-=PCTechTalk=- Re: IMPORTANT NOTE IF YOU HAVE/USE CREDIT CARD(S)!!!!!!!

  • From: "ml" <my2punkin@xxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <pctechtalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Wed, 19 Aug 2009 07:07:49 -0700

link didn't post properly????
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Larry Southerland" <larrysoutherland@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <the_bullhorn2@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; <thebullhornsbest@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, August 18, 2009 8:36 PM
Subject: -=PCTechTalk=- IMPORTANT NOTE IF YOU HAVE/USE CREDIT CARD(S)!!!!!!!


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> http://www.walletpop.com/credit/article/albert-gonzalez-charged-with-theft-o
> f/625932
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>
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> Feds Bust Biggest Identity Theft Ring
>
>
> By DEVLIN BARRETT
>
> ,
>
> AP
>
> posted: 15 HOURS 10 MINUTES AGO
>
> filed under: Crime News <http://news.aol.com/main/crime> , National News
> <http://news.aol.com/nation> , Credit Cards
> <http://www.walletpop.com/credit/credit-cards>
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> WASHINGTON (Aug. 17) - Federal prosecutors on Monday charged a Miami man
> with the largest case of credit and debit card data theft ever in the 
> United
> States, accusing the one-time government informant of swiping 130 million
> accounts on top of 40 million he stole previously.
>
> <javascript:oKE.pgPopUp('walletpop-credit_topidthefts')> Top Data Breaches
>
> <javascript:oKE.pgPopUp('walletpop-credit_topidthefts')>
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> Scott Barbour, Getty Images
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> 5 photos
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> <javascript:oKE.pgPopUp('walletpop-credit_topidthefts')> Previous
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> <javascript:oKE.pgPopUp('walletpop-credit_topidthefts')> Next
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> On Aug. 17, federal investigators announced what is said to be the largest
> identity theft ring in U.S. history. Thieves targeted more than 130 
> million
> credit and debit card numbers used at 7-Eleven stores, supermarket chain
> Hannaford Brothers and those processed by Heartland Payment Systems.
> Heartland, coincidentally, suffered another major breach just last year.
>
> (Note: Please disable your pop-up blocker)
>
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> urls&dataUrlNodes=uiConfig,feedConfig,entry&id=539197&pid=539196&uts=1250594
> 715
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> http://cdn.channel.aol.com/cs_feed_v1_6/csfeedwrapper.swf
>
> Top Data Breaches
>
> On Aug. 17, federal investigators announced what is said to be the largest
> identity theft ring in U.S. history. Thieves targeted more than 130 
> million
> credit and debit card numbers used at 7-Eleven stores, supermarket chain
> Hannaford Brothers and those processed by Heartland Payment Systems.
> Heartland, coincidentally, suffered another major breach just last year.
>
> Scott Barbour, Getty Images
>
> Scott Barbour, Getty Images
>
>
>
> <http://www.walletpop.com/credit/article/albert-gonzalez-charged-with-theft-
> of/625932?feeddeeplinkNum=0>
>
> Top Data Breaches
>
>
> On Aug. 17, federal investigators announced what is said to be the largest
> identity theft ring in U.S. history. Thieves targeted more than 130 
> million
> credit and debit card numbers used at 7-Eleven stores, supermarket chain
> Hannaford Brothers and those processed by Heartland Payment Systems.
> Heartland, coincidentally, suffered another major breach just last year.
>
> Scott Barbour, Getty Images
>
> The Checkfree attack announced in January 2009 exposed 5 million records 
> and
> came at the hand, apparently, of Ukrainian hackers.
>
> Checkfree Corp. / Fiserv
>
> The data breach at the Bank of New York Mellon Shareowner Services 
> involved
> 12.5 million records and was the top breach in 2008.
>
> BNY Mellon Shareowner Services
>
> Hannaford Bros. Supermarkets had a computer system breach that exposed 4.2
> million records in 2008, the second-highest tally of the year.
>
> Stephan Savoia, AP
>
> The data breach at Countrywide in 2008 was only the fifth largest of the
> year, with 2 million records exposed, but the company has had such bad
> headlines in recent times that the bad news only hit harder.
>
> Richard A. Brooks, AFP / Getty Images
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Albert Gonzalez, 28, broke his own record for identity theft by hacking 
> into
> retail networks, according to prosecutors, though they say his illicit
> computer exploits ended when he went to jail on charges stemming from an
> earlier case.
>
> Gonzalez is a former informant for the U.S. Secret Service who helped the
> agency hunt hackers, authorities say. The agency later found out that he 
> had
> also been working with criminals and feeding them information on ongoing
> investigations, even warning off at least one individual, according to
> authorities.
>
> Gonzalez, who is already in jail awaiting trial in a hacking case, was
> indicted Monday in New Jersey and charged with conspiring with two other
> unnamed suspects to steal the private information. Prosecutors say the 
> goal
> was to sell the stolen data to others.
>
> How much of the data was sold and then used to make fraudulent charges is
> unclear. Investigators in such cases say it is usually impossible to
> quantify the impact of such thefts on account holders.
>
> Prosecutors say Gonzalez, who is known online as "soupnazi," targeted
> customers of convenience store giant 7-Eleven Inc. and supermarket chain
> Hannaford Brothers, Co. Inc. He also targeted Heartland Payment Systems, a
> New Jersey-based card payment processor.
>
> According to the indictment, Gonazalez and his two Russian coconspirators
> would hack into corporate computer networks and secretly place "malware," 
> or
> malicious software, that would allow them backdoor access to the networks
> later to steal data.
>
> Gonzalez faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted of the new charges. 
> His
> lawyer did not immediately return a call for comment.
>
> Gonzalez is awaiting trial next month in New York for allegedly helping 
> hack
> the computer network of the national restaurant chain Dave and Buster's.
>
> The Justice Department said the new case represents the largest alleged
> credit and debit card data breach ever charged in the United States, based
> on a scheme that began in October 2006.
>
> Gonzalez allegedly devised a sophisticated attack to penetrate the 
> computer
> networks, steal the card data, and send that data to computer servers in
> California, Illinois, Latvia, the Netherlands and Ukraine.
>
> Also last year, the Justice Department announced additional charges 
> against
> Gonzalez and others for hacking retail companies' computers for the theft 
> of
> approximately 40 million credit cards. At the time, that was believed to 
> be
> the biggest single case of hacking private computer networks to steal 
> credit
> card data, puncturing the electronic defenses of retailers including T.J.
> Maxx, Barnes & Noble, Sports Authority and OfficeMax.
>
> Prosecutors charge Gonzalez was the ringleader of the hackers in that 
> case.
>
> At the time of those charges, officials said the alleged thieves weren't
> computer geniuses, just opportunists who used a technique called
> "wardriving," which involved cruising through different areas with a 
> laptop
> computer and looking for accessible wireless Internet signals. Once they
> located a vulnerable network, they installed so-called "sniffer programs"
> that captured credit and debit card numbers as they moved through a
> retailer's processing networks.
>
> Gonzalez faces a possible life sentence if convicted in that case.
>
> Restaurants are among the most common targets for hackers, experts said,
> because they often fail to update their antivirus software and other
> computer security systems.
>
> Scott Christie, a former federal prosecutor now in private practice in New
> Jersey, said the case shows that despite the best efforts by companies to
> protect data privacy, there are still individuals capable of sneaking in.
>
> "Cases like this do cause companies to sit up and take notice that this is 
> a
> problem and more needs to be done," said Christie.
>
> Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP
> news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise
> distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
> Active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
>
> 2009-08-17 16:08:16
>
>
>
>
>
>
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