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ChoicePoint Finds More Cases Of Illegal Data Access

By Martin H. Bosworth
ConsumerAffairs.com

September 20, 2005
While investigating the theft of 145,000 of its data records by identity thieves, information broker ChoicePoint has found several more individuals illegally accessing data for their own purposes.

ChoicePoint • Lexis-Nexis Parent To Buy ChoicePoint • ChoicePoint Settles Data Breach Lawsuit • More ChoicePoint Identity Theft Victims Identified • ChoicePoint Settles With Attorneys General Over Data Breach • FTC Finally Sets Up Redress For ChoicePoint Victims • ChoicePoint Names a "Consumer Advocate" • FTC Fails To Pay Victims Of ChoicePoint Data Breach • ChoicePoint Gets a Makeover • Data Blunders Cost ChoicePoint $15 Million • Guilty Plea in ChoicePoint Data Theft • ChoicePoint Finds More Cases Of Illegal Data Access • ChoicePoint Responds • PATRIOT Act Further Empowers ChoicePoint • Previous Data Thefts Went Unreported • Consumers Will Be Able to See Their ChoicePoint Records, Company Says • Nigerian Sentenced to Prison in ChoicePoint Theft • State Tally of ChoicePoint Victims • ChoicePoint Breach Worse Than First Reported • Is National Security Compromised by ID Theft? • States Demand ChoicePoint Notify ID Theft Victims • Private Information Stolen from Nationwide Consumer Database

MSNBC reported on Sept.16th that a Miami, Fla., police officer viewed over 5,000 individual records without permission, and that several other incidents had taken place during ChoicePoint's investigation of the thefts.

The incidents included a pair of private investigators accessing individuals' records looking for identity theft victims, and an employee of an insurance company viewing information without authorization.

The private investigators, Kenneth Beck and Robert Starr, were alleged to have used their records access to steal information on consumers with names similar to their own.

The Miami police officer was reported as suspended from duty and currently under investigation. Calls by ConsumerAffairs.com to the Miami-Dade County police department's media bureau seeking comment were not immediately returned.

Neither the insurance company nor the employee was identified in the public media reports.

In addition, ChoicePoint found that another 4,667 individual records may have been stolen or illegally accessed in the initial theft incident, bringing the total of new notifications to 9,903, the company said in a statement.

In one of the notices sent to consumers, ChoicePoint's chief privacy officer Carol DiBattiste stated that "Law enforcement officials are currently investigating, but have told us providing you with this notice at this time will not interfere with their investigation. Investigators have also informed us that they will directly notify you if they believe you have been the victim of a crime."

DiBattiste was hired to act as ChoicePoint's chief privacy and compliance officer in May of 2005. She had previously served as deputy administrator of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), during which time the agency utilized data on airline passengers for its screening programs.

The agency had received the data from JetBlue airlines, in violation of the Privacy Act. However, a lawsuit against JetBlue was dismissed in federal court in August of 2005.

The Secret Service is currently leading the investigation into the new cases of illegal access, according to Kristen McCaughn, one of ChoicePoint's spokespeople dealing with the incident. McCaughn works for the McGinn Group, a Virginia-based "crisis communications" firm that is handling press issues relating to the original theft and the new instances of intrusion.

In McCaughn's words, ChoicePoint has such a "small communications department" that the Alpharetta, Ga.-based information services giant hired her company to act as a point of contact for the ongoing issue.

ChoicePoint first reported the data theft in February of 2005. The news triggered a series of reports on data breaches and losses from companies and financial institutions throughout the country.

Nigerian citizen Olatunji Oluwatosin was arrested in October 2004 for the thefts, and is currently serving a 16-month sentence while authorities investigate other data breaches he may have committed.

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