http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/business/16450376.htm BY YALMAN ONARAN and ELIZABETH HESTER Bloomberg News Jan. 13, 2007 MoneyGram International Inc., which wires money and provides electronic bill paying, said Friday computer hackers may have stolen personal data on about 79,000 customers. A computer server was "unlawfully accessed via the Internet" last month, St. Louis Park-based MoneyGram said in a statement. The company said it doesn't know whether hackers actually compromised any customer information, which included names, addresses, phone numbers, biller account numbers and some bank accounts. "It was an isolated incident involving only those consumers who made payments to a single biller," Vicki Keller, vice president of MoneyGram Global Payment Services, said in the statement. MoneyGram didn't identify the company to which the bills were paid. Social Security numbers, driver's licenses and state identification numbers prime targets of identity thieves weren't involved, the company said. A server is a device at the center of a computer network that helps store or distribute information and other resources to individual users. State and federal rules require notification to customers whose information may have been stolen, MoneyGram said. It's offering them a free one-year subscription to a credit monitoring service, and said law enforcement agencies were notified. The breach involved one biller out of 15,000 and affected consumers across the country, said Cathy Rebuffoni, a MoneyGram spokeswoman. MoneyGram handles money transfers, money orders and payment processing in 170 countries at 104,000 locations including Wal-Mart Stores, the company said. Many customers don't have checking accounts, or any bank accounts at all, said its annual report. There were 255,565 identity-theft complaints reported in 2005, up 3.5 percent from the year earlier, according to a study by the Federal Trade Commission. About a fourth of the stolen information was used for credit-card fraud. Rob Scott, managing partner of Dallas-based Scott & Scott LLP, which advises companies on ways to respond to network security breaches, said companies can face both loss of business and lawsuits from consumers if personal information isn't protected properly. "It's certainly bad for business," said Scott, who isn't involved with MoneyGram. "You're going to suffer some significant economic damages." He added companies can magnify the damage by reporting a breach even when they don't have to. MoneyGram's shares fell 26 cents, or 0.9 percent, to $29.16 Friday. _____________________________ Subscribe to InfoSec News http://www.infosecnews.org/mailman/listinfo/isn
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