Data Breaches Happen Almost Every Day

Some people seem to think that this is the first time a company has been hacked. I went to check and was surprised at how frequently data is compromised. According to this list for the last year and a half, there are incidents reported every few days. And these are just the discovered and reported ones.

I posted this in another thread, but I think it's important that everyone sees it. Your data could have been stolen long before the SL incident. So check your credit report at least once a year, watch your accounts for suspect transactions and report them immediately.

http://www.privacyrights.org/ar/ChronDataBreaches.htm

Here's a small snip from the list:

May 30, 2005 Motorola Computers stolen Unknown
June 6, 2005 CitiFinancial Lost backup tapes 3,900,000
June 10, 2005 Fed. Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) Not disclosed 6,000
June 16, 2005 CardSystems Hacking 40,000,000
June 17, 2005 Kent State Univ. Stolen laptop 1,400
June 18, 2005 Univ. of Hawaii Dishonest Insider 150,000
June 22, 2005 Eastman Kodak Stolen laptop 5,800
June 22, 2005 East Carolina Univ. Hacking 250

Doesn't the bank have to replace the money in your account if it gets hacked and stolen on their website?

Yes and they do as do the credit card companies This is not the individuals fault but a security breach beyond their control i know mine will but then i honestly dont think it will happen to my CC, i will give u L$10,000 as well if it happens to me as a result of this security breach

Of course they do. So do robberies, murder, rape, war, and any number of other serious issues. That they happen every day and affect millions of people makes them no less serious however.

This doesn't comfort me in the least.

Well.

Every single day, I'm sure thousands of adults shit their pants thanks to some amount of bad luck or bad health or both.

Wouldn't be remotely comforting if you were the one doing the shitting, though.

Yay! *hopes your CC info was stolen*

Well in 17 years it hasnt so i promise to pay if it is this time Im more worried about my card getting skimmed at a RL place, than i am with problems on the interweb

What I find disturbing is the apparent tendancy of people here to want to polarize into 'camps' in opposition to one another. I see it in nearly every controversial issue (and many utterly silly issues of zero value as well) on these forums, and it frustrates the hell outta me how people on both 'sides' of a situation or dicussion will toss logic and facts out the window if need be to suit their extreme views.

Setting aside any issues of blame, cause, or fault here...which are very subjective anyway...we have a serious issue of a security breach that allowed access to customer information. Information that anyone who knows anything about security, identitity theft or finiancial and cuputing issues will tell you is a serious issue, regardless of how often it may happen or how unlikely or likely it may or may not be that the hacker got anything useful oir could decrypt it.

The logical thing that any security expert would suggest is to assume the worst and take precautions to keep them from being able t use the information they got as best we can. This is simple common sense logic. Precautions are good.

That some people want to make it seem that this is nothing to bother with at all, that it isn't serious in any way, or on the other side that the world will end and SL will crumble because of it befuddle me.

This IS a serious issue. LL agrees its a serious issue...their lawyers agree its a serious issue. LL sent an email and made a public statement that it is a serious issue and that all customers should take all appropriate means to secure their real life and SL data, fininacial info, email, passwords, etc to minimize the effects of this breach. These are common sense, logical precautions to take. No dfifferent than if you lost your purse or wallet with credit cards, ID, etc in it. Take precautions against the info being used by someone. It is serious, no matter how unlikely or how common.

On the other hand, it is not the end of the world if you do take these simple precautions. LL is not gonna go bankrupt over this, SL won't shut down, and there is no need to call to crucify Philip. This is a serious matter, but one that can be minimized by everyday and simple steps. Identity theft is a real concern, and we can debate later if LL took appropriate steps or waited too long, etc. Right now, protect yourself calmly and easily by changing email, bank account, paypal, and other account passwords if they were similar, linked to or the same as your SL password. Contact your CC issuer and have them reissued. Secure your email address password, and watch all this information for any unusual activity. Simple, effective, common sense.

Why people have to go to extremes on both sides I will never know. This is neither the end of the world, nor is it a casual matter to flippantly dismiss. Both these polarized camps are wrong and need to find a simple, logical and effective middle ground here that protects everyone and also helps us quickly get back to normal both IRL and in SL.

Yes. I've made some flippant comments in other threads, but I do agree with you. I've noticed that people tend to polarize each other in all situations. I don't know why. Perhaps it ensures that the social group as a whole stays balanced, even if the individuals are in wild disagreement. For example, it's easier to stay calm when someone else is panicking.

I didn't post this list to say that the SL breach isn't important. The point is, your information has probably been exposed in the past, perhaps without you realizing it, so it's important to continually take steps to make sure you don't become a victim. Even organizations you think you can trust, like the FDIC, have been compromised.

Well.

After working for three major American cell phone companies in accounts/customer service.... I'd trust LL any day. After all, LL actually encrypts!

Your cell phone company, oh, you're not so lucky there. Any oddball can walk into most of these centers, plop themselves down at any computer, poll through 1000s of unencrypted CC#'s along with complete customer details (including security numbers), and walk out with nobody being wiser. For one, nobody really cares who they are or why they're there. It's common for employees to use each other's computers and passwords. You can walk up to any employee and say, "Can I borrow your password for a moment?" and they'll type in their user id and password for you, even give you a copy on paper if you ask nicely. There's no security cameras, you're out of the luck there. The security guards are unarmed. And dozens of people use that keyboard in the run of a day so getting a fingerprint from it is going to quite a pain in the buttocks. Did I also mention all of these details are available by logging into web-based interfaces where employees, especially new ones, tend to use simple passwords? Top it off with this, you wouldn't believe how many times I had to run around and shred pages worth of scribbled CC#s and details left in the cubicles of employees who were taking orders, leaving their notes just laying around which anyone could have snatched up. I've even had to check garbage buckets to make sure none were getting thrown out. Let us not forget one major blunder where a major cell phone company (during some sort of software upgrade) published unencrypted customer CC information right on their main website for *anyone* to access.

Heh, you guys who are dramatically worried about your information are really barking up the wrong tree.