My Way News FYI
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – A company that collects consumer data warned thousands of Californians that hackers penetrated the company’s computer network and may have stolen credit reports, Social Security numbers and other sensitive information.
ChoicePoint Inc. (CPS), which sells such data to government agencies and a variety of companies, acknowledged Tuesday that several hackers broke into its computer database and purloined data from as many as 35,000 Californians.
Last fall, hackers apparently used stolen identities to create what appeared to be legitimate businesses seeking ChoicePoint accounts, said Chuck Jones, a spokesman for Alpharetta, Ga.-based company. They opened about 50 accounts.
The attack appears to have resulted in at least six cases of identity theft in Los Angeles County. It’s unclear whether the data of people outside California was exposed. But law enforcement agents, who have arrested one person on six counts of theft, say hundreds of thousands of Americans elsewhere may be at risk.
You can try to eliminate paper, but the ink is another matter.
50 fake companies, data for sale we don’t need anything in writing. A real Matrix situation for Caleefornea. SAIC was broken into. They are developing some goofy virtual case file system for the FBI. It isn’t going so well. Don’t get of your printer yet John! The printer is more powerful than the modem. The modem is helpful, but you can’t beat basic old ink for effect and the cause. My Great Grandfather had a print shop a hundred years ago. I wish I still had that shop, but what can you do? Write your senator maybe.
http://technologywatch.blogspot.com/2005/02/more-on-that-fbi-story-and-vcf-via.html
Law enforcement should be prosecuting ChoicePoint too. No one gave them permission to release their data to third parties. Lock up the executives or maybe post all of the executives social securities numbers on the internet.
Has anyone ever wondered how many of these “thefts” of data are not actually thefts of data but intentional to provide the information to another company.
I say these type of incidents should be treated as “information laundering” by the authorities and the companies involved should be prosecuted.
Hey, what about a special punishment for these type of companies that get hacked. If your company gets hacked, your company is only permitted to store private information on paper for 2 years.
I bet such a penalty would make these companies get serious.
Right now, it’s like “Whoops, someone stole YOUR shiznit.” Let’s make “Aw shiznit, we’re gonna go out of business!!”
This thing is getting out of hand.
It now appears that individuals from accross the USA have been affected.
And what about people from other countries? Remember for a European to be allowed to travel to the USA the airline he or she is flying has to send his/hers personal data to the USA. What if the airline is sending this data to companies such as ChoicePoint?
Why as a business person should I travel to the USA if my personal data is so vulnerable? OK USA is an important market to Europeans, but at what risk? Maybe we should just stay home.
At least here if the flight is overbooked, I get something.
I would love to visit the U.S. of A. once more, and enjoy the peculiarities of the American psyche, but for the moment I think I must wait until the USA looks at its past, and gets rid of all these “modern” arrangements.
wait….if you read more of the articles…you’ll find out that the only reason that ChoicePoint had to TELL Californians is because of a law passed last year that mandated them. Evidently, it was NOT JUST California data lost…but they aren’t required to notify anyone else in the country about that loss.
It’s not POOR California, in this case. It’s aww, poor suckers that live in any state that they don’t have to tell you. This was a system wide data loss….not just California (like what computer program files things so neatly?)
Watch your credit reports……you might be ID thefted, at this moment.
“”ChoicePoint served as a case in point for the pro-regulation crowd because the company recently experienced a security breach and was forced to notify customers in California…”””
“”Last week the company began sending e-mail to California residents, whose information may have been compromised as a result of the breach, in compliance with that state’s laws.”””
”But residents in other states that do not have laws requiring such notification will not be told if their information was stolen. The company did not reveal whether the intruders used information of customers in other states for illegal purposes.”
http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,66632,00.html?tw=wn_4polihead
You have to read between the lines…but ChoicePoint lost a lot MORE data than they are telling, because no laws make them.
The Governator will figure this all out for you Californians. Relax, this might look bad but it could be worse. It’s not like you are having rolling blackouts again. This is like Enron information management. Write your congressman, light a candle, do something. Buy a new pen! Buy an HP printer and some paper. I got a new Cross Pen&Pencil for Christmas. I love polished chrome. Check out the new Cross Art Deco Century II line at http://www.cross.com VERY COOL!
If I entrust a company with my credit card number and it is stolen because of their lax security… I should be able to sue them.
It’s not like hackers are a new threat!
You might want to just use cash or a check Hank. The credit card companies are corporations. They have the same legal rights as a person. They just don’t have a soul to damn or pants to kick. Trusting a corporation is dangerous. If they break the trust, it’s your problem. You can trust John Dvorak, since he wears the pants at this blog. The corporation will be blown to bits. Look at Enron. Lots of trust there and no soul. Credit cards are a security problem. The more you have, the greater the risk. Some people claim that cash is the problem. Cash is the solution. Your dotcom stock isn’t worth the paper it isn’t printed on.
Go back in time kids
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2000/02/15/60II/main160799.shtml
The world is full of suckers and cons reinventing business. Some of the hackers may be more honest than your average dotcom executives past and present. Some people rob you with a gun and others with a web ad. We can make a free browser, but ads are still a big expense. This is what will change Google. Once free ads gain mainstream status, Google ad revenues will dry up. There are plenty of people who could gore the Google ox. Everything is profit and loss. You can’t reinvent that. Google is doing great, but things change fast. Wiki is free. Google wants to host Wiki. Wiki could start serving as a place for creating ads. Then ads could just start being collaborative. Ten people could write an ad and give it away for a commission. The best ads will get the higher commissions. Then there is the problem of fake ads and spoofs. Fake companies bought data from a real company. Real dotcoms are making money from Talon selling word ads. I don’t think it is a sustainable business model.
MSN Talont
Meet Cy http://www.msnfound.com/cy.aspx
Mood: Brain dead. I stayed up all day working on the clips archive. Put the final security measures in place to make sure THEY won’t be able to shut us down again. Then I went to my next shift without any sleep. The things I do for you guys.
SEARCH YOU SUCKERS
Brain dead Cy. This is a modern U.S. corporation putting on a show for the public. Microsoft is serious about security. Watch for a ton of fake web sites from Microsoft. Microsoft is getting serious with MSN Search. What kind of drugs are floating around Redmond? Maybe the gene pool in Redmond is drying up. You’ll never plow a field by turning it over in your mind. THESE PEOPLE ARE REINVENTING BUSINESS. HAS YOUR SERVER BEEN CRACKED? CALL CY AT MICROSOFT CORP..