Thread: TEXAS STUDENT LOAN INFO LOST

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13089553/
Personal Info for Over 1 Million Student Loan Borrowers Lost

AUSTIN (AP) - The personal information of 1.3 million Texas Guaranteed Student Loan Corp. borrowers was lost while in possession of a contractor, the company said.

Texas Guaranteed said Wednesday that a piece of equipment containing the borrowers' names and Social Security numbers was lost May 24. The company learned about the loss Friday and spent the weekend identifying the affected borrowers.

"It was not a security breach where someone hacked into our system," said Sue McMillin, Texas Guaranteed's president and chief executive. "At this point, we are not aware of any impact."

Round Rock-based Texas Guaranteed said it will notify the affected borrowers by mail starting this week. The missing equipment contains information on about 10 percent of the company's total number of borrowers.

The piece of equipment, which has not been identified by the company, included only the borrowers' names and Social Security numbers, and not other personal information.

Company officials said it had sent encrypted electronic files containing the data to an office for Toronto-based Hummingbird Ltd., which helps companies manage large amounts of information. A Hummingbird employee downloaded, decrypted and stored the files on a piece of equipment that was later lost.

Hummingbird is still searching for the missing equipment, company president and chief executive Barry Litwin said. The company employs 1,400 people in 40 offices around the world, including U.S. offices in such places as Dallas and Los Angeles.

The companies would not identify where the equipment was lost or which law enforcement authorities were notified other than to say it was city police in the United States.

"I don't want to give out any information that could make it easier for anybody to do anything," Litwin said.

He said it is "extremely unlikely" that someone would use the information inappropriately because it's password-protected "many times over."

Jay Foley, executive director of the Identify Theft Resource Center in San Diego, said the companies appear to be taking the right steps to remedy the problem.

But the information was made more vulnerable when it was decrypted, he said. Encrypted data jumbles the information to make it virtually impossible for most thieves to break the code.

"It comes down to whether the bad guys can break down the password," Foley said. "It's not as good as having two layers of protection (with encrypted data), but it's better than not having any."

Texas Guaranteed borrowers can find out whether their names and

Social Security numbers were lost by calling (800) 530-0626 or going to the company's Web site:

www.tgslc.org/resources/customerdata.cfm.

---

Information from: Austin American-Statesman,

http://www.statesman.com

Think there is any correlation to the recent lost data and illegal immigration? There could be a lot of money to be made selling identities to new border crossers.

I wouldn't be surprised if there was a correlation between the missing information and illegal immigration. I read an article about MS-13 and heard they have a very large presence in Maryland and been implicated in numerous crimes such as murder, rape, kidnapping, robberies and break-ins especially in the area where the "loss" of veteran's data occurred. I am a veteran and I wouldn't put it past this administration to sell personal information to drug cartels and illegal aliens in Vincente Bush's quest to allow his Latino brothers and sisters an opportunity at the American Dream at the expense of Americans for whom he has shown utter and complete contempt.

1. Iraq mess
2. Immigration mess
3. "loss" of my and other veterans date to illegal alines and drug cartels
4. Bew Orleans still unprepared for 2006 Hurricane season
5. Just being jackasses and wastes of taxpayer dollars

http://www.pennlive.com/news/patriotnew ... xml&coll=1


HERB FIELD
Don't take my number
Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Identity theft is the fastest growing crime in America, with 9.9 million victims alone last year, according to the U.S. Postal Service. It's a crime estimated to cost Americans $5 billion annually that forces its victims to spend an inordinate amount of time and effort to regain control of their own identity and lives, if they ever can.

And the government is doing what in response? Absolutely nothing, as far as I can tell. Correct that -- it's making matters incredibly worse, as the loss this month of personal information (including Social Security numbers and birth dates) of 26.5 million veterans by the Department of Veterans Affairs demonstrates on a colossal scale.

Identity theft is a menace that could be greatly reduced quite easily: Pass a law that makes it a felony (backed by stiff fines) for anyone other than an employer, the Social Security Administration and the IRS to request -- or make use of -- individual Social Security numbers. Direct the Social Security system to police the misuse of its numbers, something it should be doing but isn't.
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When Social Security numbers were first issued in 1936, they were never intended to be used as a national identification number. Indeed, its says on the Social Security card that it is not to be used for identification. Nevertheless, our Social Security numbers have been hijacked and turned into a universal means of identification employed by banks, health insurers, credit card companies, universities, credit reporting firms, governmental agencies, and the list goes on and on.

On occasion I have protested requests for my Social Security number, arguing that those seeking it had no right to it, that it was not intended for identification. One time I refused to provide it in a phone conversation pertaining to a renewal of an oil company credit card, and was refused the card.

The individuals one deals with when it comes to issues of personal identification are only following orders. They didn't make up the rules. Their companies did. And the government allows them to get away with it. The problem has been ignored, I suspect, because banks, credit-card companies, other financial institutions, health insurers, law enforcement, intelligence agencies and other personal-identity trackers would come on like a tsunami to any group of lawmakers that would have the guts to actually seek to criminalize the widespread use of Social Security numbers. Having one all-purpose identity number for every American has proven to be enormously useful and profitable for the governmental-financial-medical-law-enforcement complex.

Which only proves that Big Brother comes in many guises.

The loss of personal data by the VA, an act of incompetence that beggars belief, ought to prompt Congress to demand that the VA get its own numbers for veterans and stop using Social Security numbers, as some health insurers have recently begun to do. And while Congress is at it, all other users of Social Security numbers except an individual's employer, the IRS and the Social Security system itself, should be ordered to stop using Social Security numbers and immediately erase all record of them in their files. IS THIS TOO much to ask? Is this too harsh? Would it be too costly? That's tough, I say. For the government to continue to stand by and allow nearly 10 million Americans annually (bump that up to possibly 36.5 million this year) to have their identity stolen is a travesty of justice and a complete contradiction of the individual's right of privacy. Fixing this mess should be both urgent and non-negotiable when Congress returns to Washington.

HERB FIELD is a Patriot-News editorial writer: 255-8441 or hfield@patriot-news.com.


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