Keeping Your Data Secret is Up to You

THE COLOR OF MONEY Keeping your data secret is up to you

By Michelle Singletary

If you had to guess, how many companies would you say have enough of your personal data stored in various databases to make even a rookie crook ready for prime-time conning?

You probably don't know the answer, and that is the problem.

In the last six months, the personal data of millions of consumers have been lost, stolen, or sold to thieves. The most recent case involved a financial unit of Citigroup Inc. CitiFinancial, which provides a wide variety of consumer loan products, said that personal information (Social Security numbers, loan account data, and addresses) of 3.9 million customers was lost by UPS in transit to a credit bureau. So far, CitiFinancial said it has no reason to believe the information has been used inappropriately.

So far.

Every time we hear of one of these cases, the companies involved tell their customers not to worry. Trust us, they say. They pledge to enhance their security procedures.

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[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I never hear the companies involved nor the credit bureaus nor the carrier service say they have followed through with an audit on the paperwork; showing _who_ signed for the files when taken from the company, nor _which of their personnel_ accepted it, nor _when, exactly_ it somehow got lost. And this leads me to believe that maybe occassionally the tapes never got picked up by the carrier but instead got picked up by some imposter/phisher who merely claimed to be the carrier. PAT]

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Monty Solomon
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