Baltimore Medical Center Falls Victim to Former Employee’s Wrongdoings

Baltimore, Maryland’s Mercy Medical Center recently discovered a former employee that may have gained access to patient records with the intent of applying for credit cards and loans in their names.

A legal investigation is underway as the attorney general’s office is contacting all those who may have been affected. The number is currently unknown, but could be quite significant.

If you may have been a victim of this security breach, you may want to invest in credit monitoring services to ensure that your financial future is safe and secure.

New York Brokerage and Investment Firm Investigates Theft of Personally Identifiable Information from Former Employee

Christopher Pemberton, 31, was arrested and charged for burglary after working for Obsidian Financial Group for 6 days in October and then, with an accomplice, broke into the company building stealing financial records and making photocopies to take with them.

Pemberton’s accomplice has yet to be arrested, but Pemberton admitted that the two of them collected an unknown number of customer names, Social Security numbers and bank information.  This New York financial group, which has offices in Woodbury and Cutchogue, is investigating the situation further.

The company strongly encourages its customers to spot check their credit reports or sign up for a credit monitoring service in the event of misuse of their personal data.

Honolulu, Hawaii University Leaks Some 4500 Student Social Security numbers on publicly accessible website

On November 4th, it was discovered that some 4,500 students of the Chaminade University of Honolulu, Hawaii had personally identifiable data, including Social Security numbers, available on a publicly accessible web page through the university for what is believed to be about eight months.

Those who are affected are students who attended Chaminade University as an undergraduate from the years 1997 to 2006.It appears as thought the information was posted primarily through human error, and that there was no malicious intent.In addition, there have been no reported incidents of the information being used improperly in identity theft.

Those who are affected are encouraged to monitor and review their credit reports, by obtaining a free one at annualcreditreport.com, sign up for identity theft protection, or to email infosecure@chaminade.edu with any additional questions or for more information regarding this particular security breach.

Credit Monitoring: What is it and why is it important?

You may have never heard of credit monitoring, but you can bet someone has been using it on your accounts for quite some time now; be it a lender or an insurance company. Credit monitoring simply means keeping an eye on your credit file to look for changes, whether positive or negative. These companies will look in order to calculate and alter your rates according to your credit risk.

So why do you need to know about credit monitoring? Because it’s something easy you can do that can help to prevent your becoming a victim of identity theft or stop the thieves as soon as they get a hold of your personal information before they can do major damage to your accounts or your good name. So how do you go about doing this? Simple. Just sign up for one of many credit monitoring services.

Probably the most well-known are the ones that are offered by the three major credit bureaus: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. There are better ones available however such as Identity Guard and Chase Identity Protection. Once you’re registered with a service, you’ll be notified by phone or email of changes to your credit file, whether they are unauthorized or not. This way, you can either confirm, that yes, the change is legitimate, or if the change is not legitimate, can begin a dialog with the credit bureau in order to correct your information. You can also contact the organization where the identity thief altered your information and get the account canceled before the thief can run up the charges.

Even if you regularly request copies of your credit report, you should still consider credit monitoring. Think about it. You get your credit report maybe one or two times a year. You don’t want to remain in the dark for all that time in between. A credit monitoring service can scan your file on a daily basis so you know right away if any fraud has taken place. Otherwise, the thief could have months of free reign on your personal information before you even know that anything has happened.

And going back to the first point I made, credit risk. Your credit risk is going to be extremely high if an identity thief gets his or her hands on your accounts or creates new ones. That’s because thieves are not known to make on time payments, or, okay, to make payments at all after they make purchases. This could affect your ability to obtain a loan you need or even get that important job you’ve been waiting on.

Find out more about the available credit monitoring services today, before you think you need to. Then, if an identity thief dares to try to use your personal information for his or her personal gain, not only will you be ready, but you can act on it almost instantly.

Compact Discs Containing Unencrypted Personal Data Lost During Shipment

Orange County, California’s Medicaid managed care plan company, CalOptima, is under investigation after personally identifiable information of almost 70,000 members is compromised.

Compact discs storing unencrypted personal data, such as medical records, dates of birth and SOcial Security numbers went missing during shipping from a claim-scanning vendor. The packaging was received but the discs that were inside were missing. Although there have been no reports of the information being used inappropriately, the fact that they went missing is enough to cause concern to members who use their services, making them more aware of identity protection services available to them.

