This is your financial life on the net. This is your social security information that is available to the world.
That's all I have to say.
Bank security breach may be biggest yet
Account info at Bank of America, Wachovia sold by employees; more
arrests expected, N.J. police say.
May 23, 2005: 4:19 PM EDT
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Bank of America Corp. and Wachovia Corp. are
among the big banks notifying more than 670,000 customers that account
information was stolen in what may the biggest security breach to hit
the banking industry.
Account information on the customers was illegally sold by bank
employees to a man identified as Orazio Lembo, whom police said was
doing business by illegally posing as a collection agency.
When police in Hackensack, N.J., first announced arrests in the case
on April 28, they estimated that more than 500,000 people were
affected. That number was raised to 676,000 Friday. Because some
people have more than one account, Hackensack Police Chief Charles
"Ken" Zisa says the number of accounts breached may top 1 million.
"As this gets going, these numbers are going to go up and up,"
Hackensack Detective Capt. Frank Lomia told CNN earlier Monday, adding
that more arrests may be coming in the case.
Here's one woman doing something about it. She's a new mini-hero:
A Matter Of Public Record
Activist Aims to Scare Officials Into Protecting Personal Data
By Jonathan Krim
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 25, 2005; E01
Betty (but call her BJ) Ostergren, a feisty 56-year-old from just north of Richmond, is driven to make important people angry. She puts their Social Security numbers on her Web site, or links to where they can be found.
It's not that she wants CIA Director Porter J. Goss, former secretary of state Colin L. Powell, or Florida Gov. Jeb Bush to be victims of identity theft, as were millions of Americans in the past year. Ostergren is on a crusade to scare and shame public officials into doing something about how easy it is to get sensitive personal data.
Data brokers such as ChoicePoint Inc. and LexisNexis Group have been attractive targets for identity thieves because they are giant buyers and sellers of personal data on millions of people.
But as federal and state lawmakers try to keep sensitive information from falling into criminal hands, they face a difficult dilemma: The information typically originates from records gathered and stored by public agencies, available for anyone to see in courthouses and government buildings around the country.
What's more, local governments have in recent years rushed to put these records online.
A wealth of documents -- including marriage and divorce records, property deeds, and military discharge papers -- containing Social Security numbers, dates of birth and other sensitive information is accessible from any computer anywhere. Many of the online records are images of original documents, which also display people's signatures.