October 2007 Archives

A new study by the Economic Crime Institute work group, based at Utica College, has found that a surprising number of identity thieves are women.

The researchers have been given access to Secret Service case files on identity theft spanning from 2000 to 2006. The group’s findings provide the first-ever look at the criminals and victims in major identity theft cases.

An Administaff company laptop containing the personal information of 159,000 employees was stolen from a company employee. The laptop was stolen from a company employee's car while they were shopping for groceries on October 3rd, 2007.

The information on the laptop contained the names, addresses, and social security numbers of current and former employees. The information was not encrypted.

The company has notified all affected persons and has offered one year of free credit-monitoring service. Credit monitoring services, such as LifeLock.com, monitor a person's credit file with the three credit bureaus and alerts people when there is potentially fraudulent activity.

In Washington state, a burglar stole a laptop containing the personal information of 1,400 current and former employees of the King County Transportation Department.

The information contained the names, addresses, and social security numbers of current and former employees.

The laptop belongs to a human resources employee who regularly brings the laptop from one job site to another. The laptop was password protected, but the data was not encrypted. The victims were part of the department’s Roads, Airport and Fleet divisions.

The University of Texas said it works hard to notify students about how to avoid identity theft, but the school put some of its own at risk.

The Personal information, including Social Security numbers of 22 current and former students, was posted and available to access on a university FTP site in late September.

All the students impacted were enrolled in a petroleum and geosystems class during the summers of 2001 and 2002.

The university took the files offline within hours after being notified by SSNBreach.org, but not before 22 students' Social Security numbers were exposed.

The university said there is an ongoing effort to get rid of using Social Security numbers except where they are needed.

The University of Iowa is warning 184 students and graduates that grade information and Social Security numbers were on a laptop stolen from a former teaching assistant. The laptop was stolen in September from the home of a former teaching assistant.

The laptop contains class records, including attendance, test scores and grades of 184 students who took graduate courses between 2002 and 2006. The Social Security numbers of 100 students are also on the laptop.

The Philosophy department chairman is mailing letters to affected students and accepting phone calls from those who are concerned about the incident.

In Massachusetts the Divisions of Professional Licensure and Health Professions Licensure sent out information to marketing firms and other businesses containing the personal data, including Social Security numbers, of 450,000 licensed professionals.

The Division of Professional Licensure notified both the secretary of state and the office of the attorney general about the breach, and has begun notifying all affected individuals.

Affected individuals include engineers, nursing home administrators, certified public accountants and other professionals.

Individuals who feel they may have been affected can contact the Division of Professional Licensure.