The Social Security numbers, grades and other personal information of more than 40,000 former University of Hawaii students were posted online for nearly a year before being removed this week.
University officials told the Associated Press that a faculty member inadvertently uploaded files containing the information to an unprotected server on Nov. 30, 2009. The information included names, academic performance, disabilities and other sensitive information of 40,101 students who attended the flagship Manoa campus from 1990 to 1998 and in 2001.
The university apologized for the incident, saying it was investigating how it happened. It was notifying the former students by e-mail and letters, and has also alerted the FBI and Honolulu police.
The incident is the third major information breach in the University of Hawaii system since last year.
Q: Can I download “Worth Dying For” audiobook for free?
A: Lee Child’s best-selling installment in his Jack Reacher thriller saga has been a hit in all forms. It’s no surprise that people want to listen to it. While you’re not supposed to judge a book by it’s cover, we think it’s probably a great listen while you drive. We would think that a book titled “Worth Dying For” is worth paying for, we thought we’d give this question a try.
There are some illegal ways to do download it for free, but unless you want to open yourself up to viruses in the dodgy world of illicit digital downloads, you best go with a trusted provider of audiobooks. Here are some options to get “Worth Dying For” if not exactly free, pretty close to it:
The Free:
eMusic: If you’ve never signed up with eMusic’s audiobook subscription service, you can get the abridged (6 hour) version of “Worth Dying For” as part of your free trial.
October is National Crime Prevention month. As part of the month’s events, Lifelock is partnering with the FBI Law Enforcement Executive Development Association to share information on identity theft prevention. Together, they are holding summits meant to benefit law enforcement. The goal is to educate them on the newest techniques identity thieves are using and how to adequately fight the crime.
In addition, to benefit consumers, the organization will be holding educational seminars that anyone can attend for free. These seminars are known as the Lifelock Speaker Series. Attendees of the series will learn more about how identity theft occurs and what they can do to avoid becoming a statistic. In addition to the information included in the seminars, Lifelock offered the following information in a recent press release:
*If you get an “official” call requesting personal information, cross check the number on your caller ID.
Q: While what you offer looks good, how do I know that I will receive both my free credit report and score before the trial period is up? Also, I know I am allowed a free copy of my credit report annually from all three reporting agencies, will getting one through you change that?
A: I understand your hesitation, but the free trials for the credit report monitoring services we review give you immediate online access to your credit reports and scores. This means you’ll see your reports and scores as soon as you sign up (we tried out all the services we review, so we can verify this). And, as we state in our reviews, if you don’t like the service you can cancel during the trial period and you won’t be charged. However, you will get to keep the credit report(s) and score(s) that you received. Pretty good deal, right? If you’re interested, check out our credit report monitoring comparison chart to make the best choice for your needs.
And more good news! The credit report(s) that you receive when signing up for one of the free trials we review are totally separate from those on annualcreditreport.com.
Identity theft is a violation of law wherein a criminal deliberately uses another person’s personal information for personal benefits. One mistake leads to another and before you know it, it is your name that is in the hot list of the authorities. The criminal can use your identity to do a multiple of things such as opening new accounts and exhausting your credit cards. The authorities will think it was you who did the crimes. But then again, you are at home and living life before someone else forged your identity. The fact is, you don’t even know what’s happening behind your back. Identity fraud takes time before discovery.
You need protection against identity theft. One may put privacy barriers up and high and this may not even be enough. There is choice though to start protecting yourself today.
#1 Phone Fraud. The phone rings, a scammer poses as your banks fraud department. They may have your entire card number stolen from another source. They ask about a charge made and you deny the charge, but in order for the charge to be removed, they need your 3-4 digits CVV number off the front or back of the card. A variation may be they only have the last 4 digits found on a receipt or statement you threw away. They can also use the same ruse to get the full 16 digits from you.
#2 Clever Clerk. You hand your card to a sales clerk, waiter or waitress and they have a card reading wedge device that looks like this. The device may be wrapped around a band on their ankle. They bend over and make it look like they are fixing a sock, once they swipe the card through, they can make charges on your card.
#3 The Loop. You’re at an ATM that isn’t cooperating. Some nice guy injects himself into the scene to help you.
In further proof that identity theft can happen to anyone, foreclosure counselor Robert Mitchell, whose job partly entails telling people to vigilantly check their credit reports, was victimized late last year. Mitchell told the Charleston, SC, Post and Courier he was denied a loan due to an unpaid utility bill, which lowered his credit score considerably.
This bill was for an apartment in Georgia that Mitchell had never seen, let alone lived in. However, someone who had his or her hands on Mitchell’s Social Security number got free electricity for about two years. Then the person took off and left Mitchell to clean up the mess. He had to go through the tiring process of proving he had never lived in the apartment, supplying identification, proof of residency and a police report – and the utility company was forced to eat the cost of two years of power service.
After discovering the identity theft, Mitchell said something that many others in his position have uttered in the past, “You read about this sort of thing, but you never think it’s going to happen to you.” He now checks his report often, just as he advises his clients to do.