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In what can only be described as a huge step backward in the fight against ID theft, the Sacramento Bee reported that the California State University’s computer system has for some years had a “glitch” that allows users to view the social security numbers and personal data of students and employees. State Senator Debra Bowen, …
The Federal Trade Commission issued a press release announcing their complaint (pdf) against 30 Minute Mortgage, Inc., which used this and other websites to spam and then scam consumers to obtain their financial data. The company is charged with violations of the FTC Act, the Truth in Lending Act, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, and the FTC’s …
On March 13, the Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property held an Oversight Hearing on “International Copyright Piracy: Links to Organized Crime and Terrorism” Links are as follows to the:Witness List, John Malcolm, Rich LaMagna, Joan Borsten Vidov, Jack Valenti. Although not a focus of the hearing, campus-wide file sharing was mentioned. See …
Subsequent to the hacking of UT Austin’s computer system last week, resulting in the theft of personal data from more than 50,000 records as reported in my previous posting here, Texas lawmakers are giving closer consideration to a previously introduced bill banning the use of social security numbers on student IDs. The act, HB 1026, …
The statistics for ID theft are already registering signficant numbers for a year that is still in its first quarter. According to this press release from the University of Texas at Austin, the university’s computer system was hacked, exposing some 55,200 records that included names and social security numbers of current and past students, faculty, …
New GAO Report: Critical Infrastructure Protection: Efforts of the Financial Services Sector to Address Cyber Threats. GAO-03-173, January 30. Highlights.
British Telecom launched “a new global identity verification system, called You Are You (URU). The system will allow governments or businesses to enter a persons details and search through databases such as the Electoral Role and Post Office Address File to authenticate their identity.”
EU Ministers agreed to establish a new criminal offense, “illegally accessing an information system,” which would include incarceration for “serious cases.” The text of this new policy is buried on page 19 of this 27 page document (PDF), under the heading “Attacks Against Information Systems.” See also this related article in today’s New York Times, …
From Slate, this commentary on the recently released National Strategy To Secure Cyberspace contends that the report seeks to engender unfounded fears about cyberterrorism.
The National Consumers League, Internet Fraud Watch published two surveys on Web e-mail scams: Top 10 Internet Scams 2001 (includes data on Type of Complaint, Percentage of Total Complaints and Average Loss), and Ages of Consumers Who Filed Complaints, 2001 (includes Percentage of Total Complaints). The surveys are available in tabular format on this webpage. …
The Gartner Group released a news analysis on February 20, Stolen Credit Card Case Should Prompt Card Companies to Act, in reponse to the recent hacking of a database containing millions of credit card records. Their conclusion: “The theft of 8 million credit cards reveals serious flaws in card companies’ disclosure processes. Credit card issuers …
The DOJ announced Monday that ‘Operation Pipe Dreams’ had resulted in the seizure of domain names that were a conduit for the sale of “illegal drug paraphernalia.” Yesterday, the DOJ announced it had taken control of the website and domain for www.iSONEWS in accordance with a plea agreement on criminal copyright charges against the site’s …
