A Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association employee broke protocol by transferring the names, addresses, Social Security numbers and provider identification numbers of about 800,000 doctors to his personal laptop.
Unfortunately, his computer was stolen from his car this past August but, as of yet, there haven’t been any signs of identity theft.
The affected physicians have been informed and, thankfully, no patient information was included in the database.
A representative for the health insurance company was quoted in the Chicago Tribune as saying: “At this point, we have no evidence that the data was misused. We think this was a random criminal act. Regardless, we take these kinds of breaches extremely seriously and so we are alerting all doctors in the database.”
In an attempt to offset any negative consequences associated with the theft of the laptop, the Blue Cross association is offering crediting monitoring services to the individuals whose Social Security information was exposed.
It goes without saying that this is really a worst-case scenario, since so many could be affected by this breach and the laptop hasn’t been recovered. This is an unfortunate example of how the mistakes of a single person could after thousands of people.
In a situation like this, using a program like Computrace would be helpful since sensitive data can be deleted remotely and the Theft Recovery Team will work with local police to try to find the stolen laptop – and the thief who stole it. And once the they have the laptop back, Computrace can be used to help determine if files were accessed post-theft. While it would still be important to be vigilant for signs of identity theft, the risk would be considerably lower.
A woman in Jacksonville, Florida was the victim of a home invasion which, in itself, is a scary thing to go through. The thieves made off with jewellery and electronics, including the woman’s laptop, but they didn’t know that she had installed Computrace LoJack for Laptops on her computer. “Within 24 hours of it being reported stolen, they already had one hit on it,” said Shannon Mercer.
While her laptop was sold several times before being returned to her, she felt that she got her revenge in the end. “When someone breaks into your house, you feel violated. To get a piece of it back is pretty neat,” said Mercer.
You can get more information on LoJack for Laptops here. In the meantime, watch the video of Mercer’s fascinating story!
Earlier this month, PC World posted a true story about a man who was able to recover his stolen laptops using a free remote-access service, LogMeIn.
The story was this: David Krop left 2 laptops in his SUV in a parking garage while he attended a meeting. The computers were stolen and they weren’t even password protected. However, David had a trial access of LogMeIn installed, which allowed him to remotely access his laptop. He was able to use this service to see that his stolen laptop was being used by its alleged thief. By spying on this person, and collecting all his personal information as he browsed the internet (including his face via a video chat), Krop was able to supply information to the police. The police were then able to recover the laptop.
Now, this sounds like a good deal, right? However, it’s a pretty a-typical situation to be in, and does not guarantee laptop recovery. The scenario depended on many factors, including:
That the unauthorized user did not dismiss the tracking icon that appeared when his laptop activity was being watched
That the unauthorized user would reveal a wide variety of detailed personal information while using the laptop (phone number, email address, face)
That the unauthorized user wouldn’t wipe all the existing software off the computer
As you can see, using LogMeIn or other free laptop tracking or remote access services is not the same thing as using a dedicated laptop tracking & recovery program and service such as Computrace or LoJack for Laptops from Absolute Software. Only Absolute has a dedicated Theft Recovery Team to work with police to recover your computer. Our software does not require your to sit around waiting for the alleged thief to supply detailed information about him/herself – all investigations and tracking are done on your behalf. And you don’t have to hope to talk a police officer into taking on your case – we have existing relationships with local police around the world. Also, most PCs also now have our software at the BIOS level, protecting it from being wiped if software is deleted. So even if a crafty thief that tries to remove the software, the BIOS firmware will make sure its installed.
David Krop has learned his lesson about leaving his laptop in his car. And he now uses remote tracking software. If you aren’t yet set up to track your laptop, check out our theft recovery products here.
The NY Times had put a great article this week entitled "On the Trail of the Missing Gadget." Of course, Absolute Software’s Computrace / LoJack products fall into this category of "missing gadgetry retrieval", so to speak. The article does a great job of generalizing how these technologies and services work, and how absolutely easy it is for the end user. The software just sits there until you need it – then we do all the work to help retrieve your missing gadget if it does go missing! Simple!
