Closed Florida Company Under Speculation for Dumped Credit and Medical Files in Dumpster

In mid-July, an unidentified woman contacted authorities when she came across a dumpster in Orlando, Florida full of personal credit and medical records.

Orlando Police are investigating the situation, and are trying to find out who had access to the documents. The files were from a company called LV Financial Services, which strangely went out of business some five years ago–the question is, who had these files all this time and how did they end up in this random dumpster?

LV Financial was a credit debt collection company that obtained these files from companies looking to collect on old debts. Proper disposal should have included the documents being shredded, and authorities are shocked at how many peoples’ in formation were found openly available in the dumpster.

It is situations like these that should encourage others to invest in identity theft protection services and credit monitoring services to ensure that, if in fact they fall victim to a company that inappropriately disposes of documents, that their personal and financial history and future are protected from such personal, fraudulent attacks.

Storm Lake, Iowa College Falls Victim to Campus Data Breach

It has been confirmed that Buena Vista University, located in Storm Lake, Iowa, has fallen victim to a data breach on campus, in which a campus database was accessed without authorization sometime in June.

The database that was accessed contained information going back to 1987, and included personally identifiable information on BVU students, faculty, staff, parents, alumni and even BVU donors. This information included names, Social Security numbers, and in some cases, driver’s license numbers.

This breach, which was confirmed to have happened sometime in June, has caused the University to invest time and energy in contacting some 93,000 people who have been affected. Although there have been no reports of information on this database being misused, university officials have notified the proper authorities of the data breach and are taking the time to contact all who have been affected.

If you feel you may have been a victim of this data breach, it is important that you take the steps in securing your financial future and protecting your personal information by enrolling in an identity theft protection service.

Economic Research Institute Data Breach

Those who were recipients of the Lake Placid-based Deo B. Colburn Foundation Scholarship for the 2003-2004 academic school year are now at risk for identity theft.

The Deo B. Colburn Foundation filed a 2002 tax return, form 990, which included the names and information of over 340 students who received money from this foundation. Their information included their names, addresses, academic institutions, amount of money received and their Social Security numbers. The problem started when a past recipient of this scholarship, Lindsey Pashow, searched her name on Google and found the document publicly on the internet.

It is unknown how long the information was made publicly available, but there is talk that the document was available on the web since around 2005. While there is still speculation as to who was responsible for posting this information (the IRS or the foundation itself), the information has been removed and there is currently no evidence that the information has been used for the purpose of identity theft. Still with information like Social Security numbers available to the public it would be prudent to use a credit report monitoring service or identity theft protection service.

State Labor Department Victim of Break-in and Theft of Office Laptops

The Connecticut Department of Labor has released information in regards to a recent theft at the Bridgeport Office. The information on the laptop included personally identifiable and confidential information on unemployment insurance claims throughout the state.

Although the information on the laptop is encrypted and password protected, there is still possibility of a data breach occurring, and with the right person, the information can be hacked and accessed and used inappropriately for a number of illegal attempts at fraud.

The Connecticut Department of Labor is in the process of contacting some 5,000 people who they believe could have been affected by this laptop theft, and are offering free identity theft and credit protection services for one year to all those whose information is at risk.

Facebook Troubles – Make Sure You Protect Your Privacy on Facebook

While there has been a lot of press lately regarding security lapses on Facebook and other social networking sites, it turns out the that user’s biggest enemy could be the person in the mirror. A fairly recent undercover study by the security firm Sophos had some results that you may or may not find surprising.

Sophos representatives created two fake Facebook identities. One, Daisy Felettin, is an anagram of “false identity.” The second is Dinette Stonily, an anagram of “stolen identity.” These “people” were able to become friends with a total of 95 Facebook members within the course of two weeks.

Neither “person” claimed to know the people it was trying to friend, and both profiles had pictures of animals on them instead of people’s faces; one a cat and one a plastic duck. There was no reason for the random people who received the requests to believe that they knew either of these “people” personally.

