Written by Hugo Pethebridge on July 17, 2010.
Q: If I start a service with an identity theft company, and they find that I have had some identity theft that I am unaware of, how is that fixed? Will they help to correct the problem? Will they deny service until it is fixed?
A: This is a very interesting question.
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Written by Benjamin Woods on July 13, 2010.
Define Personal Information
When we attempt to protect customer non-public information within the boundaries of our businesses, we must first define personal information. We cant develop a protection strategy if we dont what information we should protect and where the target information resides. Privacy laws exist in many forms and at many levels from the State levels to the Federal government levels, and standalone or embedded within other laws such as the GLBA and HIPAA. These laws are often redundant as they overlap, and, incomplete. For example, these privacy laws do not address consumer awareness and education in any form or shape. There are many redundant laws requiring employee awareness and training about information security threats and best practices, but there are no laws pertaining to consumers, requiring companies to educate customers which is currently one of the biggest gaps in our privacy laws in my opinion.
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Written by Hugo Pethebridge on July 13, 2010.
Q: How can I dispute my credit report after someone has used my social security number?
A: I’m making some assumptions based on your question, but it seems that there are actually 2 issues involved. The first is if someone used your social security number for gain, without your permission, you have been a victim of identity theft. The second is that you need to dispute an item that has shown up on your credit report due to this identity theft.
Number one, take the appropriate steps to report the identity theft and make sure it doesn’t happen again. Read our post on what to do if someone has stolen your identity, for a complete writeup on what these steps are. It would also make sense to sign up for an identity theft protection service like Identity Guard to further protect yourself.
Number two, contact each of the 3 credit bureaus – Equifax, Experian and Transunion – to dispute any items on your credit report caused by this identity theft. You’ll want to do this after step one above, as you may need to provide documentation to prove your claim. Although you only mention one credit report in your question, you need to check all 3 of your credit reports to make sure they are all accurate. Once you’ve done this, you can file your disputes online, via the links below.
Experian
Equifax
TransUnion.
Written by Jai Borchgrevink on July 12, 2010.
You’ve always paid your credit card bills before they were due. Your rates on the few cards that you have are low as you’ve always been responsible for your actions etc.
Recently you’ve noticed that a few strange things have been going on and you’re wondering if you’ve been an identity theft victim. You’ve been receiving some phone calls from debt collectors, a credit card has arrived in the mail that you didn’t request or maybe you’ve even been turned down for a revolving charge card because you didn’t make payments on something else.
These things may be pointing to the fact that you’ve become a victim of identity theft. If you think this may have happened, there are a couple of things that you need to do right away, such as notifying fraud departments, check your credit report and definitely report your situation to the police.
Report the Problem to Fraud Departments
If you’ve become an identity theft victim, the first thing you need to do is report it to the fraud department of the three credit bureaus. They are Experian, Eq
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Written by Jai Borchgrevink on July 9, 2010.
Everyday we read in the newspaper that millions of people all over the world are becoming a victim of identity theft. Identity theft is a serious crime that is punishable by law. It happens when your personal information is stolen and used without your knowledge, it is use to commit fraud, steal or use your identity to commit other crimes.
Identity theft has become a global problem that occurs every minute, and since then this has been the banking industries problem. This is because, it involves major financial losses for the financial industry, as more and more people files for fraudulent transaction. In fact, the most common form of identity theft is the credit card fraud.
The second would be bank frauds wherein thieves are able to cash in checks, secure a loan, and take all your savings, and other benefits using the information that they got from you.
To prevent this from happening to you, here are 5 ways to prevent identity theft:
#1 Take care of your mails.
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Written by Benjamin Woods on July 9, 2010.
Protect Stored Information
Before a business can protect stored information which might be mobile and confidential in nature such as competitive business information or consumer personal information, they must know what information is vulnerable to exploitation and where they are. These are the first two steps of the Identity KAOS principles for protecting consumer identities. More people nowadays are storing confidential information, whether business or personal information, on their laptops and other types of storage devices which can be carried around for the convenience of accessing them when they are away from home or office. Some businesses might store payroll files and other sensitive documents while consumers might save account numbers and passwords on unprotected mobile storage devices to be accessed when needed. This information mobility also presents huge risks for every one because the unprotected information becomes more exposed to theft, loss and damage as it is carried around to some less protected environments.
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Written by Benjamin Woods on July 5, 2010.
This article is reprinted from Healthcare IT News with the author’s permission.
The handling of data breach incidents has become a way of life for healthcare providers and with other HIPAA covered entities. With the passage of the HITECH Act last year, there are now substantial penalties that can be levied, up to $1.5 million. This fact, combined with a requirement to notify the Department of Health and Human Services as well as the media for data breach incidents that affect over 500 individuals has, for the first time, resulted in public records being kept for such incidents.
If you oversee privacy, compliance, or IT for a hospital system, a group practice, a health insurance company, other covered entities, or even one of their business associates, the HITECH Act and its privacy and data breach provisions require your close attention. W
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