With the case of more advanced technology, like we employ at Absolute, the recovery is aided by services such as GPS, keystroke captures, or by internet connections to gather evidence and help determine where the lost device is being used. At Absolute, our recovery team also continues the process until the point when the device is recovered. This is by far the safest route, as you, the customer, never come in contact with the criminals. This also enables law enforcement agencies to prosecute those responsible for thefts.
John Livingston, CEO of Absolute, explains why:
"We will purposefully never reveal a location to a consumer customer. We won’t do it. Once you declare that it’s lost or stolen, we take control over the location at that point. We purposely keep some safe distance between the end user and the thief."
Absolute employs a team of 40 investigators with experience in law enforcement. This team then works closely with local law enforcement agencies to recover stolen devices. If you have sensitive data on your device, you have the option to trigger a remote delete of that data. We’re also working on a way to permanently disable the computers, which will hopefully be another deterrent to theft.
You can learn more about the Absolute recovery process here.
Absolute Software recently attended the Infosec conference, and Bill Pound, VP international corporate development at Absolute, has an article out this week in ComputerWeekly about beating the airport data theft threat. Whether you’re a regular business traveler or gearing up for that big summer trip, Bill offers some great tips to keep in mind.
Airports are a prime location for the loss or theft of laptops; London’s Heathrow airport has up to 900 devices going missing per week, for example. Though some of these laptops may be password-protected or encrypted, data security concerns still exist. And with good reason – the data could be worth far more than the lost device.
Bill offers several pieces of advice, from laptop tracking software such as Computrace to beefing up security policies so that employees understand how to protect their devices against loss or theft. Basic airport security precautions include: not checking your laptop as luggage, using an inconspicuous bag, always watching your bag, adding identification to your bag, and being extra wary when going through security checkpoints. You can read more here.
Absolute Software made two big announcements recently about it’s leading laptop security software platform, Computrace.
New Computrace Plug-In for McAfee ePolicy Orchestrator
Not only is LoJack for Laptops (Computrace for consumers) now available in the McAfee online store, but Computrace customers can now view asset tracking and security information within the McAfee ePolicy Orchestrator (ePO)!
This new plug-in allows IT administrators to use the ePO software to deploy Computrace to ePO managed assets, to view reports from one central place (vs two dashboards), and to set up summary reports on computers & mobile assets with Computrace installed.
The Absolute Customer Center will continue to offer additional ways to manage your Computrace-protected assets, including geolocation tracking, recovery of missing assets, and performance of remote data deletes. Learn more about this news here.
Computrace for Netbooks Now Abailable
Computrace for Netbooks was launched last week, extending our award-winning laptop security platform to a whole series of ultra-portable computers that are popular with schools, healthcare organizations and corporations.
“Computer populations now include desktops, laptops, smartphones, tablets and now netbooks – often of different ages from a variety of manufacturers. Our goal is to provide visibility and security regardless of form factor and computer brand.” – John Livingston, Chairman and CEO of Absolute
Absolute Software has just revealed three behind-the-scenes laptop theft experiences by customers of LoJack for Laptops, its consumer laptop theft protection solution.
The three success stories include:
The Yom Kippur Burglaries: Jeffrey’s Laptop Theft Story – A laptop, among other possessions, was discovered stolen after a weekend away. Jeffrey was a victim of a string of break-ins over the holidays. Jeffrey’s laptop was recovered and 4 arrests made!
I Bought It From ‘Some Guy’: Niyonu’s Laptop Theft Story – LoJack helped trace a stolen computer to a computer repair store. Not only was the laptop recovered, but investigators now have more information in their burglary investigation.
Dorm Room Rip-Off: Stefanie’s Laptop Theft Story – This story tells of a computer stolen from a dorm at Delaware State University and transported to New Jersey. Three arrests were made and the laptop recovered.
Here’s a quote from Jeffrey Alexander, the customer whose theft is featured in the first story:
“After thieves broke into my home and made off with my laptop, I really never expected to see it again, let alone catch the criminals who had it. I wasn’t aware at the time, but as soon as I reported the theft to my local police and Absolute’s Theft Recovery Team, an amazing investigation began. Not even four full days after I reported the theft, Absolute’s technology had led police to the home of an alleged thief where my laptop was recovered – along with four other laptops, a large quantity of drugs and cash. Not only did I get my laptop back, the investigation also resulted in four arrests! I can’t really imagine a better result.”
