According to a Sacramento news website, Sutter Health workers will soon be receiving a letter that their personal data has been compromised. The social security numbers’ of approximately 6,000 personnel was saved to a laptop that was reported missing back in 2007. The laptop recently was turned in to a repair shop. Once technicians at the repair shop realized what the file contained, they returned the hard drive to Sutter Health. They also wrote a certified letter stating that they did not retain any of the information contained on the hard drive.
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There has been high concern over the “conficker worm” affecting computers and going into overdrive on April 1st. One of many media websites suggest that if you want to know whether your computer has been infected, try to load any Microsoft website in your browser. Apparently, the worm will not allow internet browsers to load any Microsoft owned websites, which ironically offer the software to rid your computer of this worm for free. If you have been infected and can not pull up the Microsoft website, try asking a friend to download the removal tool for you and have them email it to your account so you can load it that way.
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Starbucks has recently reported an incident that has exposed 97,000 employees to the risk of having their identity stolen. A laptop that contained the employees’ personal information (including names, addresses and social security numbers) was stolen on Wednesday, October 29th. A memo to those affected can be found online at: Starbucksgossip.com. The memo shows that the Seattle police department have been notified and that there is no sign that this information has been misused.
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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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Our email accounts can easily be the source of identity theft, if we are not careful of not responding to risky emails. Many email account owners, especially those new to email, are not aware of “phishing” scams where emails are sent that look like they belong to legitimate companies, but are actually ploys to extract personal information from the account owner. It is not hard to design an email and send it out to thousands of people who think it is from a well-respected company. This has happened over the years with PayPal, Bank of America and other companies, being sent by imposters. You will often find that companies let you know that they will never ask for your personal information by email and not to respond to such inquiries.

Now, there is a phishing scam circulating the internet targeting the Better Business Bureau (BBB). (more…)

The Charleston Gazette has reported that employees of the state of West Virginia are being contacted to be alerted that their personal information, including social security number, is stored on a laptop that has been stolen in early October. Over 400 employees with the state insurance commission and over 100 employees with the Bureau of Medical Services and Child Support Enforcement Division of the Department of Health and Human Resources are affected by this computer theft.
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After a theft of several laptops last month, thousands of Charter Communications personnel have had their personal data stolen. This affects both current and former employees. Those affected were sent letters explaining that these laptops were stolen from company property. Data stolen includes social security numbers, birth dates and driver license numbers. Many of those involved are in the South Carolina area. The theft is being investigated.

More Ways to Protect Yourself
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So how do you protect yourself from those who know how to gain access to your computer without your knowledge? One thing we all must have is a firewall. The ports to your computer are a way for internet traffic to come right to your hard drive. It does not matter if the websites you buy from or bank with show that they have high security protection, if you don’t have it yourself. Anytime you are online without your own personal firewall, you can be accessed by anyone on the internet and they will be able to easily get to your banking information, credit card numbers, or anything else you store on your computer. Your entire hard drive is accessible to them. You must install a firewall which will block your computer from incoming internet access.
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Many of us who use the internet, especially those of us who have “direct connections”, do not realize how vulnerable we are to having our personal information stolen by hackers. If you use cable modem, DSL or T1 to connect to the internet, (more…)