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Data Breaches

Ok, we don’t write about data breaches too much anymore…. quite frankly, we couldn’t keep up if we wanted to….. not when there are a couple hundred each year. Occasionally we talk about a large one or one that received media attention here. For a chronology of data breaches please see DataLossDB.

To learn about identity theft protection companies that can help protect your information that was exposed in a data breach please follow the link to our homepage.

245,000 Incidents of Taxpayer Identity Theft in 2010

June 15, 2011

It’s always a relief when tax time is over and you can get back to not worrying about Uncle Sam for another year. That is, if you’re not a victim of tax time identity theft. If you are, you could find yourself in quite a close relationship with the good old uncle for months or [...]

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Identity Theft Risk Increases Dramatically if Data Breach Letter Received

May 10, 2011

If you get a letter from your financial institution or another company you do business with saying that your account was compromised due to a data breach, first call the company to ensure the letter is legitimate. Then, watch your back if it is. According to a study by Javelin Strategy and Research, if you [...]

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Massachusetts Passed Mercahant Pays Law

October 27, 2010

Perhaps in response to the huge data breach at Heartland Payment Systems that resulted in millions of consumers with compromised data, the State of Massachusetts passed a law stating that merchants are responsible for data breaches – not the people who are victims of the breach. This means that if your personal information is stolen [...]

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Payment card industry standards somewhat flexible

August 17, 2010

If you’ve used a credit card to make a payment on anything since the year 2005, you should be thankful for the Payment Card Industry’s Security Standard. It is a set of rules that help protect consumer information, specifically the information that is attached to your credit card. These rules govern the type of information [...]

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Red Flag Identity Theft Rules Postponed Yet Again

August 3, 2010

The red flags are coming … and soon! No Really. These are those oft-discussed Red Flag Identity Theft Rules that were initially designed to go into effect in May 2009 then August then November. The date of enforcement was then bumped back to June 1, 2010 both so that organizations had more time to comply [...]

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Data Breach Act in Congress

June 30, 2010

Consumers may soon have a stronger voice when it comes to data breaches. The Senate Judiciary Committee recently approved two bills: the Data Breach Notification Act and the Personal Data Privacy and Security Act, which, if they become law, will require businesses whose data has been compromised to inform all affected consumers of the breach [...]

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Logins for 8,000 Financial Accounts Stolen – How a Bot that?

May 20, 2010

Think a human stealing your personal information is bad? It’s even worse when a computer does it. Online identity theft is a real threat. While humans can only work for a number of hours a day, computers can be on task 24/7. They also have the potential to pull millions – yes you read that [...]

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Even Hospital Patients Need to be Vigilant about Protecting Their Identities

December 18, 2009

A December 10 article in the Las Vegas Sun states that patients at University Medical Center do not have to be notified for 60 days if their information is involved in a data breach – which recently happened to at least 21 patients; one of which learned of the breach of his medical records from [...]

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Heartland Hackers – Largest ID Theft Case In History Sees Perpetrators Indicted

August 26, 2009

You may have already heard about the August 18 indictment of Albert Gonzales and accomplices, regarding the theft of over 130 million debit and credit card numbers, making it the biggest ID theft case prosecuted in the history of the crime. Gonzales, a former government informant, on the subject of credit card fraud nonetheless, used [...]

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California Medical Data Breaches and Suleman’s Octuplets

August 5, 2009

Most everyone in the United States and millions of people around the world have become familiar with “Octomom” Nadya Suleman, who gave birth to octuplets, all of whom survived. Since this story garnered so much public interest, it piqued the media’s collective interest as well, which resulted in some unfortunate behavior. Employees at the Kaiser [...]

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