As a follow-up to a breach incident previously reported on this site, Kansas City InfoZine reports that: Robert Leroy Maxwell, 45, has pleaded guilty to identity theft and other charges in a fraud scheme that cost banks and businesses in Kansas City, Kan., Olathe and elsewhere a total of more than $30,000. Maxwell pleaded guilty…
Over 120,000 Sanoma User Credentials Stolen
Antti Vilpponen writes: Not exactly a startup news per se, but a healthy reminder to all those working with user credentials in their online services. One of the largest, if not the largest, online identity thefts has just occured (sic) in Finland. The service to be breached was Älypää, a Sanoma bought gaming site. The…
Compensation should be paid for personal data loss, says report
Urmee Khan reports: Putting a price on privacy will deter organisations from losing or abusing people’s personal details, the influential think tank Demos found. The recommendation comes amid increasing concern that there has been a dramatic expansion of a “surveillance society”, which threatens to erode civil liberties. The report Private Lives, published today, recommended that…
The Five Stages of Data Loss Grief
Back in 1970, Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross wrote On Death and Dying, a now-classic book that identified five stages of grieving and emotions that terminally ill patients go through. Adam Frucci has adapted that to the five stages of data loss grief: So your hard drive just died, and you didn’t back it up. I’m so,…
Patient Billed for Phony Liposuction as Medical ID Theft Rises
Margaret Collins reports on medical ID theft: Sierra Morgan was billed $12,000 on her health-care credit card in November for liposuction, a procedure she never requested or had. “It’s depressing to know that someone used my name and knows so much about me,” said the 31-year-old respiratory therapist from Modesto, California. There were more than…
Hacked personal data originating from China
Park Sung-woo reports: A 22-year-old Korean man named Kim is under arrest for purchasing lists of Koreans’ personal information, such as cell phone numbers and e-mail addresses, which had been hacked in China. After spending 1 million won ($880) for 31 million items of data since July of last year, Kim posted an Internet ad…