$1M reward offered to solve data theft crime

Posted on November 12, 2008
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Express Scripts (Nasdaq:ESRX), one of the largest pharmacy benefit management companies in North America, announced today that a small number of its clients have received letters threatening to expose the personal information of its members. The threats are believed to be connected to an extortion threat the company made public last week.

The letters, which were received by Express Scripts’ clients in the past few days, are similar in form to the one that Express Scripts said it received in early October from an unknown person or persons threatening to publicly expose millions of the company’s members’ records if an extortion threat was not met. That original letter included the personal data of 75 Express Scripts members. The company publicly disclosed the extortion threat last week and is notifying affected members.

Express Scripts said it immediately informed the FBI about the new threats. The company also said it was establishing a reward totaling $1 million for the person or persons who provide information resulting in the arrest and conviction of those responsible for these criminal acts. The company said anyone with information about the extortion threats should contact the FBI at 800-CALL-FBI.

“We are cooperating fully with the FBI to assist them in their investigation and doing what we can to protect our members,” said George Paz, CEO and Chairman of Express Scripts. “We hope that establishing a reward will bring forward useful information. We will do what we can to help find those responsible as quickly as possible.”

More information about the company can be found at http://www.express-scripts.com/

“The Data Theft Scandal” TV Documentary

Posted on October 30, 2008
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Dispatches - Television Documentary “The Data Theft Scandal”

Click on the above link to view the documentary, it highlights the simplicity of data theft and the disturbing acquisition and sale trends relating to personal data.  The documentary highlights staff from call centres in India and the UK intercepting credit card, bank account and personal details in order to sell them on.

The Washington Trust Co.

Posted on September 28, 2008
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The Washington Trust Co. has notified about 1,000 customers that their debit and credit card accounts might have been compromised in a suspected security breach at an unidentified MasterCard merchant. The company is investigating a suspected security breach of a U.S. e-commerce-based merchant’s Web server which contained debit card data.

Florida man pleads guilty in retail data breach

Posted on September 23, 2008
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A Florida man who was one of 11 people indicted in a massive retail data theft has plead guilty in federal court.

Twenty-five-year-old Christopher Scott of Miami pleaded guilty Monday to conspiracy, unauthorized access to computer systems, access device fraud and identity theft.

Prosecutors said Scott was an expert at hacking wireless networks, and helped the group’s alleged leader, Albert Gonzalez, and others break into the computers of large retailers, including Massachusetts-based TJX Cos., between 2003 and 2007.

Prosecutors said the group scanned Miami shopping strips from their cars, looking for vulnerable wireless access they used to steal more than 41 million credit and debit card numbers.

Scott faces up to 22 years in prison and a $1 million fine. Gonzalez has pleaded not guilty.

Scott’s attorney, Ellen Zucker, said he has “taken full responsibility for his conduct” and is focused on taking care of his wife and young daughter.

California hacker charged with data theft, extortion over Maserati breach

Posted on September 23, 2008
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A resident of Solana Beach, Calif., has been charged with stealing customer data from luxury car seller Maserati North America Inc. and then trying to extort money from the company by threatening to publicly disclose the details of the system intrusion.

Full Story Here

State Farm Insurance

Posted on September 15, 2008
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An employee of State Farm fraudulently used customer information to open credit-card accounts. Customers’ Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers, addresses and possibly financial account numbers could have been accessed.

Forever21

Posted on September 15, 2008
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If you shopped at the stores between November 26, 2003 and October 24, 2005, criminals may have stolen your credit and debit card numbers from its computers.

Approximately 20,500 of these numbers were obtained from the Fresno store transaction data. The data included credit and debit card numbers and in some instances expiration dates and other card data, but did not include customer name and address.

Franklin Savings and Loan

Posted on September 10, 2008
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An unauthorized person gained access to a database containing 20,500 personal accounts such as names, addresses, phone numbers, account numbers, account balances and Social Security numbers.

Ohio Police & Fire Pension System

Posted on August 30, 2008
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A former mailroom supervisor at the Ohio Police & Fire Pension System forwarded the names, addresses and Social Security numbers from his work e-mail address to his personal e-mail address before quitting his job. The file contains information for 13,000 of the approximately 24,000 retired members of the Ohio Police & Fire Pension System, most of whom are former police officers.

Wachovia Bank, Florida

Posted on August 29, 2008
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It was confirmed that the Camelot branch, at Cape Coral Parkway and Chiquita Boulevard, has had several debit cards’ identities stolen because someone placed what’s known as a “skimming” device on the ATM. The device collected each person’s card information, including personal identification numbers, and allowed the suspect to create different debit cards with that information.

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