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Posts Tagged ‘laptop theft’

Former Middletown School contractor accused of Laptop theft

December 5th, 2011

Not one or two but 400 laptops missing! A recent case of laptop theft saw 400 laptops being stolen from Middletown schools by a former contractor. A Butler County grand jury is currently reviewing the charges. If convicted, he faces 5 years prison time.

According to the Middletown police Larry A. Osborne Jr., 29,has been charged with third-degree felony theft on Nov. 9 in Middletown Municipal Court. He is accused of stealing computers since 2008. Osborne, a computer technician, was a former contractor of the Butler County Educational Service Center. The approximate value of the 400 laptops is $123,000. Osborne used to sell these computers on ebay. He sold around 350 computers to a man in PA who had no clue that these computers were stolen property. The PA man has not been charged. The machines were either used ones or non-working.

Former school contractor stole 400 laptops

The first theft was reported on Nov. 8 where eight Apple laptop computers were stolen from the district’s warehouse, 110 Baltimore St.

So far the department has recovered 46 of the 400 laptops. According to Lt. Scott Reeve. “The investigation is pretty much done. We’ve recovered all we’re going to recover,”. He further added that the thefts were discovered when the owner of 1 Stop Shipping Shop on Vail Avenue became suspicious about the no of computers Osborne was shipping. 18 laptops were recovered from 1 Stop Shipping Shop and 28 from Hallstead, PA. Lt. Reeve added “He wasn’t just taking them from one location,”. “He was taking them from multiple locations. I think that is part of the reason he got away with it for so long. He is an information technology guy and it’s not unusual to see him walking around with a computers in his hands, and they weren’t all being stolen from one location. He was spreading out the thefts at various schools throughout the district.”

Apparently Osborne was a full time IT worker with the district and lost his job a month ago when the theft came to light.

The modus operandi was that Osborne stole laptops that were left unattended while making service calls. Inspite of the fact that the district conducts general audits of its systems on an annual basis, the laptops were stole. The reason being Osborne was the employee in charge of this district.The district is revamping its security policy to make sure such thefts do not take place in the future.

Alertsec and data encryption go hand in hand

Information has become highly mobile. There are netbooks, laptops, iphones and blackberries. You leave any of these unattended and the next thing you know is that they are stolen!

To lose any of the above device means losing valuable information! Especially when this information includes not only your personal data but that of hundreds and thousands of people.

Encryption is the best security solution to data breaches and laptop thefts. Alertsec helps you keep your info secure.

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Posted in Computer security, Identity and Information loss, Lawsuits and settlements, computer security software, identity theft, laptop encryption, laptop theft

Tags: Apple Baltimore Counties Hardware Information Commissioners Office insurance laptop laptop theft LoJack Notebooks and Laptops security Theft United States

Laptop and computer equipment thefts at Detroit Public Schools

September 18th, 2011

School Laptops and computer equipment stolen

Laptop thefts are on an increase. Laptop theft leads to loss of hardware, software, and essential data that has not been stored. Once the laptop is in a thief’s hand, he can easily access your personal data and sensitive information.

The recent case of laptop theft asserts the need of laptop encryption and strong security measures.

Detroit Public Schools break-ins and thefts

Eleven people are accused of stealing school laptops, computer equipment and cafeteria funds from Detroit Public Schools. Three of those charged are ex- DPS employees — a teacher, cafeteria employee and cashier helper.

According to Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy around $50,000 worth of laptops and computer equipment were stolen. Cases are not only limited to thefts but some of them include break-ins.

“They broke in through windows. They broke in through doors,” said Roy Roberts, the emergency financial manager for Detroit Public School.

Court drama

Prosecutor Kym Worthy further added that six of the defendants were arraigned Thursday in 36th District Court; authorities are looking out for the other five.

The defendants are:

Anthony Mosby, 47, of Oak Park, a former teacher at Clippert Elementary/Middle School. He is charged with failure of a school employee to report a felony conviction — in this case his third conviction for drunken driving.

Charmain Porter, 55, Detroit, a former DPS cashier. She stole food sales proceeds.

Toni Ausberry, 29, of Detroit, a former Mumford High School cafeteria employee, charged with larceny and embezzlement.

Dorian Alrich Blair Jr., charged with breaking and entering, possession of burglar’s tools and larceny in a building.

Dwight Alvin Brown for concealing stolen property.

Marque Mency, 23, of Detroit, charged with breaking and entering, possession of burglar’s tools and larceny in a building.

Lester Sanford, 63, Detroit, charged with receiving and concealing stolen property.

Demarco S. Wilson, 18, named in a warrant for breaking and entering, receiving and concealing stolen property and larceny in a building.

Demonte G. Wilson, 19, and Demarco Wilson, both of Detroit, named in a warrant for receiving and concealing stolen property, entering without breaking with intent, and larceny in a building.

Christian O. Williams, 19, Demonte Wilson, Demarco Wilson and Thomas Fent-James Williams

One case story

DPS police got a call on June 27 that four males in white T-shirts were taking computers from Mason Elementary School. Police investigation showed that the first-floor window of the school was open and that a computer storage cart had been unlocked. According to Principal Omega Mostyn the thieves took 12 Apple Macbooks, around $1,000 each from the school.

