Consumer data theft

Archived coverage of personal information security breaches.

October 17, 2005

Identity theft -- unplugged

Worried that shadowy gangs of Russian hackers are breaking into computer networks, stealing your financial secrets? Don't lose too much sleep over it.

August 17, 2005

Hacking It

Avi Rubin is known for annoying large companies and important people.

August 9, 2005

Firm says it uncovered ID-theft ring

CLEARWATER, Fla. - The very private details of people's lives flashed on a wall at Sunbelt Software yesterday.

July 11, 2005

Making a fresh start after identity theft

As companies roll out a growing variety of tools to combat identity theft, some Americans are taking a more radical step: changing their Social Security number.

June 21, 2005

Credit card security lapses cause worries for retailers

Retailers are concerned that they might bear the brunt of lapses in credit and computer security, including the breach that led to hundreds of thousands, and perhaps millions, of credit card numbers being stolen from a credit processing center that was disclosed last week.

June 19, 2005

Insurers offering policies for ID theft

After someone used Robert Nighan's credit card to charge $2,000 worth of golf clubs in California, the insurance executive got an idea.

June 19, 2005

Few MasterCard accounts at high risk

ATLANTA - MasterCard users, don't fret. Only a small fraction of the 13.9 million MasterCard accounts exposed to possible fraud were considered at high risk, the company said yesterday.

June 18, 2005

40 million credit card numbers are at risk

In the largest reported breach of personal data, hackers infiltrated the computers at a credit card processing center and stole as many as 40 million card numbers, MasterCard International disclosed yesterday.

June 8, 2005

Missing data is latest in rash of breaches

When CitiFinancial, the Baltimore-based consumer-finance division of Citigroup Inc., put a box of computer tapes that documented the financial habits of its customers on a UPS truck in Weehawken, N.J., last month, the shipment represented one routine step in the nation's sprawling credit system.

June 7, 2005

UPS loses data on 3.9 million Citigroup clients

Citigroup Inc., the world's largest financial-services company, said yesterday that computer tapes containing personal data on 3.9 million loan customers have been lost by United Parcel Service.

May 30, 2005

ID theft coverage draws criticism

After someone used Robert Nighan's credit card to charge $2,000 worth of golf clubs in California, the insurance executive got an idea.

May 30, 2005

Aiding potential victims of data theft

In the past several months, a parade of household names -- from Polo and Time Warner to MCI and Bank of America -- have been sending out "oops" letters apologizing for leaving laptops around that are chock full of private data or issuing news releases about possible credit-card theft.

May 24, 2005

Two banks send notices about possible ID thefts

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - More than 100,000 customers of Wachovia Corp. and Bank of America Corp. have been notified that their financial records might have been stolen by bank employees and sold to collection agencies.

May 23, 2005

Hackers use new tricks to steal IDs

Phishing is so 2004. This year's new Web threats are "pharming" and "evil twins."

May 5, 2005

Police probing data theft from information-security company employee

SafeNet Inc. is one of the world's top information security companies, supplying encryption technologies to protect communications, patents and other sensitive data for corporations and government agencies.

April 15, 2005

Action near in Congress on combating identity theft

WASHINGTON - Responding to outrage from consumers whose personal information has been stolen from companies, Congress is primed to pass new laws to try to prevent break-ins and to require businesses to confess to customers when private information is taken.

April 15, 2005

Identity thieves apparently hit clothing retailer

NEW YORK - The apparent theft of data from the popular clothing retailer Polo Ralph Lauren Corp. is forcing banks and credit card issuers to notify thousands of consumers that their credit card information might have been exposed.

April 13, 2005

Data theft at LexisNexis much larger

The identity thieves who stole passwords to tap personal data from information broker LexisNexis hacked the records of more than 300,000 Americans, 10 times what the company first acknowledged, the company disclosed yesterday.

March 9, 2005

Data broker hires U.S. security official

ATLANTA - Data broker ChoicePoint Inc., whose enormous consumer-information file was breached last fall, said yesterday that it has hired a top official at the government agency that oversees airport screening to review the way the company screens its customers.

March 5, 2005

2 executives of ChoicePoint under scrutiny

ATLANTA -Embattled data broker ChoicePoint Inc. said yesterday that the Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating stock sales by its top two executives.

March 4, 2005

ChoicePoint had earlier data leak

Scammers penetrated ChoicePoint Inc.'s vast online database of personal records five years ago in an operation similar to a more recent case that has triggered a national furor over privacy, court records show.

March 2, 2005

Md. legislators to offer bill on ID theft

Maryland legislators are expected to introduce legislation to protect personal information from identity fraud in response to the security breach at ChoicePoint Inc. in which thieves acquired data on thousands of consumers.

February 22, 2005

Huge theft of identity data could have victims in Md.

Data collection company ChoicePoint Inc. said yesterday that it will notify 2,750 Marylanders who may have been victimized in what privacy experts said could become one of the largest identity theft cases ever.

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