Did the Rent-a-Center manager knowingly expose personal information?
Technorati Tag: Security Breach
Date Reported:
5/9/08
Organization:
Rent-a-Center*
*formerly RentWay
Contractor/Consultant/Branch:
None
Victims:
Customers
Number Affected:
Unknown
Types of Data:
"photocopies of Social Security cards and driver's licenses, credit card numbers, home addresses and phone numbers"
Breach Description:
"Hundreds of RentWay customer files — including Social Security, driver's license and credit card numbers — were abandoned in a parking lot, leaving consumers at risk for identity fraud."
Reference URL:
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Bradenton Herald
Sarasota Herald-Tribune (May 10)
Report Credit:
Anthony Cormier, Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Response:
From the online sources cited above:
Hundreds of RentWay customer files — including Social Security, driver's license and credit card numbers — were abandoned in a parking lot, leaving consumers at risk for identity fraud.
The files were discovered in a plaza off Cortez Road on Friday morning.
In the files were photocopies of Social Security cards and driver's licenses, credit card numbers, home addresses and phone numbers of people who leased furniture, TVs and appliances from RentWay.
A Manatee Sheriff's deputy arrived at about 10:30 a.m. and called workers from Rent-A-Center, which acquired RentWay in 2006, to clean up the mess.
In dress slacks and business shirts, Rent-A-Center employees crawled in a Dumpster on Friday afternoon.
it was unclear how long the files were in the lot and who may have accessed the sensitive information
Rather than shredding the documents that contained personal information of clients and taking them to their own Dumpster, the employees left the papers piled in the bottom of the Dots' store Dumpster
Kimberly Lash, manager of Dots, a women's clothing store next door to the the vacant storefront, said the mess had been out in the corner of the building for nearly a week.
She said the Rent-A-Center store manager said there were personal documents in the Dumpster.
[Evan] If I understand this correctly, the Rent-A-Center manager knew that there were personal documents being discarded in the dumpster?! What the *&^# kind of manager would knowingly put his/her customers at risk? I wouldn't hold the Dot's store manager ultimately responsible, but I wonder why she didn't do or say anything when she was told that there was personal information in the dumpster.
"All they did was pick it up and put it in my Dumpster," she said.
On Friday morning, a transient was seen rifling through the paperwork until he was shooed off by Don McLucas, who found the mess and called police
"Unbelievable," McLucas said. "Imagine the fraud you could commit with this stuff. And they just dump it like that? Unbelievable."
"You could open a bank account, apply for a credit card, anything. That information could be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars." - Robert Siciliano, CEO of IDTheftSecurity.com
[Evan] The bad guys certainly know this. It seems like others either don't care or don't know.
The store manager of the Rent-A-Center store declined to comment. It's unclear what happened to the documents once they were removed from the Dots Dumpster.
Lt. William Vitaioli said it would not be a criminal violation to dispose of personal information such as Social Security numbers, credit card numbers, driver's license numbers or phone numbers.
[Evan] Should it be? This is a hot debate.
Florida law requires companies to notify consumers if the security of their personal information has been breached.
[Evan] Are notification laws working? Another hot debate.
Commentary:
If I had the time, I would check dumpsters on the way home one of these days. Think I would find anything along my 25 mile ride home?
Past Breaches:
Unknown
Date Reported:5/9/08
Organization:
Rent-a-Center*
*formerly RentWay
Contractor/Consultant/Branch:
None
Victims:
Customers
Number Affected:
Unknown
Types of Data:
"photocopies of Social Security cards and driver's licenses, credit card numbers, home addresses and phone numbers"
Breach Description:
"Hundreds of RentWay customer files — including Social Security, driver's license and credit card numbers — were abandoned in a parking lot, leaving consumers at risk for identity fraud."
Reference URL:
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Bradenton Herald
Sarasota Herald-Tribune (May 10)
Report Credit:
Anthony Cormier, Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Response:
From the online sources cited above:
Hundreds of RentWay customer files — including Social Security, driver's license and credit card numbers — were abandoned in a parking lot, leaving consumers at risk for identity fraud.
The files were discovered in a plaza off Cortez Road on Friday morning.
In the files were photocopies of Social Security cards and driver's licenses, credit card numbers, home addresses and phone numbers of people who leased furniture, TVs and appliances from RentWay.
A Manatee Sheriff's deputy arrived at about 10:30 a.m. and called workers from Rent-A-Center, which acquired RentWay in 2006, to clean up the mess.
In dress slacks and business shirts, Rent-A-Center employees crawled in a Dumpster on Friday afternoon.
it was unclear how long the files were in the lot and who may have accessed the sensitive information
Rather than shredding the documents that contained personal information of clients and taking them to their own Dumpster, the employees left the papers piled in the bottom of the Dots' store Dumpster
Kimberly Lash, manager of Dots, a women's clothing store next door to the the vacant storefront, said the mess had been out in the corner of the building for nearly a week.
She said the Rent-A-Center store manager said there were personal documents in the Dumpster.
[Evan] If I understand this correctly, the Rent-A-Center manager knew that there were personal documents being discarded in the dumpster?! What the *&^# kind of manager would knowingly put his/her customers at risk? I wouldn't hold the Dot's store manager ultimately responsible, but I wonder why she didn't do or say anything when she was told that there was personal information in the dumpster.
"All they did was pick it up and put it in my Dumpster," she said.
On Friday morning, a transient was seen rifling through the paperwork until he was shooed off by Don McLucas, who found the mess and called police
"Unbelievable," McLucas said. "Imagine the fraud you could commit with this stuff. And they just dump it like that? Unbelievable."
"You could open a bank account, apply for a credit card, anything. That information could be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars." - Robert Siciliano, CEO of IDTheftSecurity.com
[Evan] The bad guys certainly know this. It seems like others either don't care or don't know.
The store manager of the Rent-A-Center store declined to comment. It's unclear what happened to the documents once they were removed from the Dots Dumpster.
Lt. William Vitaioli said it would not be a criminal violation to dispose of personal information such as Social Security numbers, credit card numbers, driver's license numbers or phone numbers.
[Evan] Should it be? This is a hot debate.
Florida law requires companies to notify consumers if the security of their personal information has been breached.
[Evan] Are notification laws working? Another hot debate.
Commentary:
If I had the time, I would check dumpsters on the way home one of these days. Think I would find anything along my 25 mile ride home?
Past Breaches:
Unknown
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