Time Warner employee data missing (600,000 affected)

[UpInArms]

http://money.cnn.com/2005/05/02/news/fortune500/time_warner/

Tapes with information on 600,000 current, ex-workers lost in transit by outside data storage firm.

NEW YORK (CNN) - Time Warner Inc. said Monday that data on 600,000 current and former employees stored on computer backup tapes was lost by an outside storage company and that the Secret Service is now investigating.

Kathy McKiernan, a spokeswoman for Time Warner, told CNN that the tapes contained names and Social Security information on current and former Time Warner employees and some of their dependents and beneficiaries dating back to 1986.

The tapes may include information on employees of Time Warner and any of its affiliated companies between 1986 and the present. Time Warner is the parent company of CNN/Money.

"Time Warner retains that information to administer retirement, compensation and other benefits information for its employees," McKiernan told CNN. She would not say what other information was on the 40 tapes that were lost with the missing container, citing the integrity of the ongoing investigation.

...more...

[Nite Owl]

1. What's going on

Didn't Ameritrade have this happen just a couple of weeks ago too? Think it was the same type thing.

[DrDebug]

2. Somehow a lot of people get "lost in transit" nowadays... n/t

[endarkenment]

17. this has been at pandemic levels for several months

One would think that the MSM might get a clue and do an investigation about wtf is going on with the plague of id thefts. Instead they seem to be dumbstruck on the whole issue.

How about this theory: an organized effort to attack the entire credit infrastructure. Consider this the equivalent of the use of counterfeit currency as a weapon by hostile nations. The idea is to destroy confidence in the exchange medium itself.

The other theory is that rather than a terror attack on the credit system, this is the more mundane symptom of many unrelated organized crime organizations discovering a new avenuue of scam to exploit. On the other hand, this could have the same effect as a deliberate attack.

[Oreo]

3. Wouldn't it terrible if Wolf Blitzer's SSN and address got out?

I feel so sorry for the entire CNN crew... not.

[woodsprite]

5. I think the neocons have figured out how to cost-efficiently create

their database on everyone. There's just too much of this crap happening all of a sudden. When it does, it's usually 100,000 here, 600,000 there. Won't take them too long before they have a substantial database on everyone.

[flordehinojos]

18. or that of the illustruous judy woof-woof...not

[Karenina]

4. Forgive my

:tinfoilhat: This is simply another in a long list of data security failures. Would that someone a bit more facile than I compile what we know so far... Let's see.. SAIC, Lexis/Nexis, Choicepoint, Da Feds, who else? Several hundredK at a pop? Things that make ya go hmmmm... :tinfoilhat:

[thebigidea]

6. why would the Secret Service investigate?

[NYC Liberal]

9. SS investigates some financial fraud and identity theft,

in addition to protection of various VIPs and counterfeiting bills.

[malmapus]

7. Ah hell, I'm in that mix

ggggggggggggggreat

[Beaverhausen]

8. I work for a division of TW

We all got an email from the head of security today.

At least they are offering us a lot of fraud protection. But I'm really pissed.

[malmapus]

11. What about former employees?

I worked under TW back in 98-99, any pointers?

EDIT: Got some good advice, need to call any of the credit agencies up and ask that a Fruad Alert be put on your file. That way if anyone applies for anything using your SS# then you will have to be contacted before anything can be done. It lasts up to 90 days from what I understand.

[DrDebug]

12. It says 1986 to the present

So I'd guess that you'd be included

[Beaverhausen]

16. I just sent you a PM with some more info

[Wilms]

19. Please PM me, too. I'm in their system. Damn it! n/t

[Beaverhausen]

20. PM just sent

[EVDebs]

13. Total Information Awareness is now under CAPPS II in Bahamas

thru Ben Bell's company, I heard. And hey, isn't it neat that financial and related companies, once they've lost YOUR data, can now conveniently market the additional 'service' of fraud protection...something, say, they should have been responsible for to begin with...but are now charging customers extra for ?

Shouldn't Congress be FINING these financial and related companies and their often foreign affiliates instead of condoning this practice ? Aren't Republicans and their get-along/go-along Democratic allies ever going to be held accountable for anything ?

Don't hold your breath.

[canadianbeaver]

10. Say hello to Bio-metric ID cards.........HMMMMMMM!

I feel this is why all of these company databases are being "lost" or "Stolen".....Just a way to get people fed up and say OK to these invasive ideas....IMHO.....

[GregW]

14. You know what's really disgusting about these off-site storage vendors ...

If they 'lose' your tapes/backups, they are only liable to replace the cost of the media.

So you sign contracts worth 1000's of $$$ for them to store your data ... you ask for a tape to be retrieved ... and they say, "So sorry, couldn't find it, here's a blank CD instead".

In fact, they could SHRED everything they receive and it would be cheaper to replace the media than store it, right?

[MountainLaurel]

15. On the bright side

At least the information wasn't SOLD to a bunch of scammers posing as corporations, as happened with Lexis-Nexis recently.

[mrdmk]

23. I thought that was Choice Point! n/t

[MountainLaurel]

26. See below for response

I meant to reply to your message.

:blush:

[MountainLaurel]

25. BOTH of them

http://www.hillsorient.com/articles/2005/04/113.html

http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,119953,00.asp

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-04-13-data-crackdown_x.htm

[mrdmk]

27. Thank you for the update! n/t

[Straight Shooter]

21. These news stories always point out that Social Security info is missing.

Not just phone numbers, not birth dates, not next of kin. Nope. Social Security numbers.

Something's up. There have been too many in too concentrated a period of time. On the heels of the bankruptcy law, is information being gathered to use against people who file for bankruptcy?

Something stinks.

[fooj]

22. Yes it does! The American People need to call for accountability!

Now!!! Enough is Enough! This is ridiculous!

Peace.

[struggle4progress]

24. Time Warner Loses Employees' Personal Data

The day that Fortune published its story questioning why corporate America seemed suddenly incapable of guarding sensitive, private information like Social Security numbers and credit card information, Time Warner—Fortune’s parent company—declared that it, too, had the problem. Just after lunch on May 2, employees received an e-mail from the company’s chief security officer explaining that the company had lost backup tapes bearing names and Social Security numbers of about 600,000 current and past employees, as well as some of their beneficiaries. Here’s what it didn’t tell them: The company knew about this for over a month. <snip>

http://www.fortune.com/fortune/technology/articles/0,15114,1056707,00.html