Do you know where your personal information is?

Update: And yet here are some more cases! Perhaps I’ll just make this a running list. Anyway, in the latest news: 180,000 people had their personal data stolen from Polo Ralph Lauren and GM Mastercards.

Also added info on data theft from DSW Shoe Warehouse in March that I didn’t originally notice. 100,000 people affected in that incident.

People Affected So Far In 2005: 1,297,000


Original Post – April 10, 2005

Lately, I feel as if I’ve been reading a steadily increasing amount of news reports that talk about identity theft and stolen private information. I decided to do a little research and track every single story of 2005 that I could find that related to these things. It’s appalling! So far, I’ve found 6 stories on stolen information that total nearly 537,000 people in 2005 alone! It’s disgusting.

Date: 04-18-2005
Name of Organization: Ameritrade
Location: Maryland
How: Lost backup tape with shipping agency
People Affected: 200,000
Link: http://money.cnn.com/2005/04/19/technology/ameritrade/

Date: 04-14-2005
Name of Organization: Polo Raplh Lauren – Mastercards
Location:
How: “Security Breach” – Hackers
People Affected: 180,000
Link: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/n/a/2005/04/14/financial/f064639D31.DTL

Date: 04-08-2005
Name of Organization: San Jose Medical Group
Location: San Jose, CA
How: Stolen Laptop
People Affected: 185,000
Link: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2005/04/08/financial/f115753D39.DTL

Date: 03-29-2005
Name of Organization: UC Berkeley
Location: Berkeley, CA
How: Stolen Laptop
People Affected: 98,000
Link: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/03/29/BAG3MBVSFH1.DTL

Date: 03-26-2005
Name of Organization: Northwestern University
Location: Chicago, IL
How: “Security Breach” – Hackers
People Affected: 21,000
Link: http://www.chicagotribune.com/technology/
chi-0503260274mar26,1,5138021.story?coll=chi-technology-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true

Date: 03-22-2005
Name of Organization: Cal State University, Chico
Location: Chico, CA
How: “Security Breach” – Hackers
People Affected: 59,000
Link: http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=technologyNews&storyID=7964776

Date: 03-10-2005
Name of Organization: LexisNexis
Location: Florida
How: “Security Breach” – Hackers
People Affected: 310,000
Link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A19982-2005Mar9.html
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050412/tc_nm/media_lexisnexis_dc_2

Date: 03-08-2005
Name of Organization: DSW Shoe Warehouse, Retail Ventures Inc.
Location: Ohio
How: “Information stolen” – Not sure how
People Affected: 100,000
Link: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5608311.html
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/business/11394185.htm

Date: 02-23-2005
Name of Organization: ChoicePoint Inc.
Location: Georgia
How: “Security Breach”
People Affected: 144,000
Link: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/02/23/BUGBHBFD411.DTL

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