I've got a secret

NCC1701Z Stardate 05-23-07. These have been the voyages of The Star Ship ID Theft, on it's continuing mission to Deter, Detect, and Defend the public against ID theft. The nature of this Blog is changing. If has morphed into something greater than the whole of it's parts.

This is why, I will tell you, and only you (looking over my shoulder) how to get access to the information that has come from this site. There are 3 sources that you can access to see what I see every day. Yes, three John Merthas AKA Deep throats like from Watergate. You must contact them yourselves as I do not want to engage in any copyright issues.

1. I have added a Google newsfeed on the types of articles I am viewing on a daily basis on the left column. In addition there are other GREAT sources of info on ID Theft listed in the information in this post and the articles listed below. If you have any questions, on ID theft and what you can do to protect yourself OR your business please email me at:

2. A GREAT daily source for info is the mailing list at http://attrition.org/dataloss/

They have a lot of people all over the world that scower news stories (including me, and you if you join). Sign up for the list and make sure to download "The Chronology of Data Breeches". It lists KNOWN since 2005 and is extensive. I challenge people to look at it and try NOT to find their industry. Retail, Banking, Government, Healthcare are all there. Signup is FREE and will provide you with at least 3-5 NEW examples each day.

3. The FTC website at http://www.ftc.gov They have a section on ID theft and have several publications available for download to PDF files.

4. Oh, Yea (UM BOM BOM) Here is the BONUS ROUND. The infosec newsletter. http://www.infosecnews.org/

They focus on computer network security and show the many successful attempts to break into businesses computers that happen each day to obtain YOUR personal information.

I have more, but for today, that is all. Off to save the world again.

Rodney Wise
rwise29210 at gmail dot com

Stationary Post...ID Theft Is NOT Just About Financial Loss

What would you do if someone was arrested using your identity?

Updated: 4:55 p.m. ET Jan 25, 2007 SYRACUSE, N.Y. -

The real John T. Healy wants everyone to know he's no cop killer. "I'm just a regular guy," said Healy, 47, of Yardley, Pa., who has endured a nightmare over the past two weeks after learning that the man who apparently stole his identity two years ago was charged with — and ultimately convicted of — killing an upstate New York police officer. It was bad enough the thief stole $3,500 from his bank accounts, purchased a used Cadillac Escalade under his name, bought car insurance and even bailed a criminal cohort out of jail, which led to an armed bounty hunter showing up at his doorstep.

Please read the whole article at : http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16813413/

Stationary Post...Ex-Social Security Worker Charged With ID Theft

Ex-Social Security Worker Charged With ID Theft

Apr 12, 2007 1:07 pm US/Pacific
(CBS) LOS ANGELES

A former Social Security Administration worker from the Los Angeles area faces federal charges for allegedly providing information to people who used it to steal identities and rack up about $2.5 million in credit card charges, prosecutors said Thursday.Jennifer Batiste, 45, allegedly took $20 bribes each time she accessed a government database that lists Social Security numbers, mothers' maiden names and dates of birth...

Stationary Post...A Chronology of Data Breeches

A Chronology of Data Breeches

I REALLY had trouble with this! A privacy rights group has chronicled REPORTED hackings, and data breeches from 2005 to the present.

To get this in readable format took 111 pages to print. Twenty pages were from January 1, 2007, seventy-nine were from Jan 1st 20006, eight were for the whole year of 2005 and three are information from the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse!

There is NO Industry, or even Government Agency that does not have it's equivalent listed. If it is not in their state then it will be in another state.

Please check out the report and let me know how many companies, industry sectors or agencies like the one you are in.

For now use the email address

Please list industry or type of government agency ie county school, university, banking, etc. and the number of times in this report you found a similar type or industry or agency, and the total number of record breeches you found for your industry or agency type.

I will post the aggregated results in a few months.

Stationary Post... Medical identity theft, on the rise, can threaten lives as well as

More doctors, insurers asking, ‘Who are you?’

Medical identity theft, on the rise, can threaten lives as well as wallets

By Anne Thompson and Alex Johnson
NBC News
Updated: 1:05 a.m. ET April 4, 2007

Andrew Brooke’s family knew something was screwy when they got a collection notice for unpaid bills for treatment of his work-related back injury, which included large prescriptions of the controlled painkiller Oxycontin.
“I’m looking at this bill, and I’m looking at my 3-week-old baby that can’t even hold his head up, and it’s just a sense of outrage,” said Andrew’s father, John Brooke, of Bothell, Wash., a suburb of Seattle.
Likewise, Jo-Ann Davis knew there was a mistake when a cop greeted her at the pharmacy where she had gone to pick up a prescription in early 2005...

