’s car. The bag contained data printouts and the notebook computer which had names, addresses and Social Security numbers of USDA employees.
The theft may have affected about 350 full-time and part-time employees and state contractors involved in federal Agricultural Marketing Service meat grading programs in 30 states and the District of Columbia, the department said.
Source: Chron.com
Written by MCruz on July 18th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Employees and Government and Identity Theft.
About 17,000 Northwestern University applicants will be receiving notifications through emails and letters that their information may have been accessed by hackers.
Officials realized in May that hackers had access to names, addresses and Social Security numbers stored on nine desktop computers, and they have spent the last two months investigating the incident. The security breach happened after troubleshooting software, which allows technical support staff to access computers remotely, was installed on the computers.
What to do?
Anyone affected by this incident can call 888-209-0097 or e-mail: university_enrollment[at]northwestern.edu.
Update: Additional information about the breach can be found on Northwestern’s site.
Source: Chicago Tribune
Written by MCruz on July 15th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Applicants and Identity Theft and Universities.
The University of Iowa (UI) is telling their MBA students to be wary of identity theft. A faculty member’s laptop was stolen from a Davenport business office.
Officials have sent letters to 280 students in the program after the laptop was stolen on June 30th from a faculty member’s business office in Davenport.
It contained names, Social Security numbers and some contact information for 280 current an former students since 2002.
Personal data security breaches have plagued many schools and universities in the past few months. UI joins the list of data exposures of students and alumni.
Source: Channel 5, WOI-TV
Update:Affected students can call Gary Gaeth, who is the associate dean of the university’s Tippie School of Management at (319) 335-1040.
Other Links: Apotheke Online
Written by MCruz on July 13th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Identity Theft and Students and Universities.
A close friend of mine recently had her purse stolen. She was the type of person who kept everything in her purse, this includes bank statements (she balances her checkbook during her lunch breaks) and her children’s Social Security numbers plainly written on a piece of paper. Doh!
This prompted me to write this article so that others may learn from her unfortunate incident.
- Do not carry your Social Security number in your wallet or purse. If your social security number is listed on your driver’s license, health insurance card, or checkbook, request to have it reissued with the sensitive information removed.
- Make a list of all your credit card account numbers and bank account numbers with customer service phone numbers, and keep it in a safe place. An easy way to do this is to photocopy or scan the front and back of all the contents of your wallet regularly. This will make it easier to contact the creditors in case of theft or loss, as well as replace items such as your health insurance card and driver’s license.
- Review your credit report annually and correct any mistakes promptly. Credit reports are available for free from http://www.annualcreditreport.com/. This central site allows you to request a free credit file disclosure, commonly called a credit report, once every 12 months from each of the nationwide consumer credit reporting companies: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. At no time should you have to enter a credit card number or provide other type of payment for these services. What I do is to request one credit report from each bureau every four months. The information is fairly common so there’s no need for you to get all three reports at the same time.
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Written by MCruz on July 11th, 2006 with 2 comments.
Read more articles on Commentary and Identity Theft.
