Regular readers know that The Daily Caveat has folowed the Choicepoint data-theft story very closely. Yesterday the Pittsburgh Post Gazzette had a good run down of exactly what happened and a detailed description of the info-aggregator's internal response to fears that their data had been accessed inappropriately.

"They said it was a huge task and they didn't have the staff to do it," says Lt. Robert Costa, head of the Los Angeles County sheriff's department identity-theft squad. "Apparently their technology wasn't built so you were able to find the electronic footsteps these guys left."

Months passed before ChoicePoint was able to estimate the number of people whose personal data had been compromised, which it pegged at--5,000. It couldn't say whether any of the data had been used to steal from the victims or get fraudulent loans. The sheriff's department, meanwhile, came to more alarming conclusions. It estimated that data had been downloaded on millions of people, and used to run up millions of dollars in fraudulent credit-card charges.

Much more to be found here.

And a tip of the hat to Legal Dockets Online for bringing the article to our attention.

-- MDT

Labels: identity theft