The US Attorney General has revealed that 11 suspects have been charged in what he has labelled the biggest ID fraud in history.
Details of an estimated 40 million credit cards were stolen through Wi-Fi networks at TJ Maxx (TK Maxx in the UK) and Barnes & Noble stores in the US.
Increased vulnerability
"This case highlights our increasing vulnerability to the theft of personal information," said US Attorney General Michael Mukasey.
"Cases like these send a clear message to those who might be tempted to abuse our computer networks to steal information and harm law-abiding people and businesses.
"If you do, we will track you down wherever you are in the world, we will arrest you, and we will send you to jail."
Right to be angry
The victims of the fraud case have a right to be angry, electronics security expert David Emm told TechRadar.
"People can certainly feel annoyed that, in this case, TJ Maxx has not been doing its job in keeping their details safe," said Emm –the Senior Technology Consultant at Kaspersky Lab.
"The victims can legitimately ask that their personal information is dealt with in a secure manner when they use their credit cards.
"The banking industry has recently put regulations in place that say the consumer has a responsibility to look after their personal security, and the other side of the coin is that the public should expect businesses to take a responsibility for that information as well."
Your comments (1) Click to add a new comment
roger
August 6th 2008
1. Fraud crimes will continue to grow until the government and banks exploit KEY and PIN system described on website www.xwave.co.uk which will make signature and PIN systems reliable and foolproof to deter fraudsters from getting tempted to misuse our stolen personal and card details.
Key and PIN system will deter virtually all types of fraud crimes including those Chip and PIN, data protection and biometric ID card systems will fail to deter.
This system will also eliminate the need for us to protect our personal an card details since fraudsters will not be tempted to misuse these stolen details.
Organisations would make their customers personalise signatures by letting them use mobile phone size device which will capture image and activate printer to print their ID sticker virtually instantly.
KEY and PIN system could be treated like international ID card since it will personalise signature and PIN to the right individual in any country in the world.
We hope that the banks and government will support and exploit proposed system before it is too late to stop a fraud boom.
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