Amanda L. Husson reports: The names and Social Security numbers of about 300 New Mexico State University students were inadvertently leaked through file-sharing software last fall, the university revealed Wednesday. Letters were mailed to the affected students last week. Shaun Cooper, NMSU associate vice president and chief information officer, said the risk of identity theft…
Author: Dissent
Hancock Fabrics confirms skimmers found in some stores
Hancock Fabrics today confirmed what had been reported in the media back in October and November of 2009: customers in a number of states had their debit and credit card data stolen by skimmers in some of the stores. The data theft occurred during the period of August-September, 2009, but reports of fraud did not…
Social networking threats put new pressure on healthcare CSOs
Eric B. Parizo reports: A panel of healthcare security leaders say increasing pressure from users and management to allow access to social networking and Web 2.0 technologies is raising new concerns about keeping their IT environments secure. The discussion at RSA Conference 2010 offered a unique look at decisions faced by security directors charged with…
(update 2) Only Wyndham-branded hotels involved in three breaches
Yesterday, Robert McMillan provided more detail on the most recent Wyndham Hotel and Resort chain breach: Wyndham operates over 7,114 hotels worldwide, including Ramada, Days Inn and Super 8. Just how many hotels were hit by this latest attempt was unclear, however. Until today. The company just released a statement saying that 37 hotels were…
DoD to reduce use of Social Security numbers
Rick Maze reports: The Defense Department is preparing to launch a militarywide effort to reduce the use of Social Security numbers to lower the chances of identity theft for military and civilian workers and contractors. But the announcement, included in the March 3 Federal Register, makes clear that stopping the use of Social Security numbers…
ID theft charges superceded by murder indictment
A seventeen-count superseding indictment was returned yesterday in Brooklyn federal court charging Dmitriy Yakovlev and his wife, Julia Yakovlev, with identity theft, bank fraud, credit card fraud, and effecting fraudulent transactions as a result of their illegal use of the identities of three persons between 2003 and 2007. The defendant Dmitriy Yakovlev is further charged…