My employers lost a backup tape

[MattH]

My company has advised me that my personal information was on a computer data tape that went astray, and although they do not know of anything happening to employees whose HR files were on that tape, they recommend we check all accounts regularly for suspicious activity, etc. They have also arranged for one year of daily credit monitoring with Experian, and suggest placing a fraud alert on my file.

I hope they fire SOMEBODY over this, by now the sysadmins ought to know tapes need to be encrypted in this day and age!

My Experian PLUS score is within 12 points of what my Experian FICO score was the last time I pulled that, not bad for a FAKO...

[Anonymous]

Pfft. That's happened to us about 3 times in the past 5 times with BoA (hubby's Gov Travel Card).

Each time, we found out about it FIRST in the newspapers ... and then were notified by BoA about 3 months after the fact.

I feel for you ... I remember the last time all too well that it happened. We were stressed beyond words for MONTHS. :/

I know it's not the same as your situation, but I think that being worried about SSN, account numbers (even the bank account numbers we used to pay the durn CC bills) is pretty universal. :/

[Anonymous]

Forgot to add: I'll bet you next month's rent that they WERE encrypted. But (and don't think too harshly of me for this) I know oodles of bona fide hackers that could crack durn nigh any encryption code you tossed their way. It's not so difficult to do that the department you're angry with wouldn't still take precautions.

Think about it if they just rested on their laurels and the capability of their programmers and DIDN'T offer you the extra protection. If you think you're mad NOW, think about it if they didn't offer those extra precautions to you!!

It's 99.9% guaranteed that they're just spinning for bad publicity mitigation. They don't want a lawsuit so they're doing everything they can to make you happy!!

[llecs]

I had posted a couple weeks ago that an investment data/backup company lost a data tape containing DD's and my info including SSN, address, DOB, etc. That company offered and paid for a subscription via consumerinfo.com through EX.

On a side note, last week, someone at the office wanted to do me a favor and take out the trash from my office (no! not too messy). But I had a trash pail set aside just for shredding. I admit I don't shred everyday, but when the wastebasket gets full, I'll shred. Well, that employee took all of the contents and co-mingled it with the trash. What was in it? Copies of my credit reports that either partially printed or extra copies that I didn't need! Doooh!

[fishbjc]

A personal shredder is your friend.  I shred daily.  I also make a lot of notes that I shred.  You just never know.

[MattH]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Pfft. That's happened to us about 3 times in the past 5 times with BoA (hubby's Gov Travel Card).

Each time, we found out about it FIRST in the newspapers ... and then were notified by BoA about 3 months after the fact.

I feel for you ... I remember the last time all too well that it happened. We were stressed beyond words for MONTHS. :/

I know it's not the same as your situation, but I think that being worried about SSN, account numbers (even the bank account numbers we used to pay the durn CC bills) is pretty universal. :/

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I did take the opportunity to compare my Experian Plus FAKO score with all three of my real FICO scores, just out of curiousity -- pulled within the same half hour period, my TU FICO was 791, my EQ Fico was 801, my EX PLUS was 812, and my EX FICO was 821. My EX has been consistently above 800 for some time, but this was the first time my EQ broke 800 and like my EX says "No negative factors affecting your score." My TU still cites total balance on credit cards and number of accounts showing a balance as my only negative factors. So I guess for a couple of months before my next major application for credit -- I have none planned for the near future -- I'll start making weekly electronic payments on all my cards to prevent them showing any balances and probably that will push all three of my FICO scores over 800.

Needless to say, I have scrutinized all three of my credit reports and all of my accounts for any signs of trouble, and thankfully all appears to be kosher. I've always been pretty careful to check everything, so now that I have been officially warned about my HR records being part of a data loss incident I will get really compulsive!

A heavy duty shredder has been a familiar part of my life for a long time, as my wife and I both work in the pharmaceutical industry (I'm a scientist in R&D with a mid-cap pharma company, she's a medical writer who works for various pharma companies), so both of us frequently shred proprietary information. Personal financial documents also get fed to that shredder -- and it is a crosscut shredder. Cheaper shredders make long strips, better ones make little bits of confetti. After the Iranian Revolution during the Carter administration the Iranians laboriously assembled documents that staff at the US Embassy had fed through a strip shredder; I doubt they could have done this to the output from a crosscut shredder.

Message Edited by MattH on 07-18-2008 12:25 PM

[haulingthescoreup]

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@MattH wrote:
My company has advised me that my personal information was on a computer data tape that went astray, and although they do not know of anything happening to employees whose HR files were on that tape, they recommend we check all accounts regularly for suspicious activity, etc. They have also arranged for one year of daily credit monitoring with Experian, and suggest placing a fraud alert on my file.

I hope they fire SOMEBODY over this, by now the sysadmins ought to know tapes need to be encrypted in this day and age!

My Experian PLUS score is within 12 points of what my Experian FICO score was the last time I pulled that, not bad for a FAKO...

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You should to go back to your employers and tell them that for their sake, not to mention the sake of those whose personal info is at risk, EX alone won't do it. They need to give all of you free monitoring from all three major CRA's. They're putting themselves at risk by only offering monitoring from one bureau. And they probably ought to buy themselves an insurance policy to cover them if an employee's records are compromised, just in case. There are probably flocks of lawyers circling over your HQ, even as we speak.

[MattH]

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@haulingthescoreup wrote:

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@MattH wrote:
My company has advised me that my personal information was on a computer data tape that went astray, and although they do not know of anything happening to employees whose HR files were on that tape, they recommend we check all accounts regularly for suspicious activity, etc. They have also arranged for one year of daily credit monitoring with Experian, and suggest placing a fraud alert on my file.

I hope they fire SOMEBODY over this, by now the sysadmins ought to know tapes need to be encrypted in this day and age!

My Experian PLUS score is within 12 points of what my Experian FICO score was the last time I pulled that, not bad for a FAKO...

---

You should to go back to your employers and tell them that for their sake, not to mention the sake of those whose personal info is at risk, EX alone won't do it. They need to give all of you free monitoring from all three major CRA's. They're putting themselves at risk by only offering monitoring from one bureau. And they probably ought to buy themselves an insurance policy to cover them if an employee's records are compromised, just in case. There are probably flocks of lawyers circling over your HQ, even as we speak.

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I've already put in a request for the nine months free Transunion monitoring class-action settlement (did that before I got the letter from my employers), and I've had TU Quarterly monitoring with weekly Identity Monitoring for some time, so I'm pretty well covered. I've also put a fraud alert on all my accounts. And the one-year service my company set up includes an insurance policy to cover any costs I might incur should fraud take place.

[MattH]

They have told me a few more details. The tape in question was on a delivery truck, and it is not believed they had any specific interest in that tape, more likely they just grabbed some packages hoping some of them would contain stuff that could be turned into cash. It was encrypted and also in a file format whose use would require specialized expertise to read -- this apparently was not like one of those cases when somebody loses a USB keydrive containing an Excel file of medical claim records that anybody could stick into a computer and open.

The investigation continues, but as yet no evidence anybody has made criminal use of the data on this tape.

Needless to say, I will continue watching my accounts and credit reports very closely, even before this incident I was already keeping a pretty close eye on my financial records.

Message Edited by MattH on 07-21-2008 03:28 PM

[MattH]

Still no signs of anything fishy on my history -- I continue monitoring both the TU monitoring I had already set up via myfico some time back and the one year Experian daily monitoring provided by my employers to everybody whose HR data were on that tape.