Texas A&M University seems to be having frequent problems with their computer system suffering security breaches. It is reported that for the fourth time in two years, the university has exposed social security numbers of current and former students.

One of their students did an internet search on the university web site and found information that included applicants who were admitted to the university in 2005. The information found included the social security number of the student who initiated the search.

The web site was shut down temporarily so the document could be removed.

“We take this very seriously and it is always disappointing when something like this happens,” A&M-Corpus Christi President Flavius Killebrew said Friday.

The university Executive Vice President of Finance and Administration advised that letters of all individuals affected were to be mailed out this past Monday. The time frame involved is not currently known and authorities are working to figure out how long the information was able to be viewed on the internet.

This is the most recent incident reported by the university. An earlier occurrence took place in September 2008 when a computer server was illegally accessed by an outside hacker, also exposing records that included student social security numbers.

A flash drive containing social security numbers of students was misplaced back in June of 2007 and to wrap up the list, a class roster of 49 students’ was misplaced that contained social security numbers. The use of social security numbers as identifiers was discontinued in the fall of 2007.

A university employee will be reprimanded for the availability of such numbers in the most recent incident. These were to be wiped off of the server’s archives.

AAA Tidewater Virginia will now be offering an additional service to their members: LifeLock identity theft protection services. For a discount, members of this AAA club will be able to get identity theft protection.

“Educating consumers about identity theft is a priority for us,” said LifeLock CEO Todd Davis. “We have partnered with more than a dozen AAA clubs now, and we are pleased to continue to work with an organization that takes a proactive approach in protecting their member’s identities.”
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A man who formerly worked for a car dealership in Plantation, FL, has pleaded guilty to mail fraud conspiracy. The 26 year old, Dayton Diaz, admitted to selling personal information of approximately 75 dealership customers for $9,000. The customers’ information sold included names, addresses and social security numbers.
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Even though we do not normally think of children as becoming victims of identity theft, it is best to be on the cautious side when it comes to their protection. Many children have become victims of identity theft without knowing until they begin their adult life in the financial world.
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Well, it is all over the news. A pharmacy benefits management company, Express Scripts, has reported that they received an extortion letter that is threatening to expose patient records that number into the millions. The company is being required to pay a large sum of money to prevent this data breach from taking place. The letter is a great concern due to the fact that it did contain names, social security number, dates of birth and prescription information on several of their patients’ records. Express Scripts received this letter last month and has now seen fit to make the matter known to the public.
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A ring of five identity thieves has been discovered in the Denver area. Four of the five have been arrested and charged with a combined 65 counts of committing a crime, including identity theft. The leader of the group is being held on $500,000 bond. The four arrested thieves have been identified as: Shadwick Weaver, James Bierce, Carrie Robinson and Kelly Head. The thief still at large has been identified as: Levi Fairbanks.
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Recent reports reflect that over 89,000 people who are associated with the Texas lottery (either as employees or as winners), have had their personal information taken from a state agency by a former employee. A computer analyst that once worked for the state commission for eight years, copied the data onto disks, without permission. The data copied includes social security numbers, names, addresses and amounts awarded.
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It has been reported that the US Department of State disclosed last week that close to 400 people who applied for passports, were affected by a data breach within their department. This breach occurred back in March and all affected have been offered one year of free credit monitoring. Letters of notification were mailed out back on July 10th and also on October 6th. About the same time of year, the department had revealed that contractors illegally gained access to the passport records of Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain, as well as others who have a high profile. A spokeswoman for the State Department, stated that a department employee was terminated for illegally accessing 383 records.
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The FTC has announced that they will give federal institutions more time to become compliant with rules that were originally to be enfored on November 1, 2008. These rules would require that financial institutions have measures in place to be able to determine any fraudulent transactions or data breaches that are taking place. These institutions are required to have a written plan of identity theft prevention and to implement that plan. Now that identity theft has become such a widespread problem, these measures are necessary.
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