Government
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A recent break-in at the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation driver’s license center puts many PA residents at risk to identity theft. Equipment used to make driver’s licenses and identification cards was stolen along with two computers containing personal information.
Computers containing identifying information on more than 11,000 people were stolen Tuesday from a Pennsylvania Department of Transportation driver’s license center in Wilkes-Barre, the agency said.
Thieves broke into the center around 11:30 p.m. Tuesday and stole two computers containing information on 11,384 people whose photos had been taken at the location between August 30 and November 28, the department reported.
Source: CNN
Written by MCruz on December 2nd, 2006 with no comments.
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A computer was stolen from a Colorado state contractor who works for Affiliated Computer Services. It had data of people who have made child support payments in the state.
It also holds data on up to nearly a (M) million Coloradans newly hired to jobs anywhere in the state. The law requires employers check data on all new employees against a state database to make sure the employee isn’t being sought for child support payments.
…
According to department spokesperson Liz McDonough, the stolen computer contained records of 500,000 people paying or receiving child support in Colorado as well as the records of 900,000 new employees who got jobs in Colorado or elsewhere in the last seven to eight months.
Source: KSWO-TV (via AP) & 9news.com
Written by MCruz on November 2nd, 2006 with no comments.
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Chicago Board of Election officials report that a security vulnerability found on their website would have allowed hackers to access personal data of some voters.
Chicago election officials said Monday they were forced to patch a security flaw on their Web site after a candidate found a programming error that had made private voter information vulnerable to theft for at least five years.
Officials said the glitch never threatened the integrity of election records. But they now have to determine whether anyone exploited the opportunity to steal the Social Security and birth date information from more than 780,000 registered voters in the city.
Source: Chicago Tribune
Written by MCruz on October 24th, 2006 with no comments.
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Last Friday, the House Government Reform Committee released a report highlighting government agencies who have experienced data loss incidents along with the number of individuals affected.
The report is staggering. 19 agencies have reported breaches since January 2003 and it is not known if the individuals affected were ever notified of the data loss.
These are the conclusions drawn from the report:
- Data loss is a government-wide occurrence.
- Agencies do not always know what has been lost.
- Physical security of data is essential.
- Contractors are responsible for many of the reported breaches.
(more…)
Written by MCruz on October 16th, 2006 with 1 comment.
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A laptop computer containing names of military personnel has gone missing.
A company which helps manage housing at Camp Pendleton Marine Corps base in San Diego, Calif., says the laptop holds personal information on 2,400 base residents.
Source: Star Tribune Thanks for the tip, Patricia!
Written by MCruz on October 9th, 2006 with no comments.
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Florida’s Local 6 News has a special report about a woman’s identity being stolen from her marriage license publicly posted on the Orange County controller’s official records Web site.
“Lo and behold, my original marriage certificate with the incorrect birth date had nothing blacked out on it,” Bering said. “Both my and my husband’s Social Security numbers were there for anyone to see for free.”
The private information should not have been visible, according to Orange County Comptroller Martha Haynie.
“On marriage licenses, my understanding is, that has been our practice for a while to cover those up as they are recorded and if something got missed, then that is our error,” Haynie said.
Anyone who was married in Florida should search for their names on the State Official Records Web site to verify that their private information is not visible. If your information is visible, you will need to call 877.326.8689 to have your information blackened within 24 hours.
It is important that Florida residents are proactive in determining if their personal information is exposed on the Web site. The security breach will not be rectified until January 2008.
Local 6 News reported that Haynie is paying a vendor about $500,000 to cover up all Social Security numbers by January 2008.
Source: Local 6 News
Written by MCruz on October 5th, 2006 with 2 comments.
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