It seems a day doesn't go by without a company announcing it has lost or had customer data stolen. TransUnion Credit Agency has now joined the parade of identity theft.
Laptop Battery TransUnion Credit Agency
Often lenders will make use of data from credit reporting agencies (bureaus) or their own internal data to come up with their unique credit score model. The two major credit reporting agencies in SA are Experian and TransUnion ITC and they have different information on their credit reports about you. That means that you will have two credit reports and two credit scores. Improve your credit score today
Thinkpad In late summer, TransUnion discovered that over 3,600 consumer records had been stolen from a regional sales office in California. The company indicated the data was stored on an independent desktop computer. The company believes the computer was stolen as part of a burglary, not an intentional intent to steal consumer data.
However, the lenders own this data, betweens. Under the Data Protection Act 1998, lenders can only provide data to the agencies with their customersa permission. As this permission has not been explicitly obtained in the past, an estimated 40 million older credit agreements (largely credit cards) have been left off consumersa credit reports. Thus, lenders are working towards getting permission from their customers to share this missing data with the agencies.
Microsoft There are more than a few serious issues with TransUnion's position and action. First, consumer data shouldn't be stored on a desktop computer sitting on a desk. More importantly, what is the data doing on a computer in a regional SALES office? TransUnion is supposedly looking into these issues.
Yes. FACTA (the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act) lets consumers get one free credit report a year from each of the three national credit reporting companies. To obtain that free report, you must go to www.annualcreditreport.com. What is a 3 bureau credit report A 3 bureau credit report lists all of your credit from all three national credit reporting agencies (Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion). 1 credit reports or 3 agency credit reports.
Laptop Computers Insultingly, TransUnion has suggested the stolen data is not a big deal since the computer is password protected. If TransUnion really thinks a password protected desktop computer is going to keep someone from seeing the data, it should lose its right to do business. A hacker would smirk at that.
"Computer industry analysts estimate that some 60 percent of all corporate data exists only on desktop and laptop computers, " said Walter Scott, CEO of Acronis. "Incorporating Acronis True Image with New Mexico Software backup server is the ideal solution to capture that corporate data and ensure that it is not lost. While traditional server backups are effective for protecting server data, every company should have a combination of server and workstation backup plans."
Laptop Computer Bigger Issues
What happens to stolen credit card and social security numbers Much of the data stolen through computer hacking — including stolen credit card numbers and Social Security Numbers — will end up on a network of illegal trading sites where hackers and criminals from around the world will openly buy and sell large amounts of personal data for profit. Stolen data networks have flourished in the open, with names like Network Terrorism Forum, Shadowcrew, Carderplanet, Dark Profits, and Mazafaka. The Shadowcrew network was believed to have more than 4, 000 active members who made more than $5 million in less than two years trading 1.5 million stolen credit cards, before it was shut down.
Desktop Computer 3,600 consumer records is really a small issue when considering the big picture of consumer privacy issues. It does, however, portend to a bigger problem.
Notebooks TransUnion is one of the big three credit reporting agencies with Experian and Equifax being the other two. It strikes me that the databases of these three companies must be the Holy Grail of Identity Theft. What happens if someone gets into one of these systems?
Lenovo What happens if an employee with access to the data gets tempted? Keep AOL in mind. An AOL employee was recently sentenced for selling the AOL member list to spammers. How much do you think a criminal organization would pay for a copy of consumer records in a credit agency database?
Hard Drive A lot.
Travelstar Richard A. Chapo is a San Diego business lawyer with SanDiegoBusinessLawFirm.com - a law firm in San Diego, California.
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Laptop Parts Richard A. Chapo is a San Diego business lawyer with San Diego Business Law Firm providing legal services and legal advice for businesses. Visit SanDiegoBusinessLawFirm.com to read business law articles.
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