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The Office of the Inspector General of the Social Security Administration recently issued a report, Federal Agencies’ Controls Over the Access, Disclosure and Use of Social Security Numbers by External Entities (PDF), documenting problems with unauthorized access to, and dissemination of, social security numbers. See also this March 6, 2003 speech by James G. Huse, …
Johnny Sutton, United States Attorney, Western District of Texas announced March 14 that University of Texas at Austin student Christopher Andrew Phillips was charged with unauthorized access to the university’s computer system and the theft of more than 55,000 records containing personal data. Sutton states: “At this point, there is no indication that the stolen …
A survey of 1,000 adults conducted by FindLaw indicates that most American are aware of the growing rate of ID theft, and are taking certain precautions to protect themselves. These efforts include shredding credit card receipts and other financial documents prior to disposal, limiting access to social security numbers, and reviewing bank and credit card …
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, …
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 Federal Trade Commission is sponsoring two free workshops, Technologies for Protecting Personal Information: The Consumer Experience (May 14, 2003), and Technologies for Protecting Personal Information: The Business Experience (June 4, 2003), according to this February 21 press release. See also the text of the Federal Register notice on these workshops, for which written comments …
The Virginia House yesterday passed and adopted HB 2426 – Posting certain information on the Internet; prohibitions, in response to growing public concerns about privacy and ID theft. The bill “provides that beginning July 1, 2003, no state agency or court clerk shall post on a state agency or court-controlled website any document that contains …
CNN reports on an announcement by Visa and Mastercard (which does not appear on either of their respective websites) revealing that a hacker accessed the records of up to 2.2 million accounts via a contractor (Data Processors International) that processes their credit card transactions. According to CNN “the affected accounts make up about one-third of …
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), is the sponsor of S. 223, a bill to prevent identity theft, and for other purposes, introduced on January 28.
The UCLA Center for Communication Policy today released the third installment of their report, Surveying the Digital Future. The report addresses topics that include the following; Internet Users – Who is Online, Who is Not; Media Use and Trust; Consumer Behavior, Communications Patterns, Social Effects of the Internet (on family, children, friends, politics); the Internet …
