The transition to electronic medical records is now in full swing but they may be overlooking potential risks to patient’s safety.  The idea of using computerized medical records was sold as being a powerful tool to improve a patient’s safety in many different ways.  One way was by alerting the physician automatically if they were going to prescribe a medication the patient was allergic to.  Unfortunately these benefits should not be taken for granted because there are also identity theft risks that go along with these benefits.

If these computerized medical records are not designed and applied appropriately, it can lead to adverse consequences.  Some of the complications can range from quirky systems, medication dosing errors can happen if the technology does not communicate with a rival company’s version, computer crashes, delays in needed treatment, or overlooking signs of a fatal illness.  Due to medical errors in hospitals, there are an estimated forty-four thousand to ninety-eight thousand patient deaths a year.

Yes, hospitals have improved safety by going electronic but there is not much evidence that such improvements are being made on the heath care system as a whole.  President Obama’s administration wants most of the doctors and hospitals to switch to computerized records by the year 2015.  For the purchase of the new systems that will be needed, they are investing as much as twenty-seven billion dollars over ten years as incentive payments for them to do so.

It has been reported that large United States banks and four big card-payment processors that issue credit and debit cards have been hit by a data-security breach. This was reported by Global Payments, Inc, a third-party services provider who is considered a middleman between card processors and merchants, when they discovered their systems had been compromised by access that was not authorized.

This security data breach has affected the following card-payment processors:
o    Visa Inc.
o    American Express Company
o    MasterCard Inc.
o    Discover Financial Services
o    Banks and other franchises that issue debit or credit cards that carry the above company’s logos.

Investigating this security data breach are the Secret Service and the United States law enforcement.  An independent data-security organization has been hired by MasterCard Inc to also look into the incident.  Global Payments is based in Atlanta.  After dropping more than nine percent after the news of the security data breach broke, Global Payment shares were halted Friday afternoon. Read the rest of this entry »

On Friday offices in Illinois and Pennsylvania were raided by United States marshals and Microsoft cyber investigators.  They disrupted a network of more than thirteen million computers that were infected.  These infected computers in the past 5 years, helped identity thieves steal one hundred million dollars.  The two centers that were raided were in Lombard, Illinois, and Scranton, Pennsylvania.  According to the cyber investigators and United States marshals, they were their most complex efforts yet for botnet disruption.

For people who are not technically savvy, botnets are networks of computers that are infected from around the world. These infected computers are what allow identity thieves the ability to steal financial data from consumers.  The botnets will increase in size as the users of the computers click on a file or link that is malicious accidentally.  When this happens their personal computers begin to perform tasks automatically that help them commit identity theft.

According to Microsoft, they allege that these bonnets were infected with the Zeus malware which can record the users’ computer keystrokes in order to steal their passwords and username that are linked to bank accounts online.  In addition to getting all that money these operators of botnets have also sold versions of Zeus for seven to fifteen hundred dollars.  How much the version would costs would depend on the level of sophistication.
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The unemployment rate is high in every state in the United States and there are not many places hiring so when a person is offered a job they know that if they do not take it someone else will.  Scammers and identity thieves also know this so use this to their advantage in order to steal their personal information and their identity.  And it is not only the unemployed that can become a victim of a scammer or identity theft, the employed also can.

One way that an employed person can become a victim of identity theft is if a person who has access to personnel information gets fired and then in retaliation they steal personal information.  They may not do anything with it or they might sell the information to criminals who in turn resell it to illegal aliens.  They may even use it to apply for government benefits.  It is also not unusual for a scammer to put in an ad for a job that does not exist in hopes of enticing the unemployed to apply for the job and be able to obtain their personal information for the fake application.

There are identity theft protection ways that you can protect yourself from these types of scams whether you are unemployed or employed.  Here are some of the ways you can protect yourself.
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There are still many people that take papers with their personal information and just toss them into the trash.  By doing this, they just want to have their personal identity stolen.  Identity theft is just on the rise, and dumpster diving is one of the old fashion ways to steal a person’s personal information.

A paper shredder is not that expensive and is a worthwhile investment for any home or business.  Here is a list of papers that should be shredded and not just thrown in the trash.

• Old Tax Returns–you should save your tax returns for at least three years but after that time, it is safe to destroy them.  When you keep them, they should be kept in a firebox.  What an identity theft is looking for is not just your name and address but your Social Security numbers.  This includes your dependent’s numbers also.
• Bank Statements–any papers with your bank account numbers should be shredded.  If you do not need to receive bank statements, opt for online bank statements via email.
• Credit Card Offers–if you are not going to take the bank or credit card company up on their offer, shred them right away.  People do not like to think about it but identity theft does happen within family members.  Some family member could fill these out and open an account in your name.
• Old Photo ID’s–this includes any old security badges from previous workplaces or school ID’s.  A photo ID is not enough to steal your information by itself but it does contain personal information.  It could be used as part of a bigger identity theft scheme in order to bypass some fraud prevention measures.
• Pay Stubs–many people may not realize it but that pay stub is loaded with personal information that could be used by a skilled identity theft.  It has your name and many times your Social Security number. If you use direct deposit, it will also have the name of your bank and maybe part of your account number.
• Credit Card Convenience Checks–some credit card companies will send their cardholders these types of checks.  They can be used to borrow against the line of credit that you have for quick cash.  If you do not plan to use them, shred them immediately.
• Canceled Checks–even if you write void on a canceled check still has personal information on there.  There are your routing and account numbers on the bottom of the check.  Some people make sure that their checks have their name, address, and phone number on it.  Some will even have their phone number and Social Security number printed on the check.  In the info line, you may have even put an account number there and whom the number belongs too.
• Canceled Credit Cards–this includes any cards that you no longer plan on using.  Even the one that may have had the number stolen should be destroyed.  If you cannot put it through your shredder, cut through the magnetic strip, cut into four pieces, and put the pieces in different trash bags so they cannot be pieced back together and this is always a good credit protection practice.

In conclusion, if anything you are about to toss in the trash has any personal information on it, and then it should be shredded.  You do not want to become a victim of identity theft.