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Data breaches near 94 million public records
newsobserver.com — Less than two years into the great cultural awakening to the vulnerability of personal data, companies and institutions -- such as the data broker ChoicePoint, CardSystems Solutions, Time Warner and dozens of colleges and universities across the land -- have collectively fumbled 93,754,333 private records.
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- shitthisfook, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9"Chase Card Services [...] begun notifying 2.6 million current and former Circuit City credit card account holders that computer tapes containing their personal information had been inadvertently tossed in the trash."
That is just plain disgraceful.- locojones, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Businesses don't care about personal privacy. Businesses care about money. So, if you want to protect personal privacy, you have to make breaches of it affect their bottom line. Several hundred million dollar class actions resulting from such data losses is exactly what is needed to correct behavior.
But, in order to get legislation on this issue, we need a government who actually cares about the individual. - n00ch, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@*****
No kidding. Incredible how a good portion of these leaks involved _physical media_ leaving the office. Why is all of this private info not simply mandatorily *server-side only*? ***** tech illiterate execs taking my ***** out in the open like this? Come on...
Every bit of that information should only be accessible to work on outside of the office through SSL, encrypted transmissions between computer/server. No more 'oh it's locked in my car,' or other nonsense.
I want to see some fines by the BBB or FTC in response to this gross incompetence. Where are the penalties (incentives) to address this crap?
- locojones, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Businesses don't care about personal privacy. Businesses care about money. So, if you want to protect personal privacy, you have to make breaches of it affect their bottom line. Several hundred million dollar class actions resulting from such data losses is exactly what is needed to correct behavior.
- VeganG, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Great... the people in charge of this information don't even understand how to store it.
- pairanoyd, on 10/12/2007, -7/+3Want to stop it all??
1st offense for hacking. Chop off both hands.
2nd offense for hacking. Death penalty. Public hanging & televised.
End of problem.- Mambo, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7If you can find them. A better solution would be to punish the incompetent people that allowed these breaches to happen.
- zybch, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8Its not the hackers, as mambo says its the jerks who have allowed these breaches to occur.
As for the chopping off of hands thing, well. Sure, shopping off their hands make them unable to hack very easily in the future, however chopping off their heads stops them even thinking about hacking in the future, and so is the logical choice.
Anyone got an industrial class bandsaw they aren't using?? - airniqueel, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I think the companies holding personal information on their customers should be held responsible for having poor security measures. It's funny how companies who are "supposed" to have great security do not really have effective security measures in place. To me, it seems like these companies are all holding private information in plain sight of everyone. Sure, the hackers cause these problems, but hey, w/o them, no one would even bother taking the extra step to ensure privacy of a consumer's information.
- totorototoro, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6I don't see why these 3rd party data brokers like "Choicepoint" and "Card Systems Solutions" should have free access to my data to mishandle-its bad enough my own bank has it, but why should these guys get it too? At the very least we should be given very clear instructions on how to "opt out" of them getting their hands on it.
- 5blocksfree, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Can you say, "money"? Now that people have realized that there's real value in pimping and prostituting personal information, there don't seem to be too many scruples about doing it. Of course, it will be a cold day in hell before our spineless federal lawmakers actually consider some useful legislation that will protect citizens against this kind of abuse.
- atbnet, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3This is the first year my university prohibited professors from having us put our SSN on exams. About time they learned! Why do they need my SSN number anyhow? That always amazed me that they needed that for everything. They even asked me for it when I picked up my season football tickets after GIVING THEM MY STUDENT ID!
Didn't make it any better that my one professor last year printed out a grade sheet with everyone's SSN on it by accident and just left it in the printer tray...
That number doesn't surprise me seeing how careless people are with such critical information.- aitala, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Part of the problem is universities which used SSNs for ID numbers. I was the webmaster at Mississippi we were phasing out SSNs, but it took a couple years.
We had one goof up where a mid level administrator placed a number of Excel files with students SSNs on the webserver for backup purposes... there were no links to the area, but it somehow got indexed anyway. Someone managed to find the files, but instead of contacting the school, he contacted MSNBC.com. We only learned of the issue one day before the story was going to be posted. Of course we removed the files immediately, but it took a week to get the search engine cache cleared.
Unfortunately the administrator had already left the school - was the same moron who tried to back up his entire 100GB C: drive to the webserver, filling the disc and crashing the server....
- aitala, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Part of the problem is universities which used SSNs for ID numbers. I was the webmaster at Mississippi we were phasing out SSNs, but it took a couple years.
- neozeed, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3When you think about people that work, isnt 93Million like everyone? Hurray nothing is personal. The NSA listens to my calls, AT&T reads my email, the Bank hands my records over the the criminals, and I cant remember a phone number.
I love this new age! Lets go with RFID information so I can readably beam all my information to people!- warbird, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3You must be from the US of A.
- ted9925, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1If anyone is interested, I blog on this and have links to other writers on this subject.
http://fraudwar.blogspot.com - rocko213, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2wow, that sucks
- gd007, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2one good aspect - this will kill hacking as profession.
- nj10ii, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Why?
- diggdong, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Wasn't ChoicePoint a contractor who counted the Florida 2000 election?
- kenwestin, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2Duplicate...5 days ago but no digg love:
http://digg.com/security/U_S_Data_Breach_Tally_Approaches_100_Million - asjk, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0This has been hacking me off for sometime. I have written legislators about this and using the subject line of "security risk". I think that this designation highlights the greatest possible evil that could result from identity theft.
One sore spot is the recommendation by media types that consumers can protect themselves by checking their credit report, by being careful when using public computers, etc. My biggest concern is not how I handle my data but how those who have been entrusted with my data (often without my knowledge or express consent) practice their security.
Others have written that only monetary or legal repercussions will bring about the needed change. I agree with that but I have heard that already it cost millions in doing all the notifications and credit report follow-ups. Remember that credit card companies have written off theft for years but still continue spamming credit card applications. I fear this will be a long battle. - TheCheese33, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0They need to be more careful with their customer's information. I can imagine spammers going through Circuit City's trash for e-mail addresses.
- vsujohn2, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Doesnt this seem to happen every week?
I mean by now everything about everyone should have been on some laptop that was stolen or some kind of info just goes missing, or hackers get access to it. And whats even more suprising is that each time im less suprised. 94 million....meh..
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