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A list of security breachs

Nearly 50 million accounts have been exposed either through negligence, dishonest employees or outside hackers.

The chart below breaks out in detail each of the security breaches, the type of data exposed and the company's response to consumers. If you were a victim of a security breach, we'd like to hear from you.

Date
Company
No. of accounts
 Data involved Details

Date
July 6, 2004

Company
City National Bank (independent financial institution)

No. of accounts
Unspecified

Current account holders' names, personal information, account numbers and Social Security numbers.

Were you a victim?
Tell us about it

How it happened
Iron Mountain, a data storage firm employed by a computer service supplier for City National Bank, lost or destroyed two back-up tapes during transport to a secure storage facility.

Company's response
Sent letters on June 20 to affected customers stating that the bank was confident that this was a case of lost or destroyed materials, not theft.

Date
June 17, 2005

Company
CardSystems Solutions Inc. (third-party processor of payment card data)

No. of accounts
More than 40 million

Current credit card holders' names, account numbers, expiration dates and card codes with credit cards of all types, including 13.9 million MasterCard-branded cards and 22 million Visa USA cards. No Social Security numbers or birth dates are stored on MasterCard cards.

Were you a victim?
Tell us about it

How it happened
Outsider infiltrated the network and accessed cardholder data.

Company's response
Notified customer banks of specific card accounts that may have been compromised so that banks can take steps to protect their cardholders.

In the United States, MasterCard cardholders are protected by MasterCard's Zero Liability policy for unauthorized transactions on their accounts. If a MasterCard cardholder has any reason to believe that his card was used fraudulently, he should contact the issuing bank. (The zero-liability policy, of course, holds true for all cardholders.)

Date
June 6, 2005

Company
Citigroup Inc.

No. of accounts
About 3.9 million

Current and former account holders' names, account numbers, Social Security numbers and payment histories with the CitiFinancial branch network.

Were you a victim?
Tell us about it

How it happened
Computer tapes with personal information were lost in transit from a CitiFinancial data center to a credit bureau via United Parcel Service.

Company's response
Mailing letters to all 3.9 million U.S. customers alerting them to situation, including advice on how to protect themselves from potential fraud and offering a free three-month enrollment in a credit-monitoring service.

Date
May 23, 2005

Company
Bank of America, Wachovia, PNC Financial Services Group and Commerce Bancorp

No. of accounts
676,000

Current and former account holders' financial records.

Were you a victim?
Tell us about it

How it happened
Stolen by dishonest bank employees and sold to collection agencies.

Company's response
Providing affected customers with free credit reporting services.

Date
May 23, 2005

Company
MCI Inc.

No. of accounts
Nearly 16,500

Current and former employees' names and Social Security numbers.

Were you a victim?
Tell us about it

How it happened
A laptop was stolen from the car of an MCI financial analyst that was parked in the analyst's home garage.

Company's response
Notified local law-enforcement immediately; sent letters to all of the people whose information was on the stolen computer.

Date
May 11, 2005

University
Stanford University

No. of accounts
Almost 10,000

Electronic dossiers, some including letters of recommendation and Social Security numbers.

Were you a victim?
Tell us about it

How it happened
Outsider gained access to school's network.

University's response
Mailed notifications to about 300 recruiters and 9,600 others (mostly students) who visited school's Career Development Center since 1996.

Date
May 6, 2005

University
University of California, San Diego

No. of accounts
380,000

Past and present students, applicants, staff and faculty's records, containing names, Social Security numbers and driver's license numbers.

Were you a victim?
Tell us about it

How it happened
Unauthorized intruders broke into four computers in the UCSD Business & Financial Services Department.

University's response
Sent notification letters providing information about resources available to guard against possible identity theft, set up a Web site that includes a Q&A and detailed list of contacts for credit checks and other resources for protecting against identity theft.

Date
May 2, 2005

Company
Time Warner Inc.
(media and entertainment company)

No. of accounts
600,000

Current and former, as far back as 1986, employees' names and Social Security numbers, including details on some dependents and beneficiaries; didn't include personal data of Time Warner customers.

Were you a victim?
Tell us about it

How it happened
A container of computer backup tapes was lost by an outside data-storage firm during routine shipment to one of that firm's storage facilities.

Company's response
Notified individuals whose information may have been on the missing tapes.

Date
April 19, 2005

Company
Ameritrade (brokerage company)

No. of accounts
About 200,000

Current and former, between 2000 and 2003, customers' account information; Social Security numbers weren't included in all records; highly unlikely that credit card numbers were stored on tape.

Were you a victim?
Tell us about it

How it happened
A computer backup tape containing customer data was lost in transit to an off-site storage facility.

Company's response
Mailed notifications to customers whose information may have been on missing tape; offered customers one free year of credit-protection services from Identity Track, a firm that monitors credit profiles and alerts clients to activity that may indicate identity theft -- including recent inquiries, new accounts or address changes.

 

  
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