| LifeLock signs pact with NRA
Identity theft prevention service company LifeLock added a big gun to its list of clients, signing the National Rifle Association in a pact that gives members of the firearms organization discounted rates. LifeLock, based in Tempe, communicates with the nation's largest credit reporting agencies to make stolen information unusable to thieves. Backed by a $1 million guarantee, the company essentially reports stolen data, including bank account, credit card and social security numbers, to the agencies to stop charges from being approved. The service also removes customers names from junk mail lists and pre-approved credit card offers. With the partnership, NRA members will receive 60 days of free service and a 10 percent discount. The monthly cost for LifeLock is $10.
Deciphering the disk drive conundrum
Issues of privacy, information security and identity theft are concerns for all organizations, big and small. Individuals and corporations alike find themselves increasingly vulnerable to the destruction and corruption of sensitive data, including transaction records, banking details, password files, digital photos and even video clips. .
In fraud fight, banks play priceless role
When it comes to protecting you against identity theft and fraud, banks occupy a unique position of influence. They're the central depository for consumers' money and sensitive personal information. Get hold of someone's monthly bank statement and you've got a ton of valuable data. As heavily regulated as banks are, consumers should expect that their financial institution does more than any other business to guard their personal data. An annual study by Javelin Strategy and Research finds that although banks are doing a fairly good job at helping customers resolve identity theft and fraud cases, they need to make the customer more of a partner in a joint battle against crooks. "Banks and credit unions do a great job behind the scenes – total fraud dropped last year from $55.7 billion to $49.3 billion – but this report shows where they can enlist a willing customer base to do even better," said this month's report by Pleasanton, Calif.-based Javelin, which provides research on financial services topics.
Beware: Christmas Shopping Season Equals Identity Theft Season
The statistics on identity theft are staggering. According to the firm id Alerts 13.3 people per minute across North America become victims of identity theft, that works out to 799 people per hour and 19,178 people per day. As a reporter, I've covered the identity theft issue pointing out that it could happen to anyone. It's one thing saying that, it's another living it. I lost my wallet recently at a large downtown Ottawa hotel with thousands of people floating around. When I realized it was lost and went back to find it, no one on staff had seen the wallet or the coat it was tucked inside of, now also lost. Did I mention I lost my wallet and all my ID after attending a news conference on identity theft? It's okay you can laugh at me, everyone else has. But at least I had just spoken to some of the best experts in the business of protecting your vital data.
Ideas in Motion: Anthony Munns Assesses Risk and Rewards
It's a pressure-packed meeting and the business executives are worried. With the daily newspapers and talk shows full of news on yet another security breach and identity theft incident, the higher-ups are trying to figure out how to protect their data and systems. More importantly, they want to ensure their technology and supporting information provides the necessary and much-needed peace of mind they must have for their customers and themselves.
As the group surmises its present processes won't get the job done, they realize they need help. That's where Anthony J. Munns, CISA, CIRM, CPIM, comes in.
Munns is head of the Risk Management Services practice for Brown Smith Wallace, LLC in St. Louis, Mo., where he performs IT audit, security, HIPAA implementation services and technology attest reviews, including SAS 70 reviews.
Regulators want new ID-theft measures
The nation's top financial regulators want to make sure banks are doing everything possible to curb identity theft, the financial crime that takes millions of people for billions of dollars every year.
But as the government considers imposing new requirements on financial institutions to help prevent ID theft, the banking industry worries the initiative will result in costly red tape that could ultimately hurt consumers more than help them.
The Federal Reserve and five other regulatory agencies unveiled a set of proposals this week that would require financial institutions to take detailed measures to prevent the compromise of customers' financial data.
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DataPlay Takes Leadership Role in TCG's New Optical Storage Subgroup
LONGMONT, Colo., Nov. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- DPHI, Inc. / DataPlay, a leader in advanced optical storage solutions, announced today its leadership of the Optical Storage Subgroup (OSS) within Trusted Computing Group's Storage Work Group (SWG). In this role, DataPlay will help set the design for the world's first optical burner to support Trusted Computing Group's storage specification. "We are pleased to contribute to the Trusted Computing Group and its Storage Work Group. There is a large market opportunity for a 'trusted optical drive,' which will serve as a remedy for data loss and identity theft. In a 2006 study conducted by Ponemon Institute LLC, 81% of companies it surveyed had lost one or more laptop computers containing sensitive information. A related study by the same group found 74% of organizations that experienced a data breach lost customers.
Moment’s blunder puts half the country at risk
Perhaps his mind was elswhere that Thursday morning. England's hopes of qualifying for the European Championships had been dentged the night before by defeat in Moscow — still, there was the Rugby World Cup Final to look forward to at the weekend. Certainly, when the request came to send child benefit data to the National Audit Office in London, the junior official’s mind does not appear to have been on the job. He burned the entire national child benefit database on two computer discs, popped them in an envelope and sent them to the post room for collection by TNT couriers. "He messed up, it was treated as a normal piece of mail," an insider at HM Revenue & Customs said. The IT worker returned to his duties, unaware that posting that envelope would trigger the country’s biggest police investigation into possible identity theft and jeopardise the career of the Chancellor.
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