Sidebar: Credit Reporting Firm Hit by Theft of Confidential Data

By Jaikumar Vijayan

November 14, 2005 12:00 PM ET

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Computerworld - TransUnion LLC, one of the three major credit-reporting companies, last week became the latest large business to report a security lapse involving the potential compromise of confidential customer data.
The Chicago-based company disclosed that a password-protected desktop PC containing Social Security numbers and other personal information belonging to more than 3,600 consumers was stolen from one of its sales offices in California last month. The theft prompted TransUnion to send notices to the people who were affected by the breach, informing them of the theft and offering a year's worth of free credit monitoring services.
TransUnion also has been monitoring the credit reports of affected consumers since the theft occurred, the company said in a statement. "At this point, we do not believe there is any indication of any fraudulent activity," it added.
However, Prat Moghe, CEO of Tizor Systems Inc., a Maynard, Mass.-based vendor of activity auditing tools, said via e-mail that the breach could have a wider impact if information stored on the stolen PC enables whoever has it to access databases holding information about people other than the initial set of victims.
TransUnion maintains credit histories on consumers for use by lenders and other businesses. Its breach is the latest in a series of high-profile data compromises that have raised concerns about identity theft and prompted federal lawmakers to propose several IT security regulations.
The company said that it notified local law enforcement authorities of the break-in and that it has assembled an internal team to investigate the incident.

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