Fidelity National Widens Scope of Data Theft
Via CNN (AP).
Fidelity National Information Services Inc. believes a former employee stole 8.5 million consumer records from the check authorizing company, more than 3 times the original estimate, according to a regulatory filing Wednesday.
In Wednesday's Securities and Exchange Commission filing, Fidelity said about 5.7 million of the records included checking account information and about 1.5 million included credit card records.
The new estimate is an increase of about 3.5 million checking account records and about 1.4 million credit card records over original projections. The company said it continues to believe that the records were only used for marketing purposes.
Fidelity National said it has also determined that some of the stolen credit card information was derived from its credit card issuance business.
The company said more records may be identified as the investigation continues.
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Fidelity National: 2.3M Records Containing Credit Card, Bank Account Information Stolen
Via CNN.
Fidelity National Information Services, Inc. , announced today that its subsidiary, Certegy Check Services, Inc., a service provider to U.S. retail merchants, based in St. Petersburg, Florida, was victimized by a former employee who misappropriated and sold consumer information to a data broker who in turn sold a subset of that data to a limited number of direct marketing organizations.
The misappropriated information included names, addresses, and telephone numbers as well as, in many cases, dates of birth and bank account or credit card information. Approximately 2.3 million records are believed to be at issue, with approximately 2.2 million containing bank account information and 99,000 containing credit card information. The company is still investigating the time period over which the misappropriations occurred.
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Props, Pogo Was Right.)
Lawsuit Filed on Behalf of 8.5M Consumers in Fidelity National Data Breach Case
Jaikumar Vijayan writes on ComputerWorld:
A California law firm has filed a class-action lawsuit against Fidelity National Information Services (FIS) and one of its subsidiaries over an incident involving the potential compromise of personal data belonging to 8.5 million consumers.
The lawsuit was filed last week in federal court for the Central District of California. It does not seek specific damages, but it accused FIS and Certegy Check Services, the subsidiary involved in the breach, of negligence, invasion of privacy and breach of implied contract.
The complaint, filed on behalf of 8.5 million consumers by the San Francisco-based law firm of Girard Gibbs LLP, charged both companies with failure to implement and maintain adequate security measures for protecting confidential financial information belonging to consumers. The suit also alleged that the companies failed to properly monitor and supervise the activities of employees entrusted with consumer data.
A spokesman for FIS and Certegy did not immediately respond to a call for comment.
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Certegy DBA Gets Jail Time For Data Thefts
Jaikumar Vijayan writes on ComputerWorld:
A former database administrator at Certegy Check Services Inc. who admitted that he stole and then sold the personal data of about 8.5 million consumers was sentenced to 57 months in prison by a federal judge in Florida this month.
In addition, the judge ordered William G. Sullivan to pay almost $4 million in restitution to consumers victimized by the data thefts.
Sullivan pleaded guilty to felony fraud charges last November, four months after the thefts were disclosed by Fidelity National Information Services Inc., Certegy's parent company.
According to court records, Sullivan stole a variety of personal data from the company's databases over a five-year period that started in February 2002. The information was sold to data brokers through an intermediary, which paid Sullivan a total of $580,000.
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Contractor Caught Trying to Sell Disney Data
Bob Sullivan writes on The Red Tape Chronicles:
An employee who works for the company that processes Disney Movie Club transactions was caught trying to sell customer credit card information, Disney told its customers this week. The story echoes an incident revealed by Fidelity National Information Services earlier this month.
The employee was nabbed in an "undercover sting operation" run by a federal law enforcement agency, according to a letter sent July 6 by the Disney Movie Club to its members.
The employee did not work for Disney, but rather for Alta Resources Inc., which processes transactions and fulfills orders for the Disney Movie Club, the letter said. The employee has been dismissed and the Secret Service is continuing to investigate, according to Disney.
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Database Admin to Plead Guilty in Theft of 8.5M Consumer Records
Jaikumar Vijayan writes on ComputerWorld:
A senior database administrator at a subsidiary of Fidelity National Information Services Inc. (FIS) who was accused of stealing about 8.5 million customer records and selling them to data brokers is expected to plead guilty tomorrow to felony fraud charges in U.S. District Court in Tampa, according to court documents.
William G. Sullivan has also agreed to pay court-ordered restitution to victims, cooperate with ongoing investigations and forfeit the more than $105,000 he still has remaining from selling the stolen data. In exchange, according to a plea agreement also filed with the court, federal prosecutors are expected to recommend a reduction from the maximum five-year sentence that Sullivan could have gotten.
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here.
