I’d like to share a recent event that really made me think about the many seemingly insignificant things we can do to protect our identities and sideline theft, yet through carelessness or lack of knowledge, we just don’t give security a chance.
Do universities face more data security challenges than businesses? That question came to me after reading the thought-provoking article “When it comes to avoiding data breaches, universities can learn from the enterprise” at SC Magazine.
Universities have numerous significant data security issues to address – open network, steady churn and influx of users (both students and faculty), a large amount of proprietary data, and ability to control the use of new mobile devices on the network, to name a few. Ultimately, universities have to achieve a balance between network access and data security, and maintaining an open exchange of ideas and information. These are challenges that most enterprise businesses usually do not have to worry about.
University parking and transportation offices — are recent breaches an indicator of an overlooked aspect of security, or just a fluke?
Recently, at the University of Hawaii, unauthorized access to a computer server used by the school’s parking office was discovered during a routine audit. The database contained records for the parking office from 1998 to 2009, including 41,000 SSNs and 200 credit card numbers.
Earlier this summer, Citigroup Inc. announced that they had discovered a security flaw in their mobile banking application for iPhone. The flaw caused user’s data to be saved directly onto the phone in a hidden file, and was fixed with an update release. They notified more than 110,000 affected users, pointing out specifically that this was not a breach of data – according to their statement, “we have no reason to believe that our customers’ personal information has been accessed or used inappropriately by anyone; i.e., there has been no data breach.”
Problems like the theft or misuse of a child’s Social Security Number (SSN), whether through the use of a CPN or some other means, can often raise questions about child identity theft. Unfortunately, our Licensed Investigators have seen and heard a lot of advice that we consider to be incorrect, or at the very least, misleading. We’d like to share a few insights regarding some of the questionable statements about child identity theft that we’ve come across:
1. Myth: A child may never be able to repay the debts that are created by the identity thief.
