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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.

Heartland Payment Systems Data Breach May Be First to Expose Over 100 Million Americans

January 30, 2009

Heartland Payment Systems recently announced a data breach due to malicious software (malware) that stole an unknown number of payment transactions and may affect upwards of 100 million Americans making it the largest data breach on record and eclipsing TJX, which owns retailers TJ Maxx and Marshalls, whose breach affected 94 million customers. The malware [...]

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Will 2008 be a record year for data breaches and Identity Theft Victims?

December 11, 2008

You shred your credit card statements, guard you Social Security number and always put your outgoing mail in a locked box, all to protect yourself from the risk of identity theft. Unfortunately, in this day in age, no matter how hard you try to safeguard your information on your own, it will most likely not [...]

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University of Florida College of Dentistry Data Breach

December 3, 2008

A month after the initial discovery, former dental patients of the University of Florida College of Dentistry are just now being informed of unauthorized access to their information. Over 330,000 former patients, some dating back to 1990, have been notified that their information, which includes names, address, birthdates and Social Security number, had been accessed [...]

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The Dreaded Data Breach Letter

October 24, 2008

Getting an official looking letter in the mail is rarely good news. Oftentimes it means a jury summons or a property tax bill or as is becoming very common in the last few years, a notice that you have been the victim of a data breach. Companies often use the mail to notify you that [...]

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Pakistan Identity Theft Ring Rings Alarm Bells Worldwide

October 16, 2008

A recent European data breach has rung alarm bells worldwide. According to the Wall Street Journal European law-enforcement officials discovered a high tech identity theft ring that funnels account data to Pakistan and has affected big retailers like Walmart Stores and Tesco in Britain. What has raised alarm bells, in addition to the fact that [...]

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Sampling of Data Breaches Reported in September 2008

October 9, 2008

Data breaches continue to be reported at alarming rates even though there is evidence that a lot of corporations fail to report as required in 37 States. To date there have been 524 data breaches affecting over 30 Million Americans. This is a sharp increase from the 424 breaches reported in 2007. It is important [...]

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European Data Breaches Highlight This Months Update

September 3, 2008

What’s interesting about data breaches reported in August 2008 is the extent of breaches in foreign countries. The largest and most disturbing breach may affect many Americans as well. According to the Sunday Herald of the UK an investigation has discovered that “a previously unknown Indian hacker successfully breached the IT defences of the Best [...]

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Identity Theft News Reveals Gangs, Cover Ups and a New Target

August 14, 2008

Some interesting identity theft articles came out this week from various newspapers across the country. Here are some quick highlights of these articles. The Wall Street Journal has reported that 5 of 9 retailers involved in the nations largest identity theft ring bust, in which computer hackers swiped more than 40 million credit card numbers, [...]

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Data Breaches from July 2008 and the Lack of Reporting

August 2, 2008

Data breaches for July 2008 were relatively minor in terms of total Americans affected though the actual number of breaches continued the normal trend. The only breach affecting more than 100,000 Americans was Blue Cross Blue Shield from Georgia who exposed 202,000 people by sending letters, containing personal and medical information to wrong addresses. A [...]

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Summary of June 2008 Data Breaches

July 4, 2008

Data breaches in June were a bit slower than this years previous months but still left far too many Americans seeking identity theft protection. In fact, if the 2.2 million billing records, which included 1.3 million Social Security numbers, weren’t lost on stolen data tapes at the University of Utah Hospitals and Clinics this would [...]

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