April Newsletter

The Identity Theft NewsWatch Newsletter April 2009

It seems that Identity Theft is in the news every day. What in the world is going on? Last year when TJ Max stores reported 45.7 million credit and debit accounts lost to hackers, no one was surprised! This is just one of many stories.

Identity theft is a huge global problem. In response to data breaches, businesses and institutions are notifying clients, customers, patients, and students about data losses. Financial institutions are issuing new credit cards to thousands of consumers affected by security breaches. You can view the data breach chronology on http://www.privacyrights.org/ by choosing “chronology” and then scrolling down 2 pages. What you will find on this website are company names and data-breach stories such as “database was hacked into, laptop with personnel files was stolen, data storage tapes were lost,” and the list goes on. And when identity thieves are grabbing up identities by the thousands, what are we to do?

Before being victimized, consumers should be proactive. Consumers should find out how they can protect themselves. The FTC website has a great video at www.ftc.gov/idtheft. It is a very good starting point to learn what devastation waits for those who are caught off-guard.

Fortunately, there is good news for consumers. Solutions tend to emerge from within the American system to respond and solve serious societal problems. Ask me about consumer solutions later. For now, let’s take a look at how the US Government was prompted in helping businesses to respond to the threat of Identity Theft.

The Human Resource Executive publication recognized in April 2007 that “over 50 percent of Identity Theft comes from the work place.” That is probably an understatement considering the monstrous data breaches being reported on the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse website every week. Data continues to be compromised from government agencies, educational institutions, corporations, and medical facilities – no business is immune. Fortunately, the Federal Trade Commission has been diligent to put new laws in place to make a difference. However, not all of these new laws, addressing consumer protection, are so new.

The most recent regulation is the FACTA Red Flag Rules, effective 1 January 2008 and now extended to 1 May 2009. It is really not difficult for businesses to comply with these rulings. In fact, the FACTA RFRs could be considered a smart approach to what businesses should have been doing already. More information can be seen on the Federal Trade Commission’s website at www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/articles/art10.shtm.