Fidelity National Reports Records Theft

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Ari Ollikainen <Ari () OLTECO com>
Date: July 3, 2007 3:32:44 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Fidelity National Reports Records Theft

        For IP...

Fidelity National Reports Records Theft

By RON WORD, Associated Press Writer

Tuesday, July 3, 2007

(07-03) 11:09 PDT Jacksonville, Fla. (AP) --

Fidelity National Information Services, a financial processing
company, said Tuesday a worker at one of its subsidiaries stole 2.3
million consumer records containing credit card, bank account and
other personal information.

The employee sold the information to an unidentified data broker. The
broker then sold it to several direct marketing companies, but the
data was not used in identity theft or other fraudulent financial
activity, officials from Fidelity subsidiary Certegy Check Services
Inc. said in a conference call.

About 2.2 million records stolen from Certegy contained bank account
information and 99,000 contained credit card information, company
officials said.

"As a result of this apparent theft, the consumers affected received
marketing solicitations from the companies that bought the data,"
said Renz Nichols, president of St. Petersburg-based Certegy.

"We believe that is the extent of any damage to the public," he said.

The company has found no fraudulent use of the information. An
investigation is continuing by the U.S. Secret Service and Pinellas
County Sheriff's Office. Those agencies didn't return phone messages
seeking comment.

Certegy has asked a court in St. Petersburg to get back all the
information from the employee and the marketing companies as well as
to stop its use.

Certegy officials said they had contacted the data broker and the
marketing companies and believed it would be able to get the data
back and prevent its future use. The broker and the companies did not
know they were buying stolen information, officials said. Certegy did
not release their names.

Certegy will notify all affected consumers of the theft and has
contacted major credit agencies, Nichols said.

The employee, whose name was not released, was fired. He was
identified as a senior level database administrator who had worked
for the company for seven years.

Nichols characterized him as a "rogue and dishonest employee." He
said the company will seek civil penalties against the former worker
and wants criminal charges filed against him.

The investigation began in May when Certegy learned that some of its
customers were being solicited by telephone and mail. It launched an
investigation and was unable to detect any breach of its security
systems. It hired a forensic investigator to validate its findings
and contacted the Secret Service, Nichols said.

The federal agency contacted the marketing companies to question the
source of their information and determined it came from a company
owned and operated by the Certegy employee. Nichols said he did not
know how much money the employee received.

Shares in Jacksonville-based Fidelity National Services slipped 4
cents to $54.74 in morning trading. Certegy has about 1,000 employees.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/07/03/financial/ 
f110939D21.DTL


--

                                    - - -
   "A little inaccuracy sometimes saves a ton of explanation."--  
H.H. Munro


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