FTC imposes $10M fine against ChoicePoint for data breach The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has fined ChoicePoint $10 million for a data breach that allowed identity thieves posing as legitimate businesses to steal social security numbers, credit reports, and other data from nearly 140,000 people. This is the largest fine ever levied by the FTC. ChoicePoint also has to set up a 'trust fund' for people victimized by identity thieves. From the article: 'As part of its agreement with the FTC, ChoicePoint will also have to submit to comprehensive security audits every two years for the next 20 years.'"
BusinessWeek has additional info.
Perhaps there might be hope for individual privacy after all. Let's all keep our fingers crossed.
posted by mk1gti
on Jan 26, 2006 -
22 comments
French police on Sunday ended their practice of hiding plastic explosives in air passengers' luggage to train bomb-sniffing dogs after one such bag got lost, possibly ending up on a flight out of Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport.
WTF were they thinking? Isn't there a better way to train the dogs without making innocent people unwittingly carry plastique?
posted by Vidiot
on Dec 5, 2004 -
34 comments
Buying biometrically into big brother? Privium is an IBM-backed pay service at Amsterdam's
Schiphol Airport that allows passengers to identify themselves by iris recognition and thus speed their way through security checks. This being the privacy-respecting Netherlands, the biometric information is not stored in a central database, but only on a card you carry with you; other countries may not be so enlightened. This could well become a standard form of identification. In the meantime, could the failure to buy this service qualify someone as a security or insurance risk?
posted by liam
on Apr 29, 2004 -
6 comments
"The
"Brief Safe" is an innovative new diversion safe that can secure your cash, documents, and other small valuables from inquisitive eyes and thieving hands, both at home and when you're traveling. Items can be hidden right under their noses..." [via
Aces]
posted by bluno
on Mar 31, 2004 -
10 comments
Kerry Calls on Rice to Testify "John Kerry said Saturday the White House is committing character assassination with its treatment of former counterterror chief Richard Clarke to avoid responding to questions about national security. Kerry also said Condoleezza Rice, President Bush's national security adviser, should testify in public before the commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.
"If Condoleezza Rice can find time to do '60 Minutes' on television before the American people, she ought to find 60 minutes to speak to the commission under oath," Kerry told reporters. "We're talking about the security of our country."...
posted by Postroad
on Mar 28, 2004 -
26 comments
"If voting could really change things, it would be illegal." More fun from Diebold: on Tuesday, two PA-based student groups announced they will engage in "electronic civil disobedience" by ignoring Diebold's demands to remove public access to leaked memos from Diebold offices, which indicate among other things "...that Diebold, which counts the votes in 37 states, knowingly created an electronic system which allows anyone with access to the machines to add and delete votes without detection."
posted by XQUZYPHYR
on Oct 22, 2003 -
49 comments
The RAPTOR Mark III - "The RAPTOR Mark III is the fastest and most versatile security vehicle in the world. It mounts a devastating choice of firepower as well as a comprehensive assortment of non-lethal weapons, all interchangeable and deployed through a retractable top."
You in the Hummer 2! Hold on a second...
via William Gibson's blog
posted by GriffX
on Jun 13, 2003 -
24 comments
Know what time it is, Kidz?
It's U.S. Department of Justice Time!
On today's show, we'll learn why
Hacking is REAL BAD, and give you a chance to find out if you are a
good cybercitizen. Next, we'll meet
Axel, the talking drug dog, and his friends
the Bomb Dog Bunch! Then, we'll check in on the ATF, for some
cool science fair ideas.
And finally, just for you kids with crooks or international terrorists for parents, here's a nifty
PDF coloring book (
Native American version also available).
posted by eatitlive
on Feb 25, 2003 -
11 comments
Microsoft = Megatarget. A new worm is rapidly spreading across the Internet, functioning like a massive DDOS attack and crippling ISPs in South Korea. It's host? Microsoft SQL server. (
Get yor fix on, then reboot!) What impact will it have over here, I wonder...
posted by insomnia_lj
on Jan 25, 2003 -
63 comments
Shopping Bliss "Selected police officers were tasked to wear mascot costumes as they patrol the shopping malls in the capital to make their presence less obtrusive and more friendly." - welcome to mall security, LSD style.
posted by jdaura
on Jan 5, 2003 -
18 comments
If you've ever flown commercially in the past 16 years, you had to answer two questions about your luggage before receiving your boarding pass. Starting today, they are
no longer required since they "never prevented a bombing or hijacking."
posted by jaden
on Aug 29, 2002 -
20 comments
Using Internet Explorer, Outlook, or Outlook Express on a PC?
