Experian, Ford, and Identity Theft

corebreech writes "The mighty New York Times (I think they might want you to register) is reporting that hackers posing as Ford employees have managed to pilfer some 13,000 credit reports (Quality is Job 1.) Supposedly the info isn't restricted to merely credit card numbers, but rather includes such delectable delights as address, SSN, bank account info and creditworthiness. Glad I take the subway." The original story was from the Boston Globe.

Comments

What?

[Arminius]

Ford do something wrong?

BTW, i have a nice set of Firestone tires that came new on my Explorer to sell.

national ID card

[kipple]

I'm sure that if there was a national ID card system they would have been caught immediately.

Gotta think up a new acronym

[dscottj]

It used to be:

Found On Roadside, Dead

Now I guess it has to be:

Fumble Our Records, Daily
Freak Out, Records Damaged!
Find Our Reports, Dammit!
Faked Our Reliability Data

Ah well. Never reply when hungover.

Re:Just goes to show

[peddrenth]

"Oh, and one last thing - never give anyone your social security number. Or your mother's maiden name
"

Are they not necessary to open a bank account in america? or to get a credit card? or a hotel room or a train ticket? or to file a tax return on the internet?

I can't wait to see the governments' look of surprise when people start using cash again for serious things. "Airline ticket by cash? Right, bodily-search for you, boy. We'll not have anyone who doesn't trust the Credit Corporation"

Quality

[auroran]

Looks like although quality is job 1, Security is job 3.74rc3 :)

Seriously though a big company has more to worry about from people you thought were employees than from any computer system breach.

Turnabout is fair play?

[mwood]

"A criminal could use the data to ... open bank ... accounts in the victim's name."

Really? So, if I could find the account with my name on it, I could close it out and take the cash? Sounds like an item for News of the Weird's Least Competent Criminals category. :-)

Re:He got it wrong

[bob_jordan]

Mr. Girard, the Experian spokesman, said ... "It just shows that today, even big companies can be victimized," he said. "it's a never-ending struggle against the bad guys."
___

A never-ending struggle? Think about it. It seems that Ford and Experian have an agreement so that Ford can get credit information from Experian. The only thing needed is this security ID. A "never-ending struggle" seems to suggest it took them some time for Experian to come up with this system. How did it used to work?

Ring Ring.

Experian: "Hello Experian Credit Inquiry Line, whose personal details would you like?"

Caller: "Err, I didn't say who I worked for yet."

Experian: "Sorry what company are you calling from?"

Caller: "Ford"

Experian: "Whose personal details would you like?"

Caller "Err, don't you want me to prove I work for Ford?"

Experian: "Who would pretend they worked for Ford?"

The mind boggles!!!

Bob.

Re:He got it wrong

[Flarg!]

Hey... Are you talking about Microsoft? No discussing the security holes, dammit! We'll be secure if nobody finds out about them!