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Data Breach Alert: Arizona's Department of Economic Security loses personal data for 40,000 children
Posted by Caitlin on November 12th, 2008
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On October 14, a wide array of furniture and electronics were stolen from a commercial storage facility used by Arizona's Department of Economic Security, including disks containing the names, addresses, phone numbers and, in some cases, Social Security numbers for about 40,000 children. The DES provides various services such as food stamp programs and other financial assistance and programs designed to help prevent child abuse and neglect. The data breach impacts children who have been referred to the DES for early intervention services over the past several years. The data on the stolen disks was password protected but not encrypted.
Children can be particularly susceptible to identity theft. See our Child Identity Theft Protection Guide for 8 tips on how to protect your children from becoming victims. And if you are interested in an identity theft protection service, see our reviews and comparison.
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One Response to “Data Breach Alert: Arizona's Department of Economic Security loses personal data for 40,000 children”
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November 13th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
Yes, child Identity Theft is on the rise. Most will not know of any issues until they begin to look for work, go to college or get a drivers license. There are no real statistics on this. The 18-26 age group is 27% of the identity theft victims.
As for a PROTECTION Service, there is not any company that can PROTECT you 100% from identity theft. To me protection should be 100%, anything less is not protection.
I do not recommend a credit report each quarter. This could build a credit history which you want to avoid. If your child begins to receive unsolicited offers in the mail, then a check should be made.
As your child grows, and begins to use the computer, let them know that they should never give out any personal information for any reason. There are many phishing scams out there.
Be Pro-active vs. Re-active.