Wells Fargo client's data stolen- watch out for identity theft

[m0ssie]

story

I received a letter from them, and an offer for a free year of credit monitoring. But if the data is stolen, wouldn't it be just as good to the theives 2-3 years down the road, as it is for one year?

 

[Jeff7]

Why file encryption and strong login passwords are always a good thing in business, or for any sensitive data.

Even on my home PC, I always use lock it when it's not in use, and anything personal on the PC is encrypted.
I mainly did that when I was in college - my roommate seemed to have some allergy or deathly fear of door locks, so he never locked the apartment. Brilliant guy.....but because of that fact, and the fact that I didn't know if he liked to snoop on other people's PCs, I started using some of the security features that WinXP has.

 

[arcas]

This story is almost 3 years old. Since then lots of companies and universities have lost customer/student information. It's a tough problem to solve in the real world. As someone who does data security for a living, I sometimes find companies' lack of attention to details to be mind boggling but at the same time, I understand that a good data security policy costs money and the benefits aren't immediately tangible to those who sit in the corporate boardrooms. On the one hand, I'd like to see legislation passed that levies crushing penalties against entities who lose personal information unless they can demonstrate that said information was securely encrypted. On the other hand, if such legislation is passed, companies will simply neglect to report data losses. It seems clear, though, that allowing companies to police themselves isn't working.

 

[altonb1]

aetna just had an issue like this recently.

 

[Rastus]

I have received those letters before from banks I do business with and my employer. Usually it's because someone's laptop got stolen. It seems like a nobrainer not to put customer data on laptops, but evidently they all do it. Asshats.

 

[m0ssie]

Originally posted by: arcas
This story is almost 3 years old.

Whoops, try this link for this month's story

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