EVEN MORE Reasons to Pass Universal Credit Freeze Legislation
All of the following represents evidence that the bad guys and gals can, do, and will get access to personal information.
UAB Computer Theft Puts Thousands At Risk Of Identity Theft
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — A computer possibly containing the names, Social Security numbers and medical information for almost 10,000 people has been stolen from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
The computer had lists of donors, recipients and potential recipients of the university’s kidney transplant program.
UAB officials said there is no indication that the information has been used.
This could mean that personal information of 9,800 UAB kidney patients is out on the street and subject to possible identity theft.
The computer was stolen from the UAB School of Medicine Research Department in February. The people affected were not notified until June 8. UAB said that was because it took months for the school to reconstruct the missing database.
UK Warns Students and Alumni of Possible Identity Theft
Thousands of current and former UK students are on alert tonight after a computer drive was stolen from a professor.
The drive contained the personal information of 6500 students including their social security numbers.
Jackson workers open to ID theft
Jackson Health System informed 8,500 employees this week that their personal information may be at risk following the theft of two laptop computers seven months ago.
The computers, belonging to financial services provider ING, contained information gathered during a voluntary life insurance enrollment drive in December and included names, dates of birth and Social Security numbers.
”We are relatively certain the computers were stolen for their hardware value and the personal information was not accessed,” said Chuck Eudy, a North American spokesman for ING, based in Amsterdam.
An inventory check at the company’s Minneapolis office revealed the laptops were missing in late December, but auditors didn’t realize they contained sensitive data until about three weeks ago, Eudy said.
Nine charged in SoCal identity theft case
LOS ANGELES - Eight people were arrested on charges of stealing more than $1 million by swiping information from the credit cards of diners at several Southern California restaurants, federal prosecutors announced Tuesday.
The identity theft ring is accused of enlisting servers at a Cheesecake Factory in Thousand Oaks, a TGI Friday’s and Cafe Verona in Los Angeles to use skimmer devices to steal information encoded in the magnetic strip of diners’ credit cards, the U.S. Attorney’s office said.
Prosecutors claimed the ring was led by Kresimir Matuzovic, 28, and Nour-Eddine Messaghrou, 28, saying they used the stolen information to create new debit cards at Wells Fargo and Washington Mutual.
The only way people can be sure that the bad people won’t be able to open up new accounts when it happens is if they have a credit freeze on their credit files. The, only, way.
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Selected Previous Posts:
- June 26 — Just a Few of the Many More Reasons Congress Should Pass a Universal Credit Freeze
- June 15, 2006 — E-Mail to My Congressperson Advocating Universally Available Credit Freeze
- Sept. 23, 2005 — More Proof That “They†Don’t Really Care about Preventing Identity Theft
- Aug. 10 — What May Be the Mother of All Data Thefts Proves Why Data Encryption and Credit Freezes are Needed, NOW
- July 19 — Identity Theft: It’s Time for National Credit Freeze Legislation
