The personal health data for about 1.7 million New York City patients and hospital workers was stolen from an unlocked van in Manhattan. The van belonged to the city’s medical vendor, GRM Information Management Services.
The 20 years worth of electronic files were stored on magnetic tapes that contained personal information and protected health information of patients, contractors and vendors. The personal information included names, addresses and Social Security numbers. Thos
According to the Identity Theft Resource Center, there were at least 662 data breaches in 2010, which exposed more than 16 million records. Nearly two-thirds of breaches exposed Social Security numbers, and 26% involved credit or debit card data.
The ITRC elaborated, “Other than breaches reported by the media and a few progressive state websites, there is little or no information available on many data breach events that occur. It is clear that without a mandatory national reporting requirement, many data breaches will continue to be unreported, or under-reported.”
The majority of these attacks were malicious hacks or insider theft, rather than the result of employee errors. InformationWeek reports, “Some states, but not all, have data breach notification laws, which require any organization that suffers a breach to notify that state’s affected residents. Interestingly, the ITRC found that information about 29% of the 662 reported breaches for 2010 could be credited to authorities in those states.”
The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse’s Chronology of Data Breaches found that more than 500 million sensitive records have been breached in the past five years. Examples of
Joseph Kidd, 56 was arrested in California on Tuesday for identity theft. He had allegedly been using another man’s name for 17-year years to commit crime and fraud.
According to the police, Kidd had been arrested numerous times, sent to prison, and even obtained welfare and medical benefits using Larry Smith’s identity.
Joseph Kidd even got married using the Larry Smith’s name and identity.
The real Larry Smith, 67 who has no criminal record has been trying to clear his name for close to two decades.
Due to the fraud and crimes committed in his name he has been denied medical care and had his driving license suspended. He h
Account takeover happens when your existing bank or credit card accounts are infiltrated and money is siphoned out. A hacked account or stolen credit card is often to blame.
The drop in account takeover may be due in part to a few different things.
Less breaches. There was a drop in data breaches from 221 million records in 604 breaches during 2009 to 26 million records breached in 404 reported breaches during 2010. Criminal hacker Albert Gonzalez and his gang were responsible for many of those hacked records and he and many of his cohorts are now in jail.
PCI standards. All those responsible for accepting credit cards are now under strict Payment Card Industry Standards rules and regulations that require a level of security that took about 5 years to implement. Today many of those merchants are doing a much better job of protecting data.
Device reputation management. Technology that checks an Internet transaction by looking at the PC, smartphone or tablet to see if it has a history of bad behavior or is high risk based on device characteristics and behavior.
We are approaching tax time. Scammers are ramped up and looking for your money. Learn these tax season scam tips and watch your back.
1. Text messaging scams or smishing a.k.a Phexting. Like phishing but texting. Criminal hackers have access to technology that generates cell phone numbers and access to mass text messaging services. They send texts that install keyloggers or direct you to websites that steal your data.
2. Tax preparer scams. Reports of tax preparers who tell their clients they have to pay back their stimulus checks, then pocket the money.
3. Basic phone scams. Using the telephone for scams is back. Scammers call your home posing as local fire dept collecting your personal information for their records in case there is an emergency.
4. Caller ID spoof. New technologies that allow anyone any time to mask what shows on your caller ID and pose as an official, lottery or authority to get you to reveal data or write checks.
5. Late payment scam. As people fall behind on their utilities or taxes, lists are created and available either internally or as public record.
WiFi hotspots, which are areas where people can log on to a wireless network just by bringing a laptop, seem to be everywhere these days. You find them not only in the library but also at the coffee shops and even many McDonald’s franchises. They attract telecommuters and others who are looking for a comfortable place to log on away from home. And they also attract identity thieves.
If you ever partaken of one of these hotspots, you know that you don’t have to do much to access the network. Often, all you have to do is plug in your computer and click on the network name. This simple access is what makes hotspots desirable in the first place, but it’s also a lot of what puts patrons at risk.
Since the wireless signal is sent through radio waves, any thief with a receiver can get access to any personal information you type in while you are connected to the network. It’s unlikely that there is any kind of encryption in place to block such access.
Another high tech risk is that a hacker will set up his or her own network similar in name to the official one. If you log on to this network, he or she can request personal information, such as your credit card number, or redirect your machine to a phishing website or one that contains a virus.
Finally, there are low tech risks. Mainly,