Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (“MassMutual”) recently discovered that an insider had printouts of customer data that might have been used for fraudulent purposes. In a notification letter [pdf] to the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office dated September 8, MassMutual Financial Group reported that they had been advised on August 3 by the U.S. Postal…
Author: Dissent
Heartland CEO: Credit Card Encryption Needed
Grant Gross of IDG News Service reports that in testimony before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee yesterday, Heartland Payment Systems CEO Robert Carr was hit with a question about how the payment processor could have been breached for over one year and yet not detected it: Senators asked Carr some pointed questions…
Downeast Energy Suffers Security Breach
Downeast Energy in Brunswick [Maine] says that the company is the victim of a computer breach that led to unauthorized access to one of its bank accounts at Key Bank. The personal information of as many as 800 Downeast customers may have compromised as well. Downeast says the perpetrators succeeded in transferring funds out of…
U. of Florida reports breach
Posted by the University of Florida: In August, the University’s Privacy Office was notified of a privacy breach after the discovery of an unprotected computer file containing 34 names and 25 Social Security numbers. We believe the personal information belongs to trainers working with the Florida Traffic and Bicycle Safety Education program in 2006. The…
UK: Hackers steal £1m in online tax scam
Stephen Condron and Christopher Leake report: Police are investigating how criminals managed to steal £1million from the taxman by accessing a Government computer system and granting themselves rebates. The thieves filed returns online using the passwords of genuine self-assessment taxpayers – then diverted the money to bogus accounts. The sting prompted concern yesterday that the…
Man gets 15 years for leading ID-theft ring
Adam Lynn reports: Convicted identity thief Larry Alan Hayes asked a judge for a second chance. What Hayes really wanted was an eighth one, and Pierce County Superior Court pro-tem Judge Eric Schmidt wasn’t inclined to give it to him. […] A jury in June convicted the 41-year-old man of leading organized crime, six counts…