Category Archives: News

The Capital One Hack: Life in the Time of Breach Fatigue

Breach Fatigue

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-capital-one-hack-life-in-the-time-of-breach-fatigue-11564824600 Not every thief has every piece of your data. There are still things that you can do that can make a difference. If your Social Security number has been compromised four times, and you haven’t done a credit freeze, you are low-hanging fruit.” Mr. Erwin’s approach is common for those who fear that data […]

Capital One breach exposed bank data for the most financially vulnerable customers

Capitol One Data Breach

https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/30/business/capital-one-hack-secured-credit-card-customers/index.html   And it could get worse: The Social Security numbers of Capital One secured card holders may also have been exposed in the breach, and identity theft can destroy a credit score. Criminals need only a Social Security number and a few other key bits of personal information to cause serious damage. They can […]

Capital One data breach exposes tens of thousands of Social Security numbers, linked bank accounts

Capital One Data Breach

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/30/capital-one-breach-customer-records-social-security-numbers.html  The Virginia-headquartered bank said in a news release that about 140,000 Social Security numbers of its credit card customers and around 80,000 linked bank account numbers were compromised. In total, Capital One said, “this event affected approximately 100 million individuals in the United States and approximately 6 million in Canada.” Still, no credit card account […]

Congress should follow California’s lead in protecting consumers

Equifax Fallout

Many aspects of privacy protection in our country are broken and Congress is not doing its part to fix them. For example, when hackers obtained the private information of 148 million Americans in the 2017 Equifax breach, Congress did virtually nothing — not even coming close to voting on bills, like the proposed Data Breach Prevention and Compensation Act, which would […]

Equifax garners the most complaints in 2017

Equifax Logo

Do you have a most hated company?  Where does Equifax rank on your list? According to an analysis released Thursday by LendEdu, in 2017 the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) received 30,576 complaints about the Atlanta-based provider of credit reporting services. No other company generated more consumer gripes in 49 states and Washington, D.C.  That […]

Elderly robocall scam victim committed suicide after ‘fraudsters’ stole life savings

Robo Call

https://www.foxbusiness.com/features/robocall-scam-victim-suicide-stole-life-saving Jones killed herself a week later. “It is clear to us that the circumstances that led to her death were caused by these criminals,” Stancik said through tears. Her grandmother had bags of receipts in her closet that showed the money sent to unknown accounts, took out a second mortgage on her home, drained […]

FTC Announces Final Rule Implementing Law Providing Free Credit Monitoring for Active Duty Military Consumers

Military Family

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2019/06/ftc-announces-final-rule-implementing-law-providing-free-credit The final Rule defines “active duty military consumer” as a consumer in military service who meets the FCRA’s definition of “active duty military consumer,” which requires that the consumer be assigned to service away from their usual duty station, or be a member of the National Guard. While commenters recommended eliminating the requirement that […]

Jury returns $2 billion verdict against Monsanto for couple with cancer — the biggest so far

Monsanto Logo

A clear statement that there is a price to pay when greed so terribly blinds corporate “persons” that they irreparably harm real people.    https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/13/health/monsanto-roundup-cancer-verdict-bn/index.html “This is going to continue until Monsanto and now Bayer takes responsibility for its product,” Wisner said. “This is not the end of this litigation,” he said. “This is the […]

Wells Fargo CEO Tim Sloan steps down suddenly CNN Digital Rebranding 2014 Matt Egan

Wells Fargo Storefront

While Wells Fargo took steps to fix itself, including replacing senior executives and eliminating its controversial sales goals, new problems continued to emerge. Beyond the fake-accounts scandal, Wells Fargo has admitted to charging thousands of borrowers for auto insurance they didn’t need and hundreds of homebuyers mortgage fees they didn’t deserve. Last year, Wells Fargo said about 545 homeowners lost their […]