TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Scammers Access Data on 35,000

Scammers Access Data on 35,000

Monty Solomon (monty@roscom.com)
Tue, 15 Feb 2005 11:20:34 -0500

By Matt Hines
Story last modified Tue Feb 15 07:55:00 PST 2005

ChoicePoint confirmed Tuesday that criminals recently accessed its
database of consumer records, potentially viewing the personal data of
about 35,000 Californians and resulting in at least one case of
identity fraud.

The Atlanta company, which provides consumer data services to
insurance companies, other businesses and government agencies, said
the unidentified individuals posed as legitimate businesspeople in
order to breech its defenses . Chuck Jones, a company spokesman, said
that roughly 50 fraudulent accounts were set up by the schemers,
through which they could view the data of California residents.

News of the crime first surfaced when ChoicePoint sent an e-mail to
individuals potentially affected by the attack last week. Among the
data available through the company's services, and possibly accessed
by the criminals, are consumers' names, addresses, Social Security
numbers and credit reports, Jones confirmed. However, he said it is
nearly impossible to tell what information was viewed by the criminals.

...

http://news.com.com/2100-1029-5577122.html

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