Mecklenburg County (NC) account numbers in the trunk
Technorati Tag: Security Breach
Date Reported:
2/25/08
Organization:
Mecklenburg County, NC (USA)
Contractor/Consultant/Branch:
None
Victims:
"people who let Mecklenburg County draft money from their accounts"
Number Affected:
400
Types of Data:
Bank draft transaction information
Breach Description:
A group of three teenagers allegedly stole a car belonging to a Mecklenburg County, North Carolina worker. Located in the trunk of the stolen car was sensitive personal information in the form of one or more printed documents. One teen has been arrested and the other two are still at large, but the information is missing.
Reference URL:
WBTV Channel 3 News online
WBTV Channel 3 News online (newer)
Report Credit:
WBTV Channel 3 News
Response:
From the online sources cited above:
people who let Mecklenburg County draft money from their accounts should be on alert. 400 account numbers were stolen
[Evan] Account numbers alone should not lead to identity theft and/or fraud. Experienced and educated thieves will use one piece of data to obtain other pieces of data which will in turn lead to a complete identity theft profile. This is probably not the case here however.
Any of the 400 victims should alert their banks and the credit agencies
The county sent a letter to everyone who is affected.
Police say the teens stole a county employee's car.
A printout of bank draft transactions by the Park and Recreation Department was in the trunk.
[Evan] I wonder what other information may have been on this printout. Was it only account numbers, or was it more. I assume that there were names, addresses and draft amounts. Hopefully no Social Security numbers or authentication information.
Those transactions were for January, February and June of 2006.
A county official said, Charlotte Mecklenburg Police have a 17 year-old in custody, but they are looking for two more teens.
The official said he didn't think the teens used any account numbers, in fact he said they may have thrown them away.
[Evan] The fact that they are missing is troubling, whether they threw them away or not. Once information confidentiality is compromised there really isn't any effective way to get it back. If the information is in the garbage, where does it go from there?
The county says it no longer allows employees to keep sensitive information in their cars.
[Evan] Well, there you go! Problem solved, right?
Commentary:
My quote of the day... "The county says it no longer allows employees to keep sensitive information in their cars."
Past Breaches:
Unknown
Date Reported:2/25/08
Organization:
Mecklenburg County, NC (USA)
Contractor/Consultant/Branch:
None
Victims:
"people who let Mecklenburg County draft money from their accounts"
Number Affected:
400
Types of Data:
Bank draft transaction information
Breach Description:
A group of three teenagers allegedly stole a car belonging to a Mecklenburg County, North Carolina worker. Located in the trunk of the stolen car was sensitive personal information in the form of one or more printed documents. One teen has been arrested and the other two are still at large, but the information is missing.
Reference URL:
WBTV Channel 3 News online
WBTV Channel 3 News online (newer)
Report Credit:
WBTV Channel 3 News
Response:
From the online sources cited above:
people who let Mecklenburg County draft money from their accounts should be on alert. 400 account numbers were stolen
[Evan] Account numbers alone should not lead to identity theft and/or fraud. Experienced and educated thieves will use one piece of data to obtain other pieces of data which will in turn lead to a complete identity theft profile. This is probably not the case here however.
Any of the 400 victims should alert their banks and the credit agencies
The county sent a letter to everyone who is affected.
Police say the teens stole a county employee's car.
A printout of bank draft transactions by the Park and Recreation Department was in the trunk.
[Evan] I wonder what other information may have been on this printout. Was it only account numbers, or was it more. I assume that there were names, addresses and draft amounts. Hopefully no Social Security numbers or authentication information.
Those transactions were for January, February and June of 2006.
A county official said, Charlotte Mecklenburg Police have a 17 year-old in custody, but they are looking for two more teens.
The official said he didn't think the teens used any account numbers, in fact he said they may have thrown them away.
[Evan] The fact that they are missing is troubling, whether they threw them away or not. Once information confidentiality is compromised there really isn't any effective way to get it back. If the information is in the garbage, where does it go from there?
The county says it no longer allows employees to keep sensitive information in their cars.
[Evan] Well, there you go! Problem solved, right?
Commentary:
My quote of the day... "The county says it no longer allows employees to keep sensitive information in their cars."
Past Breaches:
Unknown
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