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Maryland Credit Union Avoids ID Theft

Expense Keeps Companies Behind ID Theft Curve

BALTIMORE - April 14, 2005 - Experts classify identity theft as a growing problem, and Maryland is no safe haven. "Identity theft is growing at an alarming rate," said Brad Heavner, the executive director of the Maryland Public Interest Research Group.

HSBC North America announced Thursday that about 180,000 of its customers may have had their identities lifted.

The bank recently learned that personal information may have been lifted while consumers made purchases with their GM-branded MasterCards.

In Baltimore, the State Employees Credit Union of Maryland Inc. took precautions after learning that someone overseas attempted to break a number sequence in its Gold Cards, which the credit union canceled and reissued as a precaution.

Consumer advocates have found themselves in a tough spot when is comes to computer system hackings, WBAL-TV 11 News reporter Lowell Melser reported.

"An individual consumer can't stop databases from being hacked into, but you can protect yourself in other ways," Heavner said.

MaryPIRG has published a book for consumers highlighting methods to prevent identity theft. The group suggests obtaining a copy of your credit report to check for major mistakes. If you notice something suspicious, contact the Federal Trade Commission.

"I don't think this is going to slow down anytime soon because ID thieves have realized that there are a lot of databases out there that are vulnerable," Heavner said.

So, what about the company's point of view? For what is it responsible?

"If you are in the credit card business, and you have credit card and Social Security numbers stored on your (computer) servers, you'd better get your security right," said Avi Rubin, the founder of Independent Security Evaluators.

Melser said corporations hire Rubin's company to hack into their computer systems to reveal possible security flaws.

Rubin, a Johns Hopkins computer science professor, said one element corporations often overlook is checking for updated security software patches, which can lead to real trouble.

"It's amazing to me how many people don't patch their systems right away, even through a patch is available and they've been warned," Rubin said.

Melser said identity theft has become more prevalent because of the high expense for companies to keep up with technology and a lack of formal regulation from Congress.

"It's kinda the Wild West," Rubin said. "Companies are collecting things, storing it, getting broken into and ID theft is becoming a bigger and bigger problem."

Interest from Debt Collection Professionals in new verification product

May 16 2005 - Debt collection professionals have inundated data specialist Ebiquita with enquiries about its new EbiquitaTRACE product that uses internet technology to help them improve their success rate.

Ebiquita launched the new consumer debt tracing solution recently to allow debt collection professionals to identify previous and forwarding addresses from an individual’s last known address, significantly improving the chances of locating them.

“The major surprise has been the level of interest in this type of product. It’s unquestionably one of the key current issues in the industry,” commented Ebiquita managing director Andy Taylor.

The powerful new system works on a single record basis and interrogates the Electoral Roll and other data sources to establish any other addresses connected to that individual and traces to other individuals connected to that address.

EbiquitaTRACE uses information from Equifax, a leading and trusted consumer information provider, including the Electoral Roll and Tracing Agents, who submit trace information on a weekly basis.

In addition to these services, EbiquitaID also enables users to access a comprehensive range of suppression and data files that includes the BT Directory Enquiries Database, deceased and goneaway suppression files.

“The debt collection industry exists simply because there are many individuals who unfortunately are happy to move house and leave behind an outstanding debt,” explained Ebiquita Managing Director Andy Taylor.

“With that on-going problem in mind, we have developed EbiquitaTRACE to provide a quick and cost effective way for professionals to obtain accurate trace information.”

Further information on the system is available by contacting Ebiquita on 0845 850 8833.