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ChoicePoint Breach Grows
February 21st, 2005 by dm Forensics, Identity Theft none Comments

It seems like not only the 35,000 people in California are affected by the data breach at ChoicePoint - a major personal information clearinghouse. It seems like up to 500,000 users from coast to coast. ChoicePoint is currently sending notices to affected users, and the number seems to grow by the hour. [Silicon Valley]

Law enforcement believe that the breach is so huge that it could not have been caused by the only accused so far - Olatunji Oluwatosin from Nigeria. Authorities are looking for accomplices in what seems to be an ever-growing saga. The interesting about this breach is that it involved breach of physical security than cyber crime.

As a result of this, many legislators are pushing for stricter laws. On Wednesday, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., called for hearings on her proposed national version of the California law, while Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., asked federal regulators Friday to oversee data-brokering companies the same way they do other companies that handle financial and medical records. Also, New York state legislator James Brennan asked his state to suspend an $800,000 ChoicePoint contract until the company agreed to warn any New York residents whose data might have been exposed.

It certainly is not the end of the story.

First SPIM Arrest
February 21st, 2005 by dm Spam none Comments

Federal prosecutors have arrested a young man suspected of broadcasting 1.5 million ads for pornography and cheap mortgages on instant message services. Those involved said it was the first criminal case involving this new form of spam -    known as "spim" because it targets so-called IM services.

According to the article, an interesting civil procedure trick that law enforcement used was to lure Anthony Greco, 18, into coming to Caifornia from his home state of New York supposedly to meet the owner of MySpace.com whose users he allegedly spimmed. It is not clear whether law authorities had valid arrest warrant on New York territory, but from the article it seems that they had to lure Greco into California before they arrest him. Greco was arrested upon his arrival at LAX.

[Via LA Times]