[Infowarrior] - More Private Data Is Burgled From Government Than Hacked

[Richard Forno]

More Private Data Is Burgled From Government Than Hacked

Posted on 06/20/2006 @ 14:03:39 in Identity Theft.
http://www.emailbattles.com/archive/battles/idtheft_aaejhcjbai_hi/

America's universities admit that, in the first half of 2006, they let a
million Social Security numbers slip through their fingers.

Accountants, banks and brokerages have proven themselves to be half as
competent at protecting your critical data, conceding to more than 1.9
million lost SSNs. And the health care industry fares even worse: 2.4
million.

But the King of Data Giveaways, with over 40 million Social Security numbers
stolen in just six months, is your government... local, state and federal.
The raw data from Privacy Rights Clearinghouse's latest report bears me out.

Ignore, for a moment, the infamous theft of 28.5 million records from a
Veterans' Administration employee's laptop. You're still left with over 11
million stolen identities.

Government incompetence enabled nearly five times as many thefts of SSNs as
all the health care providers, including health insurance companies.

Why focus on SSNs? Because, unlike a credit card that can be quickly frozen,
a Social Security number is the key to your identity. Armed with a name and
SSN, a clever thief can easily acquire your birth date.

With SSN and birth date in hand, the remaining keys to assuming your
identity, from birth certificate to bank accounts, are a piece of cake. From
that point, reclaiming your life is nearly impossible.

Ninety-one percent of the data was lifted via physical theft, where crooks
stole tapes, printed records, or computer gear... especially laptops. In
fact, over 30.5 million records skipped out via laptop. That's 73% of the
records lost through physical means.

Another 1.8 million records were exposed through what can best be described
as Official Stupidity. Lists of personal records were inadvertently
broadcast via email, SSNs were posted online, dummies left downloaded
databases on hotel computers, and viruses picked up from porn sites
harvested in-house databases.

In the end, only 2.5 million identities were purloined using the method most
romanticized on the Web: hacking... just 5%. And the vast majority of those
were inside jobs.

Keep that in mind as you put together next year's Security Budget... and
don't forget to demand that your legislators: a) outlaw the current crop of
SSNs for any use, and b) push for a new, more reliable means of assuring
your security... social, that is.