Health Net Loses Information on Almost 1/2 million Clients

Attorney General Richard Blumenthal investigating Health Net data breach.  (He sure has been busy this month with Blue Shield's breach as well)

Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said today his office is investigating a data breach by health insurer Health Net, which led to the loss of almost 450,000 Connecticut residents' health, personal and financial information.

Blumenthal said Health Net lost the information in May, but never informed consumers, the police or his office about the loss of information until today.

He said the six-month delay in giving notice to consumers and the state could be a violation of the law.

"I am outraged and appalled by Health Net's huge loss of personal, financial and medical information and its failure to swiftly inform authorities and consumers," Blumenthal said. "This information vanished six months ago, but Health Net is only now informing authorities and consumers, an inexcusable and inexplicable delay."

Blumenthal said the information was on a hard drive that disappeared from Health Net's Shelton office. The hard drive included all data on 446,000 Connecticut patients, including health information, as well as financial and personal data such as social security and bank account numbers. The data was compressed, but not encrypted, although a specialized computer program is required to read it.

...."My investigation will seek to establish what happened and why the company kept its customers and the state in the dark for so long," Blumenthal added. "The company's failure to safeguard such sensitive information and inform consumers of its loss -- leaving them naked to identity theft -- may have violated state and federal laws. I will vigorously and aggressively seek damages, penalties and other appropriate remedies, if warranted." (full text at www.hartfordbusiness.com)

Here is a link to Health Net's release http://healthnet.tekgroup.com/press_kits.cfm?presskit_id=13


To 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".

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Payroll Processor Breached Twice in One Month

PayChoice Warns Business Clients of Network Breaches, Potential Fraud

October 19, 2009 - Linda McGlasson, Managing Editor

For the second time in less than a month, New Jersey-based payroll processor PayChoice has alerted customers to a network breach.

PayChoice, based in Moorestown, NJ, had to take its Online Employer site offline last Thursday for a short time after the latest security breach was discovered. While the exact cause of the breach was not revealed, the company says it has taken new precautions.

"PayChoice deployed additional security measures to protect client data after the company identified a key mechanism used by online attackers," says CEO Robert Digby. PayChoice's Online Employer site was briefly taken offline after the company discovered the breach, which occurred on Oct. 14. Digby says PayChoice has reopened the site with most functionality after protecting against the methods used in the attack.

The payroll processing company, which boasts more than 125,000 business clients, warned its customers by letter about the new breach after some clients reported "phantom" employees showing up on their payrolls.

The message to PayChoice customers indicated that the hackers may have stolen customer login IDs and passwords by going through a hole in security on the website feature that helps customers change their password. PayChoice says it turned off the change-password feature to fix the vulnerability. (Full text at www.bankinfosecurity.com)

To 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".

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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Radisson Hotels Suffer Data Breach

Radisson Hotels Suffer Data Breach. It's not this article that amazes me but the number of people that I speak with daily who do not see the need for Identity Theft Protection with full restoration services and/or Prepaid Legal Services since an identity theft is going to be a legal issue.

Radisson Hotels Suffer Data Breach

Unknown Number of Records Exposed During 6-Month Period

August 21, 2009 - Linda McGlasson, Managing Editor

An unknown number of Radisson Hotel guests in the U.S. and Canada may face credit card fraud in the wake of a data breach announced by the hotel chain this week.

In an open letter to customers, Fredrik Korallus, CEO of the hotel chain detailed the breach, which involved computer systems invaded by hackers for a six-month period, from Nov. 2008 to May 2009.

According to the hotel chain's spokesperson, David Chamberlin, the forensic investigation of the breach is still underway, with federal law enforcement involved, and the company isn't unable to provide accurate estimates of the number of potentially exposed records.

...The facts of the breach released by Radisson:

• Between November 2008 and May 2009, the computer systems of some Radisson Hotels & Resorts in the U.S. and Canada were accessed without authorization. This past spring, the company was able to confirm an intrusion. The investigation is ongoing.

• The accessed computer systems contained guest information such as the name printed on a credit or debit card, the account number and the expiration date on the card. "We do not know, however, whether a particular name, credit or debit card number or card expiration date were in fact accessed or taken," he says.

• The accessed computer systems did not include Social Security numbers.

• The hotel says at this time, "it appears to be an unauthorized attack from an outside source, and have no reason to believe it was an insider."

• The hotel says it has worked closely with the major credit card brands, issuers, the credit reporting agencies, and its payment processor, Elavon, to address the incident.

• It also placed ads announcing the breach in the Wall Street Journal and USA Today on Wednesday and has set up a dedicated web site to address customer questions.

• Notification letters were sent to affected consumers, where they were able to be identified, Chamberlain says.... (Full story at www.bankinfosecurity.com)

To 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".

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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Network Solutions Data Breach: 573,000 Cardholders at Risk

Network Solutions Data Breach: 573,000 Cardholders at Risk

Company Says It Was PCI-Compliant When Hacked

July 28, 2009 - Linda McGlasson, Managing Editor

A data breach at Internet domain administrator and host Network Solutions has compromised personal and financial data for more than 573,000 credit and debit cardholders. To add more pain to the breach, Network Solutions says it was PCI compliant at the time of the breach.

The breach, discovered in June, was the result of hackers planting rogue code on the company's Web servers used to host mostly small online stores, intercepting financial transactions between the sites and their customers. No further explanation of how the rogue code made its way onto the company's servers was available from Network Solutions. When asked, Susan Wade, Network Solutions communications representative says "Not at this time. Because of the ongoing law enforcement investigation, we aren't able to release that information."

Compromised data was captured between March 12 and June 8, 2009, when the breach was discovered, says Wade.

The last PCI assessment and certification of Network Solutions' networks was completed on October 31, 2008, says Wade. The firm that performed the assessment was the Payment Software Company, a San Jose, CA-based qualified security assessor company.

The 4.343 ecommerce merchant customers were notified of the breach on Friday, July 24, via an email and a letter sent via US postal service, Wade says. Network Solutions provides service to more than 10,000 merchant websites.

....Affected merchants can visit www.careandprotect.com, the website Network Solutions set up for them to get more information. .. (Full text at www.bankinfosecurity.com)

To 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".

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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Wyndham Hotel guests at risk for identity theft

Monday, February 16, 2009, 12:19pm EST
Wyndham Hotel guests at risk for identity theft
Tampa Bay Business Journal

A data breach at Wyndham Hotels & Resorts may have put up to 21,000 Florida residents in jeopardy of identity theft, Bill McCollum, Florida’s attorney general, said in a statement.

Wyndham reported the data breach to the AG last December and told the office it had contacted consumers of the unauthorized access to personal data on their debit and credit cards. So far, Wyndham believes no criminal identity theft related to the use of the consumer data has been identified. (Full text at www.bizjournals.com)

To 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".

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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