11.7 Million Persons Reported Identity Theft Victimization in 2008
An estimated 11.7 million persons, representing five percent of all persons age 16 or older in the United States, were victims of identity theft during the two years prior to being surveyed in 2008, the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) announced yesterday. The financial losses due to the identity theft totaled more than $17 billion.
Identity theft was defined in the survey as the attempted or successful misuse of an existing account, such as a debit or credit account, misuse of personal information to open a new account, or misuse of personal information for other fraudulent purposes, such as obtaining government benefits.
Approximately 6.2 million victims (three percent of all persons age 16 or older) experienced the unauthorized use or attempted use of an existing credit card account, the most prevalent type of identity theft.
Ohio State Computer Containing 760,000 Individuals Personal Information Breached
Ohio State University says unauthorized individuals accessed a computer server containing personal information for approximately 760,000 individuals, including current and former faculty, staff, and students, as well as applicants and other individuals affiliated with the university such as consultants and contractors.
The university discovered the breach in late October and said there is no indication information was taken and it does not believe there is a risk of identity theft. The server includes names, Social Security numbers, birth dates and addresses.
Experts did find evidence that the purpose of the unauthorized access was to launch cyber attacks. All individuals whose information was in the system have been offered 12 months of free credit protection to help safeguard against harm from misuse of personal information
“We are committed to maintaining the privacy of sensitive information and continually work to enhance our systems and practices to reduce the likelihood of such events occurring,” said Joseph A. Alutt
Online Shoppers Concerned About Identity Theft
We face risk everywhere we go. We risk car accidents on the way to the mall. Muggers and thieves present a risk. Heck, you risk catching a cold from a sniffling salesclerk!
Similarly, shopping online creates another set of pitfalls, most of which involve financial loss, credit card fraud, or certain forms of identity theft.
According to a recent study conducted by the National Cyber Security Alliance, of almost 3500 United States adults surveyed, 64% have not made an online purchase from a specific website because of cybersecurity concerns. 60% said this was because they were unsure whether the specific website was secure. 51.4% worried about providing the requested information, and 48.4% felt a website requested more information than was necessary for the transaction.
When shopping online, you risk unintentionally visiting an infected website, which could infect your PC with keylogging spyware, which would be used to steal your stored data. Full Post…
McDonald’s Data Breach Reinforces “Back Door Strategies” by Hackers
Yesterday, it was announced that McDonalds Corporation experienced a significant data breach where customer data was compromised via a third-party vendor. Basically, the attackers were able to access the sensitive McDonald’s customer data through a couple levels of subcontractors that manage the company’s email marketing campaigns.
A company called Arc Worldwide manages McDonald’s promotional e-mail campaigns — which as you can imagine is very extensive and customer data heavy. Well it turns out that a subcontractor to Arc Worldwide that distributes the actual email campaigns was hacked. So, it was a sub of a sub that was breached. The good news was that no social security numbers or credit card information were stolen.
According to PC World, this is an example of hackers being extra smart and targeting contracting companies that often deal with massive amounts of customer data for their clients (i.e. often m
60,000 University of Wisconsin-Madison Social Security Numbers Hacked
University of Wisconsin-Madison officials say hackers broke into their computer systems and had access to the Social Security numbers of 60,000 people related to the university.
The university became aware of the problem on October 26th and notified the students, faculty and staff members in a letter dated November 30th, said UW-Madison spokesman John Lucas.
An investigation by University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Division of Information Technology and office of computer security found nothing to suggest that anyone had downloaded or used the information in any unauthorized way, Lucas said. The identities of those who obtained unauthorized access remain unknown.
UW discovered the hack from what they referred to as a breach in the “Legacy Database.” The “Legacy Database” refers to Wiscards printed prior to 2008 that had student’s Social Security numbers embedded on the cards, Lucas said.
“It’s important for current students within the last two years (to know they) are not affected by this… the Wiscards with the Social Security numbers were deactivated in 2008,” Lucas said. “It doesn’t necessar