Re: ID theft hits 3.3 million college students

[Steve Werby <smwerby () VCU EDU>]

On 3/27/2010 8:37 AM, Justin Sherenco wrote:
> Some light reading for Saturday morning.
>
> "Thieves stole computer data from Oakdale-based ECMC getting sensitive information about federal student loans. It is 
> believed to be one of the biggest U.S. cases of student identity theft."
>
> http://www.startribune.com/local/east/89307862.html?page=1&c=y

Per an article in the Washington Post, ECMC guarantees loans in
Virginia, Connecticut and Oregon.  It's not clear whether they guarantee
loans in other states as well.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/26/AR2010032605475.html
Per ECMC's notification at
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/26/AR2010032605475.html,
they're oferring those affected a suite of services from Experian.  If
it's the suite I'm familiar with, their "data breach" rate is $60 per
individual who takes advantage of it.  Even if only 10% take advantage
of it, this could be a $2 million expenditure.

--
Steve Werby
Information Security Officer
Virginia Commonwealth University
VCU Information Security - http://infosecurity.vcu.edu/
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