RE: [ISN] 13,000 Credit Reports Stolen by Hackers

From: InfoSec News (isnat_private)
Date: Tue May 21 2002 - 02:25:23 PDT

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    Forwarded from: Joe Klein <jskleinat_private>
    
    As with many 'hacks', there are two parties involved. The first party
    left the 'door open and unlocked' and the second walked through the
    open door to steal the property.
    
    The first party in this case is the management of the company. This
    management has a fiduciary duty to protect the assets of the company,
    including its data.  Lately, it appears that many companies have
    decided that it's easer to blame the hacker then perform their "Due
    Diligence".
    
    Until the management of companies "are held responsible",
    unfortunately, this trend in hacking will continue.
    
    
    -----Original Message-----
    From: owner-isnat_private [mailto:owner-isnat_private] On Behalf
    Of InfoSec News
    Sent: Monday, May 20, 2002 6:23 AM
    To: isnat_private
    Subject: [ISN] 13,000 Credit Reports Stolen by Hackers 
    
    http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/17/technology/17IDEN.htm
    
    By JOHN SCHWARTZ
    May 17, 2002
    
    Hackers posing as employees of the Ford Motor Credit Company have in 
    recent months harvested a trove of 13,000 credit reports - a virtual 
    one-stop shop for fraud and identity theft - with data on consumers in 
    affluent neighborhoods across the country.
    
    The company said in a letter to the victims that computer intruders 
    used an authorization code from Ford Credit to get the credit reports 
    from Experian, one of three major reporting agencies.
    
    "I've never seen anything of this size," a spokesman for Experian, 
    Donald Girard, said. "Privacy is the hallmark of our business. We're 
    extraordinarily concerned about the privacy issue here, and the trust 
    factor."
    
    The inquiries gave the intruders access to each victim's personal and 
    financial information, including address, Social Security number, bank 
    and credit card accounts and ratings of creditworthiness, which can be 
    used to identify the best targets.
    
    "This is not just a credit card number; this is the whole kazoo," said 
    Richard Power, the editorial director for the Computer Security 
    Institute, an industry trade group. A criminal could use the data to 
    make credit card charges or even open bank and credit card accounts in 
    the victim's name. 
    
    
    
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