This security breach follows a recent law that went into effect last month regarding the security of healthcare information and the public disclosure of any compromised data from organizations and providers. The law, which is part of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH), exemplifies those who use encryption services to notify the public of any immediate breaches. Unfortunately, since the information was sent unencrypted from the original vendor, the situation is under speculation in regards to why the proper precautions were not taken when shipping the compact discs to CalOptima.

University’s Computer Lab Used for Underground Distribution of Illegal Media, Leaves Personnel Files At Risk for Access

Hackers used University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Chemistry’s 40 computers to distribute music, movies and other media through an underground network, leaving files with Social Security numbers of some 3,000 people on campus at risk. It appears as though most of the activity was within the last 18 months, but there has been access dating as far back as December of 2001.

Although the identity of the hackers is still unknown, the University is investigating the situation to find out if any attempts to access the files were made. Although it appears there was no access to these particular files containing sensitive data, it is always best to be on the safe side and investigate as well as sign up for identity theft protection services.

Since the attack has occurred, the computers are being scanned and cleaned of personal and encrypted data, a firewall has been initiated and network security has increased to protect the data that is saved on these devices. In the meantime, if any students notice unusual activity on their credit reports, it is highly recommended that they notify the University to take the steps in reporting the fraud correctly.

Tennessee Community College Employee Loses Personal Data

Tennessee Community College, Roane State, is under speculation and receiving numerous phone calls regarding a recent release of information notifying students of a possible security breach.

A college accountant was apparently took a portable drive home to do some work outside of the school grounds, and the drive was stolen from his unlocked car. This was against the school policy of taking private information off of school campus grounds, but the employee has not yet been reprimanded for the loss of personal and private information.

In addition to being criticized for not reprimanding the college accountant responsible, students and teachers are upset that the breach was not brought to the public until over a week after the incident. School officials suggest signing up for a free credit report and placing fraud alerts on their account. In addition, a credit monitoring service may be of assistance, as well, when it comes to keeping an eye on new or fraudulently used credit accounts.

Consumer Data Broker Falls For Security Breach Scheme and Leaves Thousands At Risk

ChoicePoint, a consumer-data broker, has recently fallen for a security breach scheme that large data brokers like Lexis Nexus have fallen for in the past.

Criminals create fake businesses to gain access to the company’s information regarding consumers, including their personal information such as Social Security numbers, addresses, and birth dates. Some 13,000 consumers’ information was accessed in a similar way around August 8th, causing the FTC to investigate after a previous data breach with the company raised eyebrows.

Although there appears to be no credit fraud linked to this breach, ChoicePoint was sued by the FTC and it was arranged that more than a quarter million dollars be paid into a fund to protect any consumers affected by this information leak. It is highly suggested that any suspicious activity on accounts be reported as identity theft.

Colorado Springs Liquor Store Heightens Credit Card Transaction Process After Recent Illegal Access

Cheers Liquor Mart in Colorado Springs recently had their wireless broadband hacked illegally sometime in mid-September, causing not only concern for their customers but a switch in their credit card processing system to a more secure dial-up system.

It is unknown at this time how many of their customers have been affected by this illegal access, but it is determined to be “thousands” of customers whose credit card information and data is at risk. Cheers Liquor Mart has hired Cyopsis LLC to handly the investigations, and they are working closely together with the Colorado SPrings Police to find adn arrest those responsible for the security breach.

If you were recently a customer at Cheers Liquor Mart in Colorado Springs, it is highly recommended that you monitor your credit accounts for fraudulent or suspicious activities and/or sign up for credit monitoring services to ensure your identity is protected. There have already been reports of fraudulent charges made in Florida locations from customers of the store.

Daytona Beach Medical Center Leaves Some 33,000 Patients’ Identity Vulnerable to Fraud

Halifax Health Medical Center in Daytona Beach, Florida recently notified some 33,000 recipients of their services that their identity may be at risk.

Due to a laptop theft on August 28th from a Halifax Health employee’s car, the medical center is sending letters to all their previous patients recommending identity theft protection services and placing fraud alerts on their credit reports to help protect them from any fraudulent activities from occurring on their financial records and accounts.

Investigations are continuing in hopes to find the laptop computer, although the information on the stolen computer were in fact password-protected. In the letter sent to patients, Halifax Health Medical Center gave a phone number to call with questions and a list of credit reporting agencies to file fraud alerts with.