LifeLock offers LoJack laptop protection to members
LifeLock keeps adding to the services that protect consumers from identity theft and data breaches. The latest move couples their new Command Center with LoJack® for Laptops. Two great, complementary services to lessen the chance you’ll become an identity theft victim, and lessen the chance you’ll inadvertently cause others to become identity theft victims. Read the rest of this entry »
Data breaches in hotel industry higher than any other sector in 2009, according to Trustwave report
Which is most worrisome: (A) that hackers hit the hotel industry in 38% of data breaches last year; (B) that it took the hotels an average of five months to notice a data breach; (C) that the hackers often got into the data by using software glitches that had patches available 10 years ago; or, (D) all of the above?
A new report from security firm Trustwave indicates that the hotel industry was targeted for data breaches more than any other last year primarily because they were such an easy target and the takings were so rich. The hackers gained access to potentially millions of credit card account details from hotels that did little to protect the data, and never reported the resulting identity theft risk to officials or customers. (Picture a frisky young pit bull gleefully trotting after a fat, blind, three-legged cat while the cat’s owner sleeps in a hammock nearby.) Read the rest of this entry »
Father arrested for using dead son’s identity
It goes against the laws of nature for parents to have to bury their children. But, that’s what David Frank Pflegl had to do in 1987 as the survivor of an auto accident that killed his 19-year-old son, David Frank Pflegl II. It is probably one of the hardest most painful things for any parent to do. However, the senior Pflegl, 63, found a way to keep his son’s memory alive: he committed ID theft, forgery and communication fraud using his dead son’s identity, according to his December indictment.
Pflegl was arrested a week ago in Utah on the identity theft and related charges. Pflegl used his son’s identity to obtain a $140,000 mortgage in Lindon, Utah. He also had driver’s licenses in Oregon and Utah. Additionally, he held a passport in his deceased son’s name—a crime that resulted in a federal investigation by the State Department. Oregon investigators and the Utah Department of Public Safety participated in the identity theft investigation. Read the rest of this entry »
Identity theft and tax season
It’s tax season. It’s an annual occurrence, happening at the same time of year, every year. And in observance, here’s our annual phishing, scamming and identity theft warning with tips for avoiding getting taken to the cleaners … by anyone but the IRS.
Your mailbox
Health Net data breach prompts attorney general’s “historic lawsuit”
Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said last November that he was “outraged and appalled” upon learning of Health Net’s massive data breach and their keeping it hush-hush for six months. He acted on those feelings this week by filing suit against the insurer and its new owners, United Health Group and Oxford Health Plans.
The data breach occurred May 2009 when a hard drive containing the information of 1.5 million customers went missing. Records were for the period 2002 through 2009. Roughly 446,000 of the members are from Connecticut.
Blumenthal’s lawsuit asserts Health Net gave its employees inadequate supervision and training on appropriate maintenance, use and disclosure of protected health information.
The company explained the six-month lag time between their awareness of the breach and their notifying state officials by saying the time was necessary to complete a “detailed forensic review.” Kroll, a computer forensic consulting firm hired to complete the investigation determined the information wasn’t encrypted or protected in any way from access or viewing. Read the rest of this entry »
It’s impossible to write about the Red Flag Rules without an apologetic “stop me if you’ve heard this one before” preface. So don’t shoot the messenger, but the deadline for the Feds’ identity-protecting Red Flag Rules has been delayed. The newest deadline—the fifth—replaces the January 1 deadline with one of June 1, 2010.
Congress created the program in 2003 in an attempt to stem the tide of identity theft by forcing creditors to use a common sense approach to identity theft prevention. It was originally slated to take effect in November 2008.
From its inception the rules have met with formidable pushback from the American Medical Association, the American Bar Association and the nation’s bankers, each group taking exception to the FTC’s interpretation of “creditor.” Read the rest of this entry »
Apparently, hackers stole even more of Express Scripts’ member information than was initially revealed last fall. An additional 1,771 New Hampshire residents are being sent data breach notification letters this week, according to a September 14 letter from Express Scripts.
Express Scripts, one of the world’s largest pharmacy benefits management companies, revealed in November 2008 that hackers demanded ransom in exchange for stolen customer information. Unless the ransom was paid, the hackers threatened to reveal the members’ information.
To strengthen their threat, the hackers sent personal information–including names, birth dates, Social Security numbers and some prescription details–of 75 of the firm’s 50 million customers. Read the rest of this entry »
I just recently upgraded my LifeLock membership to include their new LifeLock Command Center™. I felt good about the services I was already getting from LifeLock, but because I know so many ID theft horror stories—some of them firsthand—I decided to pony up the extra $4 a month for the additional services available with Command Center™.
I’m impressed. Less than 48 hours after my upgrade I received extensive Command Center™reports from LifeLock that summarize the findings of all the efforts they’ve taken to protect me. Read the rest of this entry »
LifeLock’s new Command Center service provides an additional level of ID theft protection that’s very good news for their nearly 1.5 million current members and for new LifeLock members.
For current members, LifeLock Command Center is an optional add-on to the already extensive steps LifeLock has been providing. New enrollees can choose between LifeLock’s existing, industry leading suite of service and LifeLock’s Command. Read the rest of this entry »
Contrary to popular belief, not all of Santa’s elves are jovial, industrious toymakers; there are also evil elves that take temporary holiday retail jobs to commit ID theft and credit fraud. And, they’ll steal your identity in less time than it takes Santa to slip down the chimney.
Big retail stores hire as many as 50 new employees during the holiday season, and many of them don’t get vetted as thoroughly as year-round workers. Adding to the ID theft risk is the fact that these additional employees aren’t management—they double the number of employees management typically oversees.
So, how can shoppers protect themselves from the evil ID theft elves? Read the rest of this entry »
