Another example of how we’re vulnerable for identity theft
The SecurityFix is reporting on a security breech at reevesnamepins.com a company that supplies (among others) law enforcement personnel. Apparently, CardCops (which monitors for possible stolen data), discovered names and addresses of several law enforcement officers from across the country. The common denominator seemed to be recent orders at reevesnamepins.com and the company has confirmed a recent security breech.
What’s certainly frustrating as well, is the people investigating many times have a hard time getting through because their emails are gauged to be an email scam and deleted. One thing that MIGHT help in that area is widespread use/support of pgp /gpg signed emails to authenticate that the sender really is who they say they are.
It’s important though to take a lesson out of this. You can do everything you’re supposed to in order to keep your data safe these days. You can keep your card in your possession all the time, you can avoid email scams, phishing sites, etc. You can make sure you order only through secure https:// forms…. when all is said and done, you rely on the folks at the other end to keep your data safe.
I’ve had some say that this is exactly why they don’t shop online. What’s disturbing is that I don’t think that’s something that would prevent identity theft in this manner from happening. The recent Sam’s club breach was not online, it was through the automated gas pump purchases. Maybe we need to move to transactional credit card numbers for everything? Like many providers give online – a unique number for each transaction.
As always, pay attention to your credit card statements and question ANYTHING that is not approved.