| Moment’s blunder puts half the country at risk
Perhaps his mind was elswhere that Thursday morning. England's hopes of qualifying for the European Championships had been dentged the night before by defeat in Moscow — still, there was the Rugby World Cup Final to look forward to at the weekend. Certainly, when the request came to send child benefit data to the National Audit Office in London, the junior official’s mind does not appear to have been on the job. He burned the entire national child benefit database on two computer discs, popped them in an envelope and sent them to the post room for collection by TNT couriers. "He messed up, it was treated as a normal piece of mail," an insider at HM Revenue & Customs said. The IT worker returned to his duties, unaware that posting that envelope would trigger the country’s biggest police investigation into possible identity theft and jeopardise the career of the Chancellor.
News 25 Investigation Finds Identity Theft Risk in Peoria County Clerk ...
Government officials are often the first to warn people about the dangers of identity theft.But there's a government office in Peoria County that's exposing people to the risk. Since learning from News 25 of that exposure, local legislative leaders are promising they'll take new legislation to Springfield next year. If you have ever had a court proceeding or violated the law in Peoria County...even something as small as a curfew violation when you were a teen...you could become susceptible to identity theft. Information regarding traffic and criminal offenses is public record...accessible on these computers in the courthouse. But those records not only include information on your case—for countless people there's your name, address, date of birth...and your social security number...personal information available for the public eye, and anyone can walk into the courthouse to access it.
Young Couple Lives Large Through ID Theft
A young Pennsylvania couple has been charged with using a combination of old-fashioned and high-tech burglary techniques to help fuel a globe-hopping, luxury lifestyle. Edward Anderton, 25, and Jocelyn Kirsch, 22, were arrested last Friday on suspicion of identity theft, forgery, and unlawful use of a computer. They voluntarily returned to Philadelphia police headquarters to answer to additional charges, including theft and burglary. A Pennsylvania judge doubled Anderton's bail to $100,000 and Kirsch's to $75,000 after prosecutors pointed out that the couple has been evicted from the upscale apartment where they had been living and now have no fixed address. The couple spent last night in jail, but are expected to post bail Thursday. Something Old, Something New The primary victims of the crime spree were the neighbors of the alleged perpetrators at the Belgravia, located in Rittenhouse Square not far from Philadelphia's City Hall.
Brown faces Commons with 'profound' regret
GORDON Brown has "profoundly" apologised for the loss of personal details of almost half the population as it transpired that teenagers could be left vulnerable to identity theft for years. The Prime Minister said he regretted the "inconvenience" that has left 25 million people exposed to potential fraud after an HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) official copied the sensitive details to computer discs which were then lost in transit. .
Government Computer News
The Senate on Thursday passed a bill amending federal law to directly address online crimes, including identity theft.
The Identity Theft Enforcement and Restitution Act of 2007 was passed by unanimous consent. It is one of a host of bills before Congress that would deal with what many in the information technology industry and law enforcement say are holes in the current legal structure regarding cybercrime. A similar bill in the House has not moved out of subcommittee.
The Senate bill would amend Title 18 of the U.S. Code to specifically address conspiracy to commit cybercrime and close loopholes to prohibit online extortion and address botnets networks of compromised computers used by criminals to launch attacks and conduct fraudulent activity by making it a crime to damage 10 or more computers in a year.
SO probes credit card abuse
By CHARLYN FINN - Calhoun County Sheriff Office with U.S. Postal Services continues to investigate a locally detected credit-debit card identity theft. A Port Lavaca couple, Lester Lee Awalt, 49 and Kathy Dee Awalt, 40, were arrested last Thursday stemming from this investigation. Bond for each suspect was set at $50,000."There will be more arrests," Sheriff B.B. Browning said Monday. "Several households are involved. Before all is said and done, the sheriff estimated that about $100,000 worth of stolen goods will be discovered. He said the suspects were rebuilding an engine and buying this sort of equipment. Also, some computers were stolen.The investigation was a joint effort with Victoria County Sheriff's Office, Jackson County Sheriff's Office, United States Postal Inspector and Town Colonie Police Department.The investigation began when CCSO investigator Renette Todd received a call from Inv.
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