Stationary Post... Identity Theft 10 things a corporation should do to protect itself and its employees

Identity Theft 10 things a corporation should do to protect itself and its employees

28/03/2007
By Peter Wood, Chief of Operations,
First Base Technologies
The office cleaner wanders around the IT department emptying bins into a black plastic sack. He bends below each desk to look for stray sandwich wrappers and plastic cups. Whilst he’s under the desk, it is a matter of seconds for him to attach a hardware key logger between keyboard and system unit. These small key loggers are effectively invisible on the back of the computer, and record every keystroke the IT folk make for the next week. They will capture user names and passwords, as well as every e-mail and browser entry. Often this will include credit card information from Internet shopping, home address details, bank account details – in fact whatever the individual typed into the computer during that week...

Read this, but look at the next article on the blog...

Stationary Post...Immigration probe targets Ill. company

By JOHN O'CONNOR - Associated Press Writer

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesperson Tim Counts speaks to reporters in Springfield, Ill., Tuesday, April 4, 2007, during a news conference concerning the ICE worksite enforcement operation in Beardstown, Ill., Tuesday where Federal immigration agents executed a criminal search warrant, multiple criminal arrest warrants and administrative arrests at a central Illinois business.
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. --Executives at a cleaning company were arrested Wednesday on federal charges that they hired illegal immigrants and helped them steal the identities of U.S. citizens.

Pasta, Meatballs and Credit Card Theft

Pasta, Meatballs and Credit Card Theft
By SCOTT MAYEROWITZ ABC News Business Unit

March 28, 2007 — The next time you go out for some pizza, a nice steak dinner or even a trip to the salad bar, you might get something else with your meal: identity theft...

Medical theft - an underreported aspect of identity theft

Medical theft - an underreported aspect of identity theft
By Mark Stalcup, staff writer
Imagine a trip to the hospital gone horribly wrong: a patient given the wrong blood type because information is stored incorrectly on his medical records.That scenario has happened, the result of identity theft that allowed thieves - often illegal aliens - to procure medical treatment by assuming someone else's name.

Stable Post... TJX 45.7 MILLION Credit Card Numbers & 445,000 Drivers Licenses Exposed

Wednesday, March 28, 2007
TJX breach involved 45.7m cards, company reports
At least 45.7 million credit and debit card numbers were stolen by hackers who broke into the computer systems at the TJX Cos. in Framingham and the United Kingdom and siphoned off data over a period of several years, making it the biggest breach of personal data ever reported, according to security specialists.

Do I need to say more? OK, yes, it gets better...

TJX, the Framingham discounter that operates the T.J. Maxx and Marshalls clothing chains, also reported in a regulatory filing yesterday that another 455,000 customers who returned merchandise without receipts had their personal data stolen, including drivers’ license numbers. ‘‘It’s the biggest card heist ever,’’ said Avivah Litan, vice president of Gartner Inc. ‘‘This was obviously done over a long period of time, in many locations. It’s done considerable damage.

Bank groups in 3 states plan to sue TJX over data theft

Bank groups in 3 states plan to sue TJX over data theft
The Associated Press
Article Launched: 04/25/2007 01:50:15 AM PDT

BOSTON (AP) - Bank associations in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Maine said Tuesday that they will sue TJX over a data theft that exposed at least 45 million credit and debit cards to potential fraud.

Banks have been saddled with costs to replace cards and cover fraudulent charges tied to the theft from TJX, the owner of nearly 2,500 discount stores including T.J. Maxx and Marshalls.

On Jan. 17, Framingham, Mass.-based TJX disclosed a breach of its computer systems by an unknown hacker or hackers who accessed card data from transactions as long ago as late 2002.
On March 28, TJX said at least 45.7 million of its shoppers' cards had been compromised.

Companies Say Security Breach Could Destroy Their Business

Companies Say Security Breach Could Destroy Their Business

A McAfee Datagate study showed 33% surveyed think they are at risk and that 60% of IT managers said they had suffered a data breach in the past year.
By Sharon Gaudin, InformationWeek -->
April 24, 2007
URL:

Fed breach leaks Social Security numbers

Fed breach leaks Social Security numbers

By MICHAEL J. SNIFFEN Associated Press Writer
Article Launched: 04/20/2007 02:08:20 PM MDT


WASHINGTON- The Social Security numbers of 63,000 people who received Agriculture Department grants have been posted on a government Web site since 1996, but they were taken down last week. Free credit monitoring is being offered to those affected...

