Data Breach at UC-Berkeley – 160,000 Records

The University of California-Berkeley acknowledged that hackers breached a database of the university’s health system records, including 160,000 names and Social Security numbers.

UC Berkeley said it was notifying the people affected about possible identity theft or fraud.

The “Red Flags” Rule: Enforcement On Hold Until August 1, 2009

The Federal Trade Commission will delay enforcement of the new “Red Flags Rule” until August 1, 2009, to give creditors and financial institutions more time to develop and implement written identity theft prevention programs. For entities that have a low risk of identity theft, such as businesses that know their customers personally, the Commission will soon release a template to help them comply with the law.

3,400 Texas School District Employees Personal Data Fished From Trash Dumpster

Information from old benefits report were used to make thousands of dollars in purchases according to Irving school officials. District security director Pat Lamb said, “We don’t know if somebody was supposed to shred that information, but it ended up in a dumpster.” The school district’s policy requires following a schedule for properly destroying records.

40,000 Furious Chicago School Teachers

And righteously so after learning that their personal information, including their Social Security numbers, had been stolen from a laptop belonging to consultants working for the school district last year.

“I’m furious, I’m outraged, and I’m disgusted,” said Chicago Teachers Union President Marilyn Stewart upon learning of the data breach. The personal information had been downloaded to two laptop computers belonging to consultants.

Is It Real or Fake?

Here’s one phishing trip that you won’t mind taking. It’s an interactive quiz provided by Consumer Reports to see if you can tell which email is real or fake. It’s a series of 12 screens showing actual emails, both fraudulent and legitimate (real names have been removed of course).

Millions of consumers get taken by these types of scams every year. So if you’re ready to test your skills, click here to be taken to the quiz.

Spear Phishing

The FBI is alerting consumers of a cyber scheme taking place across the country.

Customers of a telecommunications firm received an e-mail recently explaining a problem with their latest order. They were asked to go to the company website, via a link in the e-mail, to provide personal information—like their birth dates and Social Security numbers. But both the e-mail and the website were bogus.