Consumers Data Stolen from LexisNexis 298
LE UI Guy writes "Reuters is currently running a story regarding LexisNexis being tapped into by identity thieves who accessed up to 32,000 customer profiles. Information hit included names, addresses, Social Security and driver's license numbers. This comes on the heels of rival ChoicePoint being breached for 145,000 profiles last month in a similar case. Better check yourself." Update: 03/10 02:40 GMT by J : ChoicePoint's name corrected (and, it may be more than 145,000, they don't know).
Well... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Heres how they got hacked: (Score:3, Insightful)
Man (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Man (Score:4, Funny)
ChoicePoint =! CheckPoint (Score:5, Informative)
Let me make it clear, CheckPoint makes security software, rfid badges and firewalls. They are not the ones who sell all of your information to credit card companies. CheckPoint has no info that you didn't give them. ChoicePoint is the one that fucked up!!!
Re:ChoicePoint =! CheckPoint (Score:5, Funny)
You made the common rookie programmer error of assigning what you wanted to test.
What I think you meant to say was
ChoicePoint != CheckPoint
Though if you are communicating to us in Java you want
!ChoicePoint.equals(CheckPoint)
Hope that helps.
Re:ChoicePoint =! CheckPoint (Score:3, Funny)
What I think you meant to say was
ChoicePoint != CheckPoint
Though if you are communicating to us in Java you want
!ChoicePoint.equals(CheckPoint)
In perl, I just write
No chance of going wrong there.
Re:ChoicePoint =! CheckPoint (Score:3, Informative)
Re:ChoicePoint =! CheckPoint (Score:4, Informative)
Oh yeah. You have to be running Windows to do any administration of the firewall.
I'm quite glad they are getting mistaken.
Dear Checkpoint,
You sent us a non-functional firewall last year, and wouldn't help us make it work. When our support contract kicked in you told us it was a problem on your end, and we needed to download a patch. Everything worked after that.
Please note that I've told my company all about this, and I'll make sure that our company of over 100,000 never buys a product from you again. Fuck you and your useless crap.
Sorry for the rant, but Checkpoint deserves it for shipping out defective software.
PS - Mod this up if you don't like Linux being used to make money for a company that won't even back up their own modifications.
Re:ChoicePoint =! CheckPoint (Score:2)
CheckPoint != Checkpoint (Score:2)
Re:ChoicePoint =! CheckPoint (Score:2)
Such a FUCKED UP logic, if I've ever seen any.
Re:ChoicePoint =! CheckPoint (Score:3, Informative)
I'd bet this is the sort of advertising they'd rather not have.
Surely this would (rightly) file under "false allegation"?
Clearly the links haven't been followed by the editors.
Re:ChoicePoint =! CheckPoint (Score:2)
Re:ChoicePoint =! CheckPoint (Score:5, Funny)
No, this would fall under "typo."
And don't call me Shirley.
Re:ChoicePoint =! CheckPoint (Score:2)
PS: I meant those only as examples, T.U. No personal offense intended.
Re:ChoicePoint =! CheckPoint (Score:2)
Re:ChoicePoint =! CheckPoint (Score:5, Informative)
ChoicePoint was not hacked. It was purely social engineering. The criminals were granted access because ChoicePoint didn't bother checking if the real estate license (or the name on it) they were shown was real. At least in this case it wouldn't have mattered if they had no firewall.
Easy solution to this problem (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Easy solution to this problem (Score:3, Interesting)
microsoft employees use windows. need i say more?
Re:Easy solution to this problem (Score:2)
my point had nothing specific to do with secure operating system or personal info.
Re:Easy solution to this problem (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Easy solution to this problem (Score:2)
Where's all the personal data? (Score:5, Funny)
Can someone post the list?
Re:Where's all the personal data? (Score:3, Funny)
Last First Phone Numbers Email Addresses
A, Christina
323-314-1960
Abraham, Josh
http://mail.sidekick.dngr.com/compose?to=jo s habrah am%40mac.com
A., Marco
http://mail.sidekick.dngr.com/compose?to=ma rcodema rco%40tmail.com
A., Marco
http://mail.sidekick.dngr.com/compose?to=ma rcodema rco%40tmail.com
Alastra, Tommy
http://mail.sidekick.dngr.com/compose?to=TA lastra% 40aol.com
Abraham, Josh
http://mail.sidekick.dngr.com/compose?to=jos habrah am%40attwireless.blackberry.net
Abrhams, Johnnie
1-917-648-2434
Adri
Checkpoint? (Score:4, Informative)
Choicepoint lost the data. not Checkpoint.
Obligatory Lawyer Joke (Score:2, Funny)
Visualize Whirled P.'s
Re:Obligatory Lawyer Joke (Score:2)
No shit, Lexis Nexis is the second largest legal publisher in the country after Westlaw.