Cable and Wireless asks Bulldog data theft victims to get in touch

Cable and Wireless asks Bulldog data theft victims to get in touch
Information Commissioner: 'whodonewhatnow?'
By Chris Williams
Published Friday 20th April 2007 07:02 GMT

Cable and Wireless maintans there is no evidence that credit card details were taken in a breach which has led to complaints from customers who received unsolicited marketing calls.
A spokeswoman told The Reg the telco couldn't say what exactly had been stolen.

The Guardian reported that unspecified information about 100,000 subscribers to Bulldog, the ISP which Cable and Wireless sold to Pipex last year, had been stolen.

Readers Share Perspective On Identity Theft

Readers Share Perspective On Identity Theft
By Melody Jameson

Nursing home employee sentenced for credit-card theft

Nursing home employee sentenced for credit-card theft
3:53 p.m. April 18, 2007
VISTA – A night-shift worker at an Encinitas nursing home was sentenced Wednesday to a year in jail and five years probation for stealing credit cards from elderly patients.
Patricia Carol Taienao, 43, pleaded guilty two months ago to two counts each of residential burglary and theft from an elder.

“You took significant advantage of a position of trust, and you violated that trust,” Judge Aaron Katz told the defendant.

Bank raid gets around two-factor authentication

Computer & Internet Security News
19 April 2007
Bank raid gets around two-factor authentication
By Matthew Broersma, Techworld

Attackers have successfully invaded the accounts of several customers of Dutch bank ABN Amro, despite the bank's use of two-factor authentication.

The bank has compensated four users for funds stolen from their accounts in the attack, the bank said. It said it is pursuing the thieves, and said the robbery was due in part to unsafe PC usage.

ABN Amro is one of the more progressive banks where it comes to adopting new security technologies, and has recently rolled out a biometric identification system for authenticating the voices of telephone banking customers.

Banks argue that two-factor authentication, which combines the use of a token with normal passwords, is necessary for more secure banking. But security experts have long pointed out that such systems are still vulnerable to attack.

Identity theft probe expands to Alameda

Identity theft probe expands to Alameda
PIN pads in Albertsons stores were tampered with to allow card numbers to be stolen
By Alejandro Alfonso, STAFF WRITER
Article Last Updated: 04/20/2007 03:07:07 AM PDT

SAN LORENZO — The investigation into an identity theft ring that began after a PIN pad was tampered with at an Albertsons supermarket in San Lorenzo has broadened to include another Albertsons store in Alameda and the number of reported victims has topped 100 people who together lost about $70,000, according to the Alameda County Sheriff's Office.

Investigators now believe a sophisticated group of thieves replaced an Electric Funds Transfer unit, or PIN pad, at the Albertsons stores with a nearly identical pad that would steal customer's account information and PIN numbers, sheriff's Detective Greg Swetnam said.

The thieves then would use cloned credit cards to clean out the victims' bank accounts through ATM withdrawals, Swetnam said. The operation began on the East Coast; then moved on to Southern California, where several merchants were targeted; and now have reached the Bay Area, Swetnam said. The federal Secret Service has been tracking the group, and all the information gathered from local investigations eventually will be turned over to the Secret Service, who handle prosecution once suspects are caught, he said.

The Mushrooming Menace of Keyloggers

The Mushrooming Menace of Keyloggers

By Andrew K. Burger
TechNewsWorld 04/18/07 4:00 AM PT
"Most modern keyloggers are considered to be legitimate software or hardware and are sold on the open market. However, there is an ethical boundary between justified monitoring and monitoring for the purpose of stealing confidential user information -- a boundary marked by a very fine line," said Nikolay Grebennikov, deputy director of Kaspersky Lab's R&D department.

There may be few things as disturbing to Internet users as the thought of someone spying on them and capturing their every keystroke. Unfortunately, this has been happening more frequently as the use of keyloggers, phishing and spoofing grows.

Consumer Data Protection Faces Legal, Tech Hurdles

Consumer Data Protection Faces Legal, Tech Hurdles
Lawmakers and technology providers concede that they must create stronger mechanisms to improve protection of electronic consumer records.Part 1 of a special five-part series. -->
Matt Hines, Infoworld
Thursday, April 19, 2007 6:00 PM PDT


Lawmakers and technology providers concede that they must create stronger mechanisms to improve protection of electronic consumer records, but claim that members of private industry must aid in the effort if those plans are to succeed.

At the ongoing Authentication and Online Trust Alliance (AOTA) Summit 2007, being held in Boston April 18-19, experts from both communities cited shortcomings in their abilities to prevent online attacks aimed at stealing consumer data.

