Laptop Encryption Not Present In Computer Lost By Blue Cross

Horizon Blue Cross/Blue Shield of New Jersey is notifying over 300,000 members that their names, Social Security numbers, and other information was in a laptop computer stolen on January 5 from the home of an employee who was authorized to take the data home. Well, I’m assuming it’s her home, although the health insurance company pointedly ..

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Verizon mixes up two subscribers private info, wont fix!

To put it bluntly, Verizon has shown that they don’t care - at all - about protecting their users private, confidential information. Two random subscribers can see each others private details - address, phone numbers, credit card details, account info, etc. After multiple service requests, Verizon continues to ignore it. Identity theft anyone?

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TSA security flaws exposed users to risk of identity theft

Significant security flaws in the Transportation Security Administration's traveler redress web site exposed thousands of travelers to the risk of identity theft. Alanis might call it ironic, but we call it sad and unacceptable.

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Stop the Junk Mail Onslaught

There are a couple of really good ways to cut down on the amount of junk mail that you receive. I know I have started taking these steps and have begun to see a smaller flow already. My PO box has been empty 2 days in a row! That's got to be a record of some kind.

In any case here is what you can do:

1. Visit Optoutprescreen.com and follow the directions there to remove yourself from credit card offers. There are two options. If you opt out electronically, you are removed from :firm: offers for 5 years. If you mail in your request you can be removed from the list permanently. The site indicates that there are benefits to receiving "firm" offers. Stating that you can comparison shop on different offers. Ok, I can understand that for someone who is just establishing credit maybe. However, can't you really do that one the internet? I think so. The internet after all is a wealth of information and I'm sure every credit card company ever created can be found there.

2. To get rid of the vast majority of other junk mail that clutters up our houses visit Direct Marketing Association and register for their Mail Preference Service. My suggestion is to mail in your application with a $1.00 fee. Or you can also use a credit card and register online. There is also a very informative FAQ section at the website that should help us all figure out the $2,000,000 question ---- "How Did They Get My Name"?

Hope these tips help you to unclutter your mailbox, your life, and also save some trees in the process!

Simplify Your Life - Defend Your Identity - Managed Identity Protection.com

650,000 Consumers Personal Data Breached

The stories just keep rolling in, and this one is a doozie. This story was on the AP wire on the 18th of January:

Personal information on about 650,000 customers of J.C. Penney and up to 100 other retailers could be compromised after a computer tape went missing. GE Money, which handles credit card operations for Penney and many other retailers, said Thursday night that the missing information includes Social Security numbers for about 150,000 people.

The information was on a backup computer tape that was discovered missing last October. It was being stored at a warehouse run by Iron Mountain Inc., a data storage company, and was never checked out but can't be found either, said Richard C. Jones, a spokesman for GE Money, part of General Electric Capital Corp.

To read the rest of the story Click Here

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Let's Be Careful Out There!

Some of us may remember the old TV series "Hill St. Blues"? Well, they used to have a scene at the beginning of every show that the Sargent used to give all the officers an update of the current situations and criminal activity that was going on out on the streets. At the end of his discussion when everyone was standing up to leave he often would stop everyone with the following: "Hey! Let's be careful out there!" Well, I guess the following story adds a new twist to this:

From PC Mag's Security Watch Blog:

In the most flabbergasting case of law enforcement paranoia since the Julie Amero case, a Florida police office is under investigation for having linked, in his MySpace profile, to another person who had a porn link in their profile.

John Nohejl is a "resource officer," on-campus at Gulf Middle School in New Port Richey, Fl. He didn't have any porn on his page and he didn't link to a porn page, but one of the 170 people listed as his friends had a link on their site to a legal porn site. This is the way the St.Petersburg Times put it: "...kids could navigate from Officer John's page on the social networking site to "Amateur Match Free Sex" in just three clicks." And now the officer is under investigation by the New Port Richey Police Department and the Florida attorney general's cyber crimes unit for making the materials available to underage children.

So now people are responsible for what happens on web sites to which they link. Time to stop linking to Google; In just one click you can get to hundreds of millions of offensive pages.

MANAGED IDENTITY PROTECTION

Missouri Senator works to protect ID theft victims’ assets

Missouri Senator Michael R. Gibbons has introduced a bill that would protect the assets of ID Theft victims. Gibbons said new protections are needed to combat the growing number of identity theft victims who lose their hard-earned money and assets.

“Victims should not have to lose what they’ve worked their entire life to earn after being defrauded,” Gibbons said. “By allowing consumers to freeze their credit, we can make sure identity theft victims aren’t further harmed.”

Bravo to Senator Gibbons. It's time people who have been victimized are not taken advantage of further and allowed to restore their lives.

The complete story can be read here at the Branson Daily News:
http://www.bransondailynews.com/story.php?storyID=6243

You can get Managed Identity Theft Protection for peace of mind and simplifying your life. Visit our website for details: http://www.managedidentityprotection.com

Maybe a Little Off Target

I guess there are so many things that I get concerned about, that I don't know where to start. The economy is on a tailspin, the war in Iraq doesn't seem to get much better, Bush is still in office, etc.

I came across this video this evening and decided to take a different slant all together on this blog. I do get very concerned about ID Theft and I want to help people secure their computers. That will definitely be covered. But this video made me pause and think that maybe the real issues are so blatantly obvious that we all need to do our part to talk about them, get with our elected leaders and let them know how we truly feel about this. It's an election year after all, the candidates should listen, right? (stop that, I heard that distant chuckle). In any case, let's get together as Americans and stop this abuse of power before it's too late. Watch this video and spread it far and wide:

This is What A Police State Looks Like

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