Thank God they're professionals, could you imagine amateurs trying to deal with identity theft?

http://www.sj-r.com/sections/news/stories/114739.asp

State computer security breached

Banking, real-estate professionals may have IDs stolen

By MIKE RAMSEY GATEHOUSE NEWS SERVICE Published Saturday, May 19, 2007

CHICAGO - The state's professional-regulation department is notifying roughly 300,000 licensees and applicants that a computer server with some of their personal data was breached early this year, a spokeswoman for the agency said Friday.

Potentially at risk for identity theft are banking and real-estate professionals whose licensing information - including addresses, tax numbers and Social Security numbers - were kept on the storage server, said Sue Hofer, spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation.

... She said investigators have determined that the breach "looks like criminal conduct," and the hacking appears to have come from a source outside state government.

Department officials notified the Illinois State Police and FBI after they determined on May 3 that the computerized information had been compromised, probably in January, Hofer said.

She said authorities initially asked Gov. Rod Blagojevich's administration not to tell licensees about the breach so that the investigation would not be compromised. The administration also did not immediately inform members of the General Assembly at the request of authorities, Hofer said. [Is this good police procedure? Bob

... The state Department of Financial and Professional Regulation has information about the breach at www.idfpr.com.

Why would the library have this information? Why post it on a web server? Was the inside guy making it easy for the outside guy?

http://www.sbindependent.org/node/1850

Personal Information of up to 90,000 Compromised at Stony Brook

Submitted by GAgathos on Sat, 05/19/2007 – 11:15. By George Agathos

The personal information of 90,000 people in a Stony Brook University database was accidentally posted to Google left there until it was discovered almost two weeks later.

According to a website set up by the university, Social Security numbers and university ID numbers of faculty, staff, students, alumni, and other members of the community were visible on Google after they were posted to a Health Sciences Library web server on April 11.

The letter indicated the files were not easily accessible through Google and that the "information could only be retrieved through the use of multiple criteria." It said the New York State Cyber Security Office contacted Google to have the information removed after it was discovered on April 24.

One little goof, and it follows you forever!

http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/19/1829225&from=rss

The HP Way 2.0

Posted by kdawson on Saturday May 19, @03:52PM from the getting-ahead-in-business dept. HP Businesses

theodp writes "How do you replace your Chief Pretexting Officer? HP CEO Mark Hurd announced that Joel Hyatt, an individual of 'exceptional judgment and outstanding character,' has joined HP's Board of Directors, filling one of the seats vacated during last year's boardroom scandal. Hyatt, who drew the ire of a judge over the illegal, Philadelphia-like treatment of an attorney at Hyatt's namesake law firm who was diagnosed with AIDS, was also appointed to HP's HR and Compensation Committee. Presumably, the HP womenfolk won't hold it against Hyatt that he reportedly once advocated keeping alma mater Dartmouth female-free. Hyatt acknowledged making mistakes that he's learned from, but said he was not eager to share them."