Although laws and technology products have undergone significant makeovers in recent years to boost security for end-users, the situation remains a serious problem for everyone from consumers to the government, according to presenters at the conference.

Identity theft goes upmarket

Identity theft goes upmarket
19th April 2007
By BBR Staff Writer
UK credit reference agency Experian recently revealed that the rise it has seen in identity fraud has coincided with an increase in organized cyber crime. The agency's data has also revealed that a surprisingly large number of consumers were unaware of identity fraud committed against them until they were informed by a financial services firm, which throws up the issue of data theft reporting.

Auditors cite security problems with IRS wireless networks

Auditors cite security problems with IRS wireless networks

By Daniel Pulliamdpulliam (at) govexec.com

April 17, 2007

The Internal Revenue Service has jeopardized sensitive taxpayerinformation by failing to lock down its wireless networks, according toan audit report released Tuesday.

Researchers: Botnets Getting Beefier

Researchers: Botnets Getting Beefier

By Lisa VaasApril 16, 2007

Think botnets are bad now? We ain't seen nothin' yet.A select group of some 40 security researchers gathered on April 10 inthe first Usenix event devoted to these networks of infected machines.The invitation-only event, called HotBots, was held in Cambridge, Mass.At the event, researchers warned that botnetswhich can contain tens oreven hundreds of thousands of zombie PCs that have been taken over foruse in spamming and thievery of financial and identity-related dataareon the brink of a technological leap to more resilient architectures andmore sophisticated encryption that will make it that much harder totrack, monitor and disable them.

Consumers baulk at returning to hacked stores

Consumers baulk at returning to hacked stores

By John Leyden17th April 2007

Consumers are wary about returning to shop at retailers that have beenthe subject of security breaches, according to a new study.The survey of 1,200 UK consumers revealed that the majority would taketheir business elsewhere in the event of loss of customer data as aresult of a security breach or hack attack

Data Breach Aided University Phishing Scam

Data Breach Aided University Phishing Scam

By Brian KrebsApril 16, 2007

A highly targeted phishing attack last year that scammed dozens ofIndiana University students out of their personal and financial dataappears to have been aided in part by a previously undisclosed hackerbreak-in at one of the school's main research servers, according todocuments unearthed by a doctoral student there.In June 2006, an unknown number of IU students and faculty received ane-mail warning that online bill-paying services attached to their IUEmployees Federal Credit Union accounts would be suspended unless they"renewed" their contract with the institution. According to the school'sstudent news outlet, the Indiana Daily Student, that attack netted up to80 victims.

Texas AG: CVS Dumped Customers' Records

Associated Press
Texas AG: CVS Dumped Customers' Records
By JUAN A. LOZANO 04.17.07, 1:51 PM ET

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott sued CVS Corp. on Tuesday, alleging pharmacy employees dumped credit card numbers, medical information and other sensitive material from more than 1,000 customers into a garbage container.

Stalkers Go High Tech to Intimidate Victims

Stalkers Go High Tech to Intimidate Victims
By Chris L. Jenkins
Updated: 2:13 a.m. ET April 14, 2007

The case had the makings of an eerie cyber-mystery: A young Alexandria woman told local police she suspected that her ex-boyfriend was tapping into her e-mail inbox from thousands of miles away, reading messages before she could and harassing the senders.

She was right to be suspicious. Her ex had hacked into her e-mail account, either guessing her password or using spyware -- software that can secretly read e-mails and survey cyber-traffic, law enforcement officials said. For months, apparently, he had followed her every online move, part of a pattern of abuse city police are still investigating.

It's 'too late' to assure security of patient data

It's 'too late' to assure security of patient data
Saturday, April 14, 2007
By Steve Twedt, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

A Web site containing Social Security numbers and other personal information for nearly 80 UPMC patients was still accessible on the Internet yesterday -- and computer security experts say the patients can never be entirely assured the content will be gone.

Army warns of data theft Laptop with information of 16,000 civilian employees stolen in Virginia

Army warns of data theft

Laptop with information of 16,000 civilian employees stolen in Virginia
By KEVIN HOWE
Herald Staff Writer

The theft of an Army laptop computer from a civilian employee's car has prompted warnings to civilians who work for the Army Training and Doctrine Command that their personal data might have been exposed.

The laptop, containing the names, Social Security numbers and payroll information of nearly 16,000 Army TRADOC employees, was taken March 14 while the car was parked at the employee's home in Petersburg, Va., near Fort Lee, Army authorities said.