Stop hunting filetraders and secure your computers damnit!
Personal information for 600,000 current and former Time Warner employees has been lost, the company announced on Monday, potentially setting the stage for one of the largest cases yet of identity theft.
Time Warner said the mishap occurred on March 22, when data storage company Iron Mountain was transporting its backup tapes to a storage facility away from its offices. The company lost the tapes while in transit, said Kathy McKiernan, a Time Warner spokeswoman.
"The tapes were discovered missing on the same day they were picked up," McKiernan said. "We launched an investigation, and when we could not rule out foul play, we contacted the (U.S.) Secret Service to investigate."
What's ahead for Windows
The Time Warner case is just the latest in a string of data theft cases to rock corporate America, from Bank of America to educational institutions such as the University of California at Berkeley.
Time Warner waited for more than a month before notifying current and past employees that their personal information may have been compromised.
"We didn't want to compromise the investigation," McKiernan said. "We determined we could notify people now without it impeding the investigation."
The media giant has set up an 800 number to answer past and current employees' questions and provide free credit monitoring for a year. A few days ago, the company began the process of encrypting its data.
To date, Time Warner says it has not received any notices of compromised personal information from current and former employees.
[img=right]http://hem.bredband.net/b217293/warsaban.gif[/img] "Either God wants to abolish evil, and cannot; or he can, but does not want to. ... If he wants to, but cannot, he is impotent. If he can, but does not want to, he is wicked. ... If, as they say, God can abolish evil, and God really wants to do it, why is there evil in the world?" -Epicurus
Fear is the mother of all gods.
Nature does all things spontaneously, by herself, without the meddling of the gods. -Lucretius
ID theft must be big business now. Everyone from spies to petty criminals seems to be getting in on it. The backup tapes were taken in-shipment to a data storage facility; I don't think securing the computers would have helped. Seems like a well-planned job.
General Brock wrote:The backup tapes were taken in-shipment to a data storage facility; I don't think securing the computers would have helped. Seems like a well-planned job.
A few days ago, the company began the process of encrypting its data.
Quote:
A few days ago, the company began the process of encrypting its data.
Shocked
They just started a few days ago? When are people going to learn? My friend just got his bank accounts wiped out because of a similar theft. Fortunately he got most of it back and had started a food storage plan so he was able to eat.
General Brock wrote:ID theft must be big business now. Everyone from spies to petty criminals seems to be getting in on it. The backup tapes were taken in-shipment to a data storage facility; I don't think securing the computers would have helped. Seems like a well-planned job.
identity theft has been big business for years. i take it you're not familiar with nigerian 419 scams? they're one form of identity theft.
"It's you Americans. There's something about nipples you hate. If this were Germany, we'd be romping around naked on the stage here."
General Brock wrote:ID theft must be big business now. Everyone from spies to petty criminals seems to be getting in on it. The backup tapes were taken in-shipment to a data storage facility; I don't think securing the computers would have helped. Seems like a well-planned job.
identity theft has been big business for years. i take it you're not familiar with nigerian 419 scams? they're one form of identity theft.
Having read about Identity theft and the.... illegal "benefits and rewards"... I have to say it is very dangerous.
If a large corporate entity cannot be bothered to protect its information sufficiently ( I am speechless at the lack of encryption present), I shudder at the thought of what will happen if the information stolen was from a Government record database...