Information Wants to Be Free :P (Score:5, Insightful)
These corporations are destroying the value of our essential property: our identities. They demand we give our personal info, without enforcing our copyrights to prevent its being disseminated, then let it get stolen by people who will use it to damage us. When someone rips me off with some personal info they stole from some negligent data warehouse, the warehouse should be liable for my damages, including the work to recover my losses, and the defamation that will inevitably ripple through the endlessly interlinked online infosystems forever. And when compromised, they should pay my identity theft insurance premiums. This free value we deliver to them has a cost when it's abused, and such insecurity abuse is now obviously standard practice.
Re:Information Wants to Be Free :P (Score:5, Interesting)
No...remember, copyright is only for the benefit of corporations too. You don't have the right to prevent the distribution of data that pertains to you, that right only extends to the latest pop song, that they've already chosen to release publicly, and then expect to tell said public what they may or may not do with it.
But that brings up an interesting point...isn't someone currently getting sued by Apple for collecting data on them without their authorization and distributing it? Are only corporations allowed to protect sensitive data, and punish those who distribute it without authorization? If "trade secrets" exist, surely "personal secrets" do too?
Re:Information Wants to Be Free :P (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Information Wants to Be Free :P (Score:3, Funny)
And the first legal dispute you get into, and your 'corporate assets' get liquidated by the courts.
Oh, sorry, only one corporation per human. You lost yours. Bummer. Off to the mines.
Re:Information Wants to Be Free :P (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Information Wants to Be Free :P (Score:4, Interesting)
Corporations may be bought and sold.
Tommy Hilfiger no longer owns his name, it's a corporation.
When, as the grandparent suggested, you get a corporation as your birthright, it sounds awfully eerie to me. *shrug* Maybe the foil hat is too snug.
Re:Information Wants to Be Free :P (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Information Wants to Be Free :P (Score:3, Interesting)
If you're information was leaked, I don't see why you couldn't sue Lexis/Choice/BofA.
The problem is whether you are suing for:
1) Damages
2) Liability
3) Criminal behavior
Damages? That depends on how much got stolen from you
Liability? I have no clue
Criminal behavior? I suppose that falls under 'negligence' but I don't know how they award damages for this.
Re:Information Wants to Be Free :P (Score:2, Informative)
You better check yourself... (Score:2)
Re:Information Wants to Be Free :P (Score:3, Informative)
Your personal data, which are considered "facts", have no copyright and are not eligible for such. Collections of facts, however, are copyrightable. In on
Re:Information Wants to Be Free :P (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Information Wants to Be Free :P (Score:3, Interesting)
There's an idea (not sure if this is what you were implying): copyright your personal data. When you have to give info to someone, make them agree to a licence to use your info. "You are hereby granted a limited, non-exclusive right to this information. You may use this information internally within your company for
Re:Information Wants to Be Free :P (Score:2)
It isn't a bad idea, even out of the domain of the techno-geek libertarian; I write somewhat more extensively about this here [jerf.org] and some of the followup consequences, but the short version relevant to your post is that the necessary legal machinery can be built out of existing components that already exist; no truly novel law needs to be written, but no currently existing laws
Re:Information Wants to Be Free :P (Score:2)
Cell phone. Gas company. Phone company. Cable company. Long distance. ISPs. Electric company. Video rental.
(They've got to be kidding, right?) They absolutely do NOT need it. The worst case is I've had to put a lousy $100 down up front to 'secure' my account. It's $100 well spent to have my SSN in a few less places.
Re:Information Wants to Be Free :P (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Information Wants to Be Free :P (Score:5, Funny)
Cashier, while checking out: "Your email address?"
Me: "No."
Cashier: "No?"
Me: "Ok, put 'no at no dot com"
Cashier, smirking: "Done."
Re:Information Wants to Be Free :P (Score:2)
Probably would have been better to use no@example.com (or org, or net) . The example.com/org/net domains are reserved for use in documentation and are not available for registration.
Re:Information Wants to Be Free :P (Score:2)
Amen. It would be so much better if the law were written so that they can collect all the information they want, but... they could only give it out when we authorize them to do so on a case by case basis. Want to apply for a credit card ? Then give the card issuer the ability (via a token or something) to access the data. No more freebies! Remember, its you and me that the data describes (supposidly) so we should have con
Re:Information Wants to Be Free :P (Score:2)
Of course, this is all fantasy. The actual trend is for unchecked proliferation of personal data, with zero accountabili
How long before ANYONE'S info hasn't been stolen? (Score:5, Interesting)
How long before ANYONE'S identity has not been stolen?
Seriously.
Why not just put a fraud alert on everyone's credit reports and let's get it over with. You want to apply for credit? You'll have to jump through a few more hoops...
