Top 10 Security Breaches of 2008To learn more about Identity Theft and what to do if you are a victim, visit www.StopIdTheftCrime.com and subscribe to the newsletter to obtain your free 46 page eBook "Fighting Back Against Identity Theft".Ghost of Christmas Past (TJX) Still Casts Specter on Present and FutureDecember 22, 2008 - Linda McGlasson, Managing Editor
From Hannaford to Countrywide to the Bank of New York Mellon, 2008 has been a year of high-profile security breaches in or impacting the financial services industry. Here's our list of the top 10 - and lessons that should be learned, so we aren't back revisiting these issues in '09.1. TJX Case Winds Up, Arrests Made
The August arrest of 11 alleged hackers accused of stealing more than 40 million credit and debit cards brings law enforcement closer to closing what is still the largest hack ever.
An unencrypted backup tape with 4.5 million customers of the Bank of New York Mellon went missing on Feb. 27, after it was sent to a storage facility.In March, the Maine-based Hannaford Brothers grocery store chain announced that 4.2 million customer card transactions had been compromised by the hackers. More than 1800 credit card numbers were immediately used for fraudulent transactions.
4. Countrywide Insider TheftIn August, a former Countrywide Financial Corp. senior financial analyst, Rene Rebollo, was arrested and charged by the FBI for stealing and selling sensitive personal information of an estimated 2 million mortgage loan applicants.
5. GE Money Backup Tape Goes AWOL
Early in January, Iron Mountain said it could not find a backup tape that belonged to GE Money, containing information on about 650,000 J.C. Penney customers and the other 100 retailers.
6. RSA Report: Half-Million Banking ID's Stolen
In November, security vendor RSA said it found a single Trojan that had taken more than 500,000 online banking accounts credentials, credit cards and other resources.7. Compass Bank Hard Drive Stolen, 1 Million Accounts Taken
At the sentencing of a former bank programmer at Compass Bank in Birmingham, AL. in March, it was revealed that the accused had stolen a hard drive with 1 million customer records and used it to commit debit-card fraud.
Lesson Learned: Compass Bank dodged a bullet in terms of cost on this breach. It would have had to notify all 1 million customers of the compromise of their data had the hard drive theft been in a state that requires notification. Other than the 250 customers that Real took money from, no other customers were notified of the data loss. That means that 999,750 of the other 1 million customers weren't notified of the potential risk.8. Ski Resort Okemo Suffers Hannaford-Like Data Breach
In an attack similar to what hit Hannaford Brothers in March, the Okemo Ski Resort in Vermont said in April it had been hit by hackers that installed malicious software to capture credit card data as it was being processed at the resort.
Six months after a breach happened at the parent company of the Montgomery Ward website, the company Direct Marketing Services finally began notifying customers that their credit card information was stolen in the hack. At least 51,000 records were stolen....
10. More Than $5 Million Taken By ATM Capers
In June, two men were charged with making hundreds of withdrawals from New York City ATMs, grabbing $750,000 in the process,....One of the same accused also allegedly took $5 million in withdrawals from iWire prepaid MasterCard accounts.
Remember, estimates are that every 2-4 seconds an Identity is compromised. Why take chances? Why not protect yourself and your loved ones with the best suite of services provided (including restoration) by the best NYSE company in the field? Educate yourself and visit the shameless plug below or call me at (909) 208-3728!
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