Rise In Id Fraud Turns Attention To Discarded Computers

[Andrew]

*RISE IN ID FRAUD TURNS ATTENTION TO DISCARDED COMPUTERS Identity theft is up in the U.S. according to the Federal Trade Commission
(FTC) and some say computer assets being trashed or sold on secondary markets may be a prime hunting ground for ID thieves.

The FTC says 10 million Americans were victims of identity theft last year, with businesses losing some $48 billion.

While measures such as California's database breach notification act are aimed at protecting active consumer data, corporations should also think about putting comprehensive plans in place to scrub sensitive data from computers and other equipment, says Stampp Corbin, CEO of computer recycler RetroBox.

Corbin cited cases in which a Wall Street investment banker sold a Blackberry handheld on eBay, disclosing sensitive business transactions in the process, and another in which a Kentucky public health agency nearly auctioned off hard drives containing the identities of HIV-positive residents. http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2003/09/idtheft.htm