Interesting People mailing list archives

more on Stealing your ID can be as easy as ABC

From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Mon, 26 Sep 2005 14:42:12 -0400



Begin forwarded message:

From: TClaburn () cmp com
Date: September 26, 2005 2:29:33 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Re: [IP] Stealing your ID can be as easy as ABC


I worked on a similar story recently:

http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=169400258

In about 30 minutes of searching on the Internet, I was able to comeup withhundreds of personal data sets that had been posted to carding sitesand wereaccessible through search engines. One text file, found using AskJeeves, had 47

pages of personal data sets.

The question I was exploring was whether there should be anyliability attached

for indexing and pointing people to that sort of information.

It seems there isn't any and it doesn't appear that will change.

Thomas Claburn, Associate Editor
InformationWeek, CMP Media, Inc.
600 Harrison St., 6th Floor
San Francisco, CA 94107
tclaburn () cmp com
415.947.6820

http://www.informationweek.com
http://www.lot49.com




             David Farber
             <dave () farber net>

To

             09/26/2005 10:42 AM         Ip Ip <ip () v2 listbox com>

cc

Please respondto Subjectdave () farber net [IP] Stealing your ID canbe as easy

                                         as ABC












Begin forwarded message:

From: Monty Solomon <monty () roscom com>
Date: September 26, 2005 1:23:38 AM EDT
To: undisclosed-recipient:;
Subject: Stealing your ID can be as easy as ABC



Stealing your ID can be as easy as ABC
Self-proclaimed identity thieves have a message for you: personal
information is frighteningly easy to get

By Joe Light, Globe Correspondent  |  September 25, 2005

Tammy Martin, a 37-year-old instructor at the University of Hawaii,
couldn't believe it.

''This is wild," she said. ''You can't live your life in a balloon,
you know? But this is just wild."

Her shock was warranted. I had just called her on an unlisted
cellphone number and informed her that I had her Social Security
number, Visa card number, bank account and personal identification
numbers, and eBay account name and password.

If I chose, not only could I drain her bank account and rack up
charges on the Visa, but with her Social Security number, I could
probably open new credit cards -- maybe even a mortgage -- long
before she discovered a problem. Ultimately, she would likely not be
responsible for the charges, but it might take days -- or months --
to rectify her credit.

Martin was not a victim of identity theft. But the information was in
the hands of a self-proclaimed identity thief. I received the
information during an interview with someone who goes by the online
nickname Bart Maza. He said he is an 18-year-old high school dropout
in Russia. In total, he gave me the data of 17 people.

I'd written several articles about identity theft for the Globe, but
this was the first time I attempted to directly contact an apparent
identity thief. Although I had spoken to many law enforcement
officials, private security investigators, victims, and consumer
advocates about the issue, I decided to go to the source to truly
understand how the identity theft supply chain operates -- from the
time that the data are stolen to the time that information is used
fraudulently.

...

http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2005/09/25/
stealing_your_id_can_be_as_easy_as_abc/



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more on Stealing your ID can be as easy as ABC David Farber (Sep 26)