The system as it is now is painfully broken.
Why is it, that Windows based companies... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Why is it, that Windows based companies... (Score:3, Insightful)
Microsoft isn't just a software company, they are a culture. The people that are attracted to Microsoft value the appearance of convenience to real utility, and they value the appearance of convenience over real security. In the end they don't get utility, security, or convenience.
How long it will take .. (Score:4, Interesting)
How much it will be worth it and to whome it will worth it.
Re:How long it will take .. (Score:2, Informative)
from dictionary.com
"whom
pron.
The objective case of who."
Also, the word "whom" is pretty much only used by people who want to sound smarter.
Re:How long it will take .. (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:How long it will take .. (Score:2, Informative)
"whom, pron.
Forms: [snip] 4-7 whome [snip]
1551 TURNER Herbal I. Kv, We haue no herbe in Englande that I knowe to whome all thes hole descriptions do agre."
From the same page:
"The objective case of WHO: no longer current in natural colloquial speech."
So while he might've been able to get away with 'to whome' 450 years ago, I don't ever recall 'worth' being a verb (at least not with his intended meaning). As a whole, the grammar (or lack thereof) of that post is
Re:How long it will take .. (Score:2, Insightful)
In Westlaw it's called "People Search." Type in a name and some other information, such as what state the person lives in and Westlaw will give you the persons current address, past addresses, social security number, phone numbers, what elections they voted in, pretty much everything. I had a chance to play around with it about a month ago and was able to find all of the above information about myself. I was pretty blown away. You could even find the above info on Congressman and other high ranking gover
Windows Servers (Score:3, Funny)
Unpatched ?
Re:Windows Servers (Score:5, Informative)
If you look up Seisint [netcraft.com], you'll see Linux/Solaris servers.
Is it really stolen? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Is it really stolen? (Score:2)
</overanalysis>
I am a man, not a number (Score:5, Funny)
Signed, #6
Re:I am a man, not a number (Score:5, Funny)
Signed, #9
Re:I am a man, not a number (Score:2)
The prisoner was the forerunner of x-files (Score:2)
That last episode made no sense to me.
its some sort of allegory about revolution. But with bad acid.
Complaints aside about a disssatisfying wrap-up, much of that confusion was intentional. For example in the last episode if you look carefully there are two places where they tell you who number one was. (I'd tell you who number one turns out to be but that would be telling.) But the nice thing is they dont just repeate it over and over to make sur
Re:I am a man, not a number (Score:2)
I am a man, not a number!
Signed, #6
I know you're lying, because number six is totally a chick [galactica2003.net].
Washington Post article (Score:4, Interesting)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A19
Most organizations have some sort of regulatory body. Does the data harvesting industry have this?
Perhaps this should turn some heads in Congress now that we've got multiple cases of this insecurity. The question is, is Congress going to be able to do anything about it or will it be the same situation as with government computer security: Right now they just say "your security is bad" but that doesn't always fix the problem.
How can we really know who is affected? (Score:5, Insightful)
I know only the name of my phone company, for example, but I have no clue who they contract with for data processing or billing or marketing. How can we ever really find out if a security problem at one company affects us? These back-end companies are generally companies that serve niche markets and practically no one has heard of them.
Social Security numbers? (Score:3, Interesting)
Though I'm sure Ashcroft^H^H^H^H^H Gonzales would like that idea...
The solution: Opt In (Score:5, Interesting)
I don't want a bunch of strangers reading my dossiers (and I have had exactly this - I was affected by the ChoicePoint scam). If I had to approve every offering or sale of my data, I would have easily been able to block said scam.
Excellent idea. (Score:2)
Check out the recent bankruptcy law changes that are basically a thinly veiled gift to banks and credit card companies.
It sucks. All of our data should be opt-in only, but who knows how bad it'll have to get before that happens.
Re:The solution: Opt In (Score:2)
If the site is put together properly and has a good forum system, then is posted on Slashdot, it should be able to get something done. Just make certain you have the contact information for senators and representatives in each state (they all have fairly easy numbers to find), contact info for Bush, some easy to fill-in templates to message these
Re:The solution: Opt In (Score:2)
Ephemeral data (Score:3, Interesting)
Our data should only live for the time it takes to make an online transaction; and not a femto-second longer.
I want a "Mission Impossible" ID that self-destructs!
How hard would this be to imple%$^? pfffttt __end_smoke_fx;
Legal comeback? (Score:2, Interesting)
Typo in story: (Score:2)
The company that was breached was Choice Point, not Check Point. Big difference as Check Point is a computer security company best known for their firewalls.
Hmmm... (Score:2)
SQL injection to dump the entire DB and see it all in plaintext.
Is having plaintext data stolen worth not paying for an extra quad Xeon DB server to handle the additional encryption load?
