Total Identity Protection

Welcome to the Tuesday Morning News Kick Off post from the ITAC blog. Typically, we do this post every Monday, but since most of us observed the Memorial Day holiday weekend, we we pushing this post back one day. And, as always, there is not shortage of news. While many of us were enjoying the long weekend and taking time to honor those who served our great nation, the news cycle was humming along in full force. Be sure to check out this full post for more identity theft, data breach and cyber security news.

Sony and Epsilon Agree to Testify Before Congress Sony has finally agreed to testify before a Congressional hearing that will be held by Representative Mary Bono Mack, the chairwoman of the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade. The hearing will address the massive data breach that occurred last month on Sony’s PlayStation Network and jeopardized millions of customers’ personal information. Sony had declined to attend a previous hearing by the same subcommittee, saying at the time that it was currently involved in an “ongoing intensive investigation and management of this criminal cyberattack.” The previous hearing explored “The Threat of Data Theft to American Consumers” and the lack of privacy legislation to protect Americans.

Cyber Combat: Act of War The Pentagon has concluded that computer sabotage coming from another country can constitute an act of war, a finding that for the first time opens the door for the U.S. to respond using traditional military force. The Pentagons first formal cyber strategy, unclassified portions of which are expected to become public next month, represents an early attempt to grapple with a changing world in which a hacker could pose as significant a threat to U.S. nuclear reactors, subways or pipelines as a hostile countrys military.

Data Breach at Security Firm Linked to Attack on Lockheed Lockheed Martin, the nation’s largest military contractor, has battled disruptions in its computer networks this week that might be tied to a hacking attack on a vendor that supplies coded security tokens to millions of users, security officials said on Friday. The SecurID electronic tokens, which are used to gain access to computer networks by corporate employees and government officials from outside their offices, are supplied by the RSA Security division of the EMC Corporation. RSA acknowledged in March that it had sustained a data breach that could have compromised some of its security products. Executives in the military industry said Friday that Lockheed’s problems appeared to stem from that data breach and could be the first public signs of damage from it.

Hackers Attack PBS Website, Post Tupac Shakur Hoax Days after Lockheed Martins information systems network was breached, another hacker attack has come into spotlight. The website of Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) has been hacked and hackers have posted a hoax story claiming that rapper Tupac Shakur was still alive and living in New Zealand. Shakur was gunned down in 1996 in Las Vegas. A group calling itself LulzSec and The Lulz Boat on Twitter claimed responsibility for the attack and said the hack was carried out to protest a PBS investigative program Frontline that recently aired a documentary about the whistle-blower website WikiLeaks.

Honda Canada Warns Customers of Data Breach Honda Canada has issued a warning that a data breach exposed the personal data of an unspecified number of customers. The company hasnt yet disclosed details on how the companys systems were breached, or when the data was accessed. A Honda spokesman in Canada did not immediately respond to a request for information about the breach. An undated alert posted on the companys Web site warned users of unauthorized access of some customer data, including customer names, addresses, Vehicle Identification Numbers, and in the case of a small number of customers, Honda Financial Services account numbers.

Kids with Mortgages, Credit Card Bills and Auto Loans When an adults identity is stolen, he or she often discovers the theft in a month or so, when the next financial statement comes in. But when its a child who is being ripped off, it can be many years before the fraud is discovered. Parents have no idea that their childrens identities have been stolen until they have become adults and find that their credit report says they are in debt, said Steven Toporoff, an attorney with the Federal Trade Commissions division of privacy and identity protection. The FTC is planning to hold its first workshop on child identity theft, called Stolen Futures, in July to raise awareness of the problem and come up with ideas on how to protect youngsters.

Similar Posts:

• “Millions of Consumers are Twisting in the Wind:” Sony Declines to Testify at Congressional Hearing ?
• Sony Suffers Data Breach
• Sony Data Breach Has Cost $171 Million So Far
• Sony Offers $1 Million of Identity Theft Insurance to Each User
• The Pentagon Federal Credit Union Breached