What is more alarming is that when these “people” gained their new “friends” these friends basically offered them their birth dates and other select details about their personal lives free of charge. What is even more alarming than that is that they also shared personal information of other people in their friends lists just by doing so.

According to Tom S. Noda of Computerworld Philippines, “Just under half of the 20-ish crowd, and just under a third of the 50-ish crowd gave away personal information about their friends and family.”
The best way to prevent this from happening to you is to stay off of social networking sites altogether, but if you just need to have your daily or weekly Facebook fix, be very careful who you’re friends with and what you share. Keep information like your address, your phone number and your date of birth off of your profile, even if you only have it visible to friends. You never know when someone will hack into the system and view it, even if you think you have it locked up tight.

Never agree to be friends with a person you don’t know, no matter how harmless this person seems. And don’t connect to brand pages or applications that may share your information with third parties, which, sad to say, is pretty much all of them.

If you need to share personal details with your friends, do it the old fashioned way; pick up the phone. Keep social networking at the level of casual acquaintances. Give very vague details about your life and talk about music, movies and the weather. Also, don’t become friends with people whose names are anagrams of “identity theft.”

Learn more about identity theft protection today.

New Employee Accidentally Exposes Personal Information of Over 130,000 Investment Advisors

A new employee that was hired to work for the Massachusetts secretary of state’s office, sent a CD-ROM to IA Week, an investment industry publication, which included public information from the Securities Division. The list of registered investment companies, however, was not supposed to include information such as Social Security numbers, birthdates and birth places, and physical information such as height, weight, hair and eye color.

This information was supposed to be removed before sending outside of the department; however, a new employee made a mistake by not taking out the information and sending the data as it was, personally identifiable information and all.

The CD-ROM was returned, and there is no reason to believe that the information was used or accessed by anyone other than the employee and recipient. But if anyone feels they may be at risk, it is recommended that those concerned about their financial or personal information invest in the best credit monitoring service or identity theft protection service.

Personal Information of Over 53,000 Exposed at University of Hawaii

The University of Hawaii is currently working with the Honolulu Police Department and the FBI to investigate exposed personal information that was hacked into on or around May 30th, 2010.

The information that was accessed included names, Social Security numbers, credit card data and driver’s license information, among other data, for two groups of individuals, including University of Hawaii Manoa employees in 1998 and University of Hawaii’s Manoa Parking Office interactions from January of 1998 to June of 2009.

A letter has been sent to the individuals that may have been affected, and it is strongly encouraged that their financial history and records be protected with identity theft protection services. Additional information regarding the security breach can be obtained at 808-956-6000.

Health Research Study Leaves over 2,000 at Risk for Identity Theft

The University of Florida’s College of Medicine’s Department of Epidemiology and Health Policy Research is under investigation after over 2,000 questionnaires regarding the HPV human papillomavirus vaccination were sent out with the participant’s Social Security number or Medicaid numbers posted on the address labels in order to track the participant’s responses.

This is, however, against the University of Florida’s policy, as well as the state’s Agency for Health Care Administration and the United States’ Office of Civil Rights. The numbers posted on the address labels have the hyphens removed, but can obviously still be used to commit fraud if detected by the wrong person.

Those who may have been affected by this incident have been notified via mail, along with information on how to protect their financial and medical data, such as identity theft protection services or credit monitoring services. The risk of theft is extremely low, states University of Florida spokesman, but the risk is still there. For those who have received the letter but are still concerned and have questions, they are encouraged to contact the Privacy Office Hotline at 1-866-876-HIPA.

Past and Present American Airlines Employee Files Lost on Stolen Hard Drive

American Airlines, one of the largest airline companies around, has reported a possible data breach due to a stolen hard drive. This hard drive, which contained employee information dating back to the 1960′s, was stolen from the AMR headquarters located in Fort Worth, Texas the beginning of June, 2010.

This hard drive contained the names, addresses, Social Security numbers and birthdates of thousands of employees, and although no information has been received that the data has been used for fraudulent purposes, American Airlines is offering a year of free credit monitoring services for those who may have been affected.