*Not* Customer Profiles (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:*Not* Customer Profiles (Score:3, Informative)
Rivals? (Score:2, Informative)
Competition Is Good (Score:2)
Ever the entrepreneur I figure I can start my own identity company by making a certain purchase with cash.
DSW Shoe Warehouse - Stolen CC Data (Score:2, Informative)
It only affects credit card customers who used their cards the past three months at more than 100 stores nationwide. There are at least eight locations in North Texas.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7137966/ [msn.com]
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:LexisNexis must die anyhow. (Score:3, Insightful)
It's the digitizing of the information that costs money. LexisNexis (and many others) pay somebody $8-$10 and hour looking up public casefiles, writing the information down (or typing it into a laptop) and sending it back to headquarters.
People are willing to pay (handsomely) to have this information at their fingertips when they need it, especially when it comes from a courthouse in another state.
I suspec
Re:LexisNexis must die anyhow. (Score:2)
You make no sense. Why is LexisNexis evil for providing one-stop access to all that information? You say yourself "Shouldn't the government offer a LexisNexis-type service for free?" Doesn't th
Re:LexisNexis must die anyhow. (Score:2)
You speak as if there's only one government, one source/simple bureaucracy that controls all these documents. There are dozens of governments
That's it!!! (Score:3, Funny)
T.O.T.I (Score:2)
Social Security numbers? (Score:5, Interesting)
In this Homeland paranoia age where everything that is in the database must be right, you certainly don't want to see government ID numbers getting used in fraud. How do you go about getting a new Social Security number when the existing one is being used in fraud?
Re:Social Security numbers? (Score:5, Informative)
Which federal law? I couldn't find anything about that from the SSA's website, but I did find this page:
When am I legally required to provide my Social Security number? [ssa.gov]:
Also, your SSN is required for more than just tax purposes, as you claimed:
(from the same page linked to above)
Finally, to the grandparent: yes, you can get a new SSN number assigned to you. Here's how:
How can I get a different Social Security number assigned to me? [ssa.gov]
Free Lamo (Score:2)
Apostrophes (Score:2)
The data belonged to "consumers" so it should be Consumers' Data Stolen. If you don't understand this, my seven-year-old daughter can explain it to you.
I hereby copyrighted all my personal data... (Score:2)
Penalty is defined by the Copyright laws.
Use it wisely, that is, if you can get my permission.
Story summary misleading (Score:2)
Re:Tale of woe (Score:2, Insightful)
Sysadmins? Screw that, most of this shit happens with social engineering.
This is getting to be like the Enron/WorldCom type of scandal. Company X coughs up a few thousand files, Company Y coughs up a couple hundred thousand files, Company Z has the fucking barn door wide open and the theives have a battered pickup truck parked on the lawn and they're so damn surprised that it takes place.
So... where's the law that can be leveraged, saying these companies are respo
the law is... (Score:4, Insightful)
Most people don't think that way, but people who start corporations DO think that way, they recognize valuable property when they see it, and make billions off of millions of people voluntarily giving away their property to them.
If it wasn't stolen from you directly, it's sure not your property anymore. If you donate your old TV to the thriftstore and they get broken into and that TV is stolen, well, "your" TV didn't get stolen, their TV got stolen. If you want to own and keep possession of your TV, well, don't give it away in the first place then. Simple concept, just apply it to your data. It's similar enough for conversational purposes anyway. "IP" ownership is bigtime in business, there's zero reason everyone's personal data "IP" shouldn't be theirs in total.
So people can't really say "their" stuff got stolen, some big companies stuff got stolen, they gave up their rights to full and complete ownership a long time ago. they already got "social engineered" out of ownership, just they don't realise it, or just don't care enough to think it through. Now that same data property down the pike got social engineered again, oh well, guess the original owner didn't care enough to hang on to it.
but, but..we can't live in society without giving our property away! Yep, that's the point, much less than
Re:the law is... (Score:2)
Re:You have a point... (Score:3, Insightful)
However, I don't think the comparison with giving away a TV is accurate. One's name, address, phone number, social security number, drivers license number, etc., are attributes that are retained by the one who owns them. This information is simply provided under various circumstances. The fallacy here is that businesses and other entities have taken it upon themselves to decide that the mere act of provision extols upon them a right of ownership. While there are not yet any laws that clarify this, I maintai
I want to avoid being like those schlubs (Score:2, Interesting)
I've inherited a mess. A total mess. Employees with default passwords (that never expire,) vendors from years long gone by with active accounts, some used recently... (Yeah, I've already disabled them
Re:Tale of woe (Score:3, Funny)
Very definitely. You need to immediately report to the Credit Correct Center nearest you. Please advise a family member to pick up the ashes in 9-10 business days.
Re:data mining (Score:3, Informative)