Archive for March, 2009

LifeLock reviews: Servers use skimmers to steal $750,000 from D.C. area diners

Tuesday, March 31st, 2009

You’ve heard it a thousand times: Never let your credit (or debit) card out of your sight. Granted, it might be a little awkward, or even embarrassing, to follow your server from your table to the cash register when you pay your check, but in the Washington D.C. area there are .75 million new reasons to do it anyhow.

Five servers at five upscale D.C. area restaurants have been arrested and charged with using skimmers to add $750,000 in debts to customers’ credit and debit cards.

The restaurants involved are Clyde’s of Gallery Place, M&S Grill, 701 Restaurant, Carrabba’s Italian Grill and the Gaylord Hotel. (more…)

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Posted in Identity Theft | 2 Comments »

LifeLock review: Identity theft was their family business

Thursday, March 26th, 2009

There are several family-run businesses in my neighborhood—a barber shop, a restaurant, a shoe-repair shop and a coffee shop. They’re the kind of businesses support so they can stay open and avoid being swallowed up by the big-box stores.

The same goes for Suffolk NY, where Tonia Cheeseman, 62, and Michael Cheeseman, 41, ran their business. And, just like in many neighborhoods, the Cheeseman’s neighbors might have supported their family business. The big difference is that the citizen’s of Suffolk didn’t know they were sending business to a mother and son identity theft racket. (more…)

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Posted in Identity Theft | 2 Comments »

LifeLock review: Red Flag Rules to prevent medical identity theft

Monday, March 23rd, 2009

After a long delay, health-care providers are scrambling to establish Red Flag Rules in their practices by the May 1 deadline. (more…)

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Posted in Identity Theft | 2 Comments »

University of Florida official reveals ID theft cases, warns of more to come

Tuesday, March 17th, 2009

University of Florida has achieved unwanted notoriety for their numerous data breaches over the last year, and the news presented to the university’s trustees yesterday can only worsen the school’s reputation. (more…)

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Posted in LifeLock promo code | 1 Comment »

Sign up for LifeLock and you’re automatically entered in the Slam Dunk Sweepstakes

Monday, March 16th, 2009

If you’re a college hoops fan, you’re going to love the LifeLock Slam Dunk Sweepstakes! (more…)

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Posted in LifeLock promo code | 2 Comments »

Welcome to the University of Identity Theft

Tuesday, March 10th, 2009

The experts will tell you, when you’re choosing a university or college, look for a good fit, don’t limit your search to the name brand schools, ask the admissions office about scholarship and grant opportunities.

Here’s another tip: Check out their data breach record. Institutions of higher learning reported 173 data breaches in 2008, an increase of 24.5% over the previous year. More than 16 million individual records were exposed, but there were 18 incidents where the total number of records wasn’t reported. (more…)

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Posted in Data breach | 4 Comments »

LifeLock review: Sign up and ignore the bad news

Monday, March 9th, 2009

Enough with all the sensationalized bad news about identity theft, data breaches and the rotten economy. Here’s some news you can use; in fact it’s news you can use to protect yourself from all of the above.

Consider spending $9 a month to sign up with LifeLock and they’ll help you protect your credit and reduce the likelihood that desperate identity thieves will steal your identity. LifeLock is the choice of nearly 1.5 million Americans, making them a leader in identity theft services.

Visit LifeLock.com and use the LifeLock promo code DEFENSE. With that code you also get 30 days of free service. At the end of the 30-day free period, your card will be automatically billed $9 monthly unless you cancel within that first 30-day period. You can cancel anytime without penalty by calling 1-800-LIFELOCK. This offer is for new LifeLock members only.

So, if you’re trying to save money, why is LifeLock worth $9 a month? Here’s what you get for your money: (more…)

Posted in LifeLock | 2 Comments »

St. Rita’s Medical Center patients’ info stolen

Thursday, March 5th, 2009

It would have been just another run of the mill car break in, except this particular violated car belongs to a home-health care employee from St. Rita’s Medical Center in Lima, Ohio. In the car was a bag, and in the bag was the personal and medical information of 242 St. Rita’s patients.

So, what this means is that somewhere there is a cretin who is in possession of the patients’ names, addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth, patient ID numbers. For some patients the identity theft threat is even greater because their Social Security numbers were also in the stolen bag. And for some, the privacy violation is even worse because their case managers’ and physician’s names and the details of their treatment were also stolen.

Let’s try to make something positive and hopeful of this, shall we? (more…)

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Posted in LifeLock promotion code | 1 Comment »

Data breach storm raging; number of victims unknown

Monday, March 2nd, 2009

Last year there were 656 reported data breaches, and—sorry to have to say it again–2009 is looking even grimmer.

Privacy Rights Clearinghouse lists only 60 reported data breaches so far this year, or an average of roughly one a day. But that relatively low incident rate belies a more sinister trend: 22 of those data breaches affected an unknown number of people.

The greatest threat to consumers’ identities is the Heartland Payment Systems hacking that first made news in January. Though the number of individual credit card account affected remains a mystery, it is known that Heartland processed roughly 100 million transactions a month. Speculation is that the total will be greater than the TJX data breach in which more than 100 million accounts were compromised.

Also on the list of unknowns are some potentially massive breaches, if not in terms of the number of records exposed, definitely in the level of identity theft hazard because of the nature or extent of information lost or stolen. (more…)

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Posted in Data breach | 3 Comments »