Melissa Davey reports: The federal government’s response to a Medicare data breach that led to patient details being sold on the dark web was “disappointing, confusing and often contemptible,” according to a former detective who headed the Australian federal police’s investigations into high-tech crime. Nigel Phair, now an adjunct professor at the University of Canberra’s…
Category: ID Theft
Watchdog pressed to probe post-data breach services
Morgan Chalfant reports: Democratic members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee are pressing a government watchdog to further investigate whether existing credit monitoring services do enough to protect consumers affected by data breaches. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report in March on identity theft services offered by the federal government and private companies…
GAO to agencies: Stop using Social Security numbers for everything
There really is such as a thing as “obvious.” Isn’t there? Adam Stone reports: Federal agencies continue to over-collect, over-use and over-display Social Security numbers, leading to the an unnecessarily high risk of identity theft. That’s the latest from the U.S. Government Accountability Office. In a recent report GAO declares that a decade’s worth of…
Court revives one case related to SuperValu data breach
Judy Greenwald reports: A federal appeals court has upheld dismissal of most of the plaintiffs who sued the SuperValu Inc. grocery distributor in connection with 2014 data breaches, but reinstated the case of one plaintiff who provided evidence his credit card was misused. Supermarket wholesaler and retailer SuperValu, based in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, reported two…
Former Air Force member sentenced for stealing fellow members’ information
Luke Wilusz reports: A former U.S. Air Force member was sentenced to four years in prison this week for stealing and distributing personal information from other service members. A federal jury found 28-year-old Ronnie Allen II guilty earlier this year of two counts each of of identity theft, aggravated identity theft and access device fraud,…
Nigerian charged in W-2 phishing attacks on school districts in Connecticut and Minnesota
A Nigerian man has been arrested for his alleged role in W-2 phishing attacks on school districts that resulted in tax refund fraud. On Friday, the U.S. Attorney for Connecticut issued the following press release: Deirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, Patricia M. Ferrick, Special Agent in Charge of the…