There's a new hack in town, ready to exploit cross site scripts like nobody's business. Do yourself a favor and disarm ActiveX on your settings.
posted by mathowie
on Jul 12, 2002 -
6 comments
How much freedom should we trade for our security? That is the title of this years Economist/Shell essay competition. The winner will receive $20,000 as well as inclusion in The Economist: The World in 2003. The closing date is August 15. Anyone feel like entering? If I can learn to write English in time I may submit an essay that takes the form of a discussion between a 68 year old Japanese American ex-internee and a 7 year old Israeli girl.
posted by RobertLoch
on Apr 22, 2002 -
14 comments
How to hack grey matter A big security loophole with grey matter powered sites is out there. It lets anyone have the username and password to these sites. Luckly there is a fix for it which can be found
here.
posted by thebwit
on Feb 23, 2002 -
20 comments
The Solution?...Fly Naked
So you can sneak a bomb in your shoe. The only solution is to fly naked. You can't bring anything on board; it all has to be shipped separately on cargo jet. There has to be an air marshall on every flight -- no in plain clothes (because nobody's in clothes) but sitting in front of the cockpit, heavily armed and ready. It's getting that ridiculous. What can we do?
posted by riley370
on Dec 28, 2001 -
23 comments
New travel package minimizes the amount of time it takes for you to get from the airport to the beach. Now you can get off the plane, and start swimming and sunbathing in no time! Isn't this amazing?
posted by yevge
on Dec 12, 2001 -
9 comments
AirSnort. The dangerous app with the unlikely name allows users to snatch data being passed over wireless networks, eventually capturing passwords to the network.
posted by o2b
on Nov 29, 2001 -
7 comments
Silicon Valley backs Senate bill that would allow companies to report computer network attacks to the government without having to worry about the public finding out. The reasoning: it would encourage
more companies to report the problems and help the
government track down the culprits. A
similar bill is in the House.
posted by thescoop
on Sep 25, 2001 -
3 comments
Fear of flying? New security measures are being discussed. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta says, "These terrorist acts are designed to steal the confidence of Americans. We will restore that confidence."
posted by prozaction
on Sep 12, 2001 -
9 comments
FAA=The Keystone Cops? What kind of legal fallout can we expect from this? Considering the kind of wealth onboard the doomed flight, how much of us little'uns safety is considered on a general basis? I went to the airport the other day to pick up my dad, and unlike the other times where I'm asked to "change the display" on my phone and my cigarette pack is opened, they now lazily let me pass. Is there really any FAA supervison? We all have stories. Anyone care to share? Links, theories, conspiracy theories, stories. Please tell.
posted by crasspastor
on Apr 2, 2001 -
4 comments
Your phone is you Before we let cellphones handle everything from opening our medical records to buying a house, we'll need to make sure people can't steal our identities.
posted by semmi
on Mar 28, 2001 -
5 comments
The Winux virus is reported to affect both Windows and Linux boxes/applications. The article says it's "written in a primitive computer language called 'assembly language'." On a side note, who do they get to write these articles? Certainly they are uncomfortable with technology...
posted by fooljay
on Mar 28, 2001 -
5 comments
SF Gate article states, "with a wireless ethernet card, a laptop and some basic software savvy," people walking around downtown San Francisco could just point their antenna at a building and be privy to private, unprotected coporate networks.
posted by paladin
on Mar 22, 2001 -
9 comments
A while back, you'll remember, a professor from Princeton cracked the SDMI watermark, but couldn't publish [
MeFi search], and weren't awarded the prize because they wouldn't NDA. Well, a French team has also cracked it, and not being bound by the US DMCA,
they've published. Good thing? Or bad?
posted by baylink
on Jan 23, 2001 -
3 comments
A guy paid $5000 to a bank for a list of 4 million credit card numbers, complete with name/address of the owners. He proceeded to start making false charges to those cards totalling some $37 million. He's going to jail. My question is, what the
hell was the bank thinking? Why are they selling something like that? Didn't they recognize the potential for abuse? What possible legitimate use could such a list have?
posted by Steven Den Beste
on Jan 23, 2001 -
8 comments
Judiciary Seeks Public Comment on Internet Access to Court Documents "As federal courts make the transition from paper to electronic case files, the Judicial Conference of the United States is studying the privacy and security implications of vastly wider public access to court documents via the Internet. Public comment is sought."
Further down they tell you that it'll cost 7 cents a page, even online. From the same folks who waited years to put up Supreme Court dockets and opinions on the official site.
posted by thescoop
on Nov 15, 2000 -
6 comments
Another innovation from Digital Convergence: In addition to having a pretty much useless product, CueCat's product-release-to-privacy-violation rate is spectacular! To quote their email:
Dear :CueCat member,
We've been alerted to a security breach in our system that may have
exposed certain members' names and email addresses. As one of the members who may be susceptible, we want to explain to you how you may be affected and what we are doing to rectify the situation.
(more...)
posted by anildash
on Sep 17, 2000 -
1 comment