Learn, in each case, how the Absolute Theft Recovery team was able to work with investigators to recover the stolen laptops. In each story, the Recovery Team provides some commentary on the case and how Absolute Software can help you in similar situations.
You can read the rest of the details of these stories from the press release on Yahoo. Then head over to learn more about how LoJack for Laptops can work for you.
Also, if you’re going to be in San Francisco for MacWorld or Las Vegas for CES, come stop by the Absolute booths!!
Meet Absolute at MacWorld Expo
Location: Moscone Center, San Francisco
Booth: 325
Dates: Tuesday – Friday, January 6 – 9, 2009
Time: 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
Meet Absolute at CES
Location: Las Vegas Convention Center
Booth: 36808, South Hall
Dates: Thursday – Sunday, January
Ken Colburn (aka the Data Doctor) was on CNN a couple of weeks ago to give some simple advice on protecting your sensitive information if your computer is stolen. The most common mistakes people make that put data at risk on lost laptops, according to Ken, are: not set a password on the computer, auto-saving username and passwords, and leaving sensitive information unprotected by alternate passwords or encryption.
As you can see from the video below, Ken goes on to recommend software than can help make your computer more secure and/or recover it. He recommends LoJack for Laptops / Computrace, as well as other programs listed here.
Thanks Ken for the great coverage!
Also in the news: Microsoft will stop selling its Windows Live OneCare consumer security service and will re-release it as a free download by the end of 2009. They hope this will mean less malware. Speaking of malware, a new trojan came up a couple days ago that can send both Mac & PC users, even with patched software, to impostor websites. Ouch!
Absolute Software, as computer recovery specialist, can often spot trends in computer thefts from the number of reported threats to its Theft Recover Team. In a press release last week, Absolute notes that the number of computer thefts has increased during (or perhaps the result of) the recent economic downturn.
“We are seeing a rapid increase in the number of computer thefts reported to our Theft Recovery Team.” – John Livingston, Chairman and CEO of Absolute.
Although some of the growth in the figures can be attributed to more Absolute customers, the team believes some of this is due to the current economic situation. With theft on the rise, there is undoubtedly going to be an increase in identity theft and data breaches.
Of course, with more laptop losses being reported to Absolute, there are more great success stories to share about Absolute’s recovery efforts. As part of the press release, several mini case studies of recent stolen computers were featured.
Absolute Software helps protect thousands of computers for consumers and businesses alike. Computrace helps businesses track computers, manage software, and recover lost computers. It adds a much needed layer of data protection that should be considered in these risky times.
The latest Absolute Software case study involves the education sector. In specific, how the Kent School District in Washington use Computrace to inventory computers and crack down on theft.
Kent School District began introducing notebook computers into its programs back in 1998 – schools with access to mobile technologies and new instructional strategies have performed very well in the district. With laptops spread across the district’s 40 buildings, there were a number of IT challenges in keeping track of those assets. After beta testing Computrace on 90 tablet PCs, Kent SD has now implemented the system across its entire 12,000+ notebook and desktop population.
Before Computrace, Kent SD would assign 10 people to do an inventory check – a process that took 3 months out of every year. Now, Kent SD can run a 5 minute report from Computrace and know where all of the 12,000+ computers are.
Computrace is more than just a theft deterrence product, but with a district of this size, theft was also a consideration in choosing the service from Absolute. After thieves broke into a school facility and stole 30 computers, Computrace was used to track the computers back to the thieves, who are now facing charges. In another theft situation, the remote data delete was used to ensure sensitive information would not breach.
To read more about Kent SD’s IT challenges, and their solutions, check out the full case study here.
For more case studies from Absolute Software, check out here.
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Laptop Security Blog 
As you can see, using LogMeIn or other free laptop tracking or remote access services is not the same thing as using a dedicated laptop tracking & recovery program and service such as 
y team also continues the process until the point when the device is recovered. This is by far the safest route, as you, the customer, never come in contact with the criminals. This also enables law enforcement agencies to prosecute those responsible for thefts. 
Absolute Software has just revealed three behind-the-scenes laptop theft experiences by customers of 
The latest Absolute Software