Thanks to the surveillance video, the suspects were immediately captured.

Christian Williams, 19, Demonte Wilson, Demarco Wilson and Fent-James Williams, 19, were charged with breaking and entering, receiving and concealing stolen property over $1,000 and larceny in a building.

Laptop protection from Alertsec

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Posted in Computer security, Identity and Information loss, computer security software, data breach, identity theft, laptop encryption, laptop theft

Tags: Encryption Enter your zip code here Hosting insurance laptop laptop theft Social Security number Theft

Computer containing personal data of Meridian Health Workers stolen

July 14th, 2011

Meridian Healthcare employee victim of laptop theft

It just takes one quick grab to steal a laptop or mobile. Users make it easy for thieves by putting such stuff out in the open in a restaurant, in an outside pocket of a backpack or leaving windows open at night.

One such incident took place recently in Meridian.

The incident

According to Asbury Park police Detective Capt. Anthony Salerno the theft occurred between 2 and 7 a.m. June 25.

It appears that a 55-year-old woman had left a window open at her home on Locust Drive before going to bed. In the morning she found that the screen had been cut and the window had been opened more. Her house was burgled and items taken were her work laptop computer and seven thumb drives containing financial documents for her employer, Meridian Health. The heist also included second laptop owned by the woman, two credit cards, a 19-inch television set and a bicycle. The items were around $5,000.

The woman’s laptop contained personal information of Meridian health care’s employees. There is no indication that any of the employee information was accessed. Probably identity theft was not the thief’s intention.

As to how many employees are affected is still not known. The police are also trying to find out whether the Asbury Park woman was authorized to bring the computer equipment home. The woman’s designation or profile in the company is also not known.

Laptop theft part of Cybercrime

Cyber-crime is defined as an intentional crashing of the servers, the stealing of important data, or the release of a virus or other malicious software.

Cyber criminals are getting more creative and big and small companies are in a frenzy to deploy new tools and procedures to deal with these new attacks

Security Measures taken by Meridian Healthcare

Meridian is the parent company of Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, Riverview Medical Center in Red Bank, Ocean Medical Center in Brick, Southern Ocean Medical Center in Stafford and Bayshore Community Hospital in Holmdel. Its partner companies include home health services and rehabilitation centers.

A national identity theft consulting company, appointed by Meridian Healthcare, is notifying the employees and providing them with comprehensive identity theft protection at Meridian’s expense for three years.

Learning from the incident, Meridian leaders are reforming security policies by offering continued protection of team members’ personal identification information in-house as well as hiring a security consultant to conduct an independent audit of Meridian’s policies and procedures.

Hire Alertsec

This incident stresses the need for data protection applications. The need of a Data encryption software and recovery software is felt by big and small companies in today’s vulnerable data world. The threat could have simply been reduced to an insurance matter by a mere investment of $13/month. Certainly a small price to pay compared to what can happen if you lose confidential or sensitive data. Alertsec Xpress offers a very good and easy-to-use laptop security service that includes more than the traditional software licensing model.

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Posted in Data Protection, Uncategorized, identity theft, laptop encryption, laptop theft

Tags: Anthony Salerno Computer security Data storage device Encryption Enter your zip code here Health care identity theft laptop laptop encryption laptop encryption solution laptop theft Personal computer Personally identifiable information security Theft

PhyData LLC reports laptop containing data of 1500 patients stolen

July 4th, 2011

Laptop stolen from car containing patient data

Laptop theft

The most prevailing fear among most computer users is that of Laptop theft. No matter how much care you take, thieves manage to get away with such thefts.

Corporate America looses over USD 5.4 billion each year in cases of laptop theft. That means 12,000 laptops disappear every week from U.S. airports alone, and a laptop is stolen every 53 seconds. As employees get more and more mobile, this problem becomes more serious. If you add to this healthcare privacy laws, then asset security can impact your business significantly.

The recent news of laptop being stolen from an employee’s car in Goodlettsville, Tenn. got security experts thinking if enough was being done in the field of data security.

The report

According to the report, PhyData LLC, a medical billing and management company reported a laptop stolen from an employee’s car on May 7 at the RiverGate Mall. The laptop contained more than 1,500 patient names and their personal information including names, Social Security numbers, dates of birth and medical ID numbers.

These people were patients with Advanced Diagnostic Imaging , Premier Radiology and Anesthesia Services Associates between Jan. 2009 and Dec. 2010

PhyData spokeswoman Joy Sweeney said in a statement that no evidence was found that any of the information had been accessed or misused. She further stated that the company had set up a toll-free help line with Kroll Inc., and is offering identity-theft protection services to affected patients. The company’s laptops are also now all encrypted and password protected

What Tennessean’s had to say

“Stolen from the trunk. That alone sounds strange when detailing where the thief stole it and wasn’t drawing any attention, from busting in the trunk. When the true story comes forward we will see the employee left it inattentive”

“Taken from the trunk? Was there signage on the auto? Why would someone open a trunk with so many other cars around and possible property in view? This IS NOT the whole story on this one”

“There is no conspiracy. Usually, when the trunk gets busted it’s because the driver parked and then placed valuable items in the trunk, thinking that it’d be safer. Someone in the parking lot — possibly thieves looking to catch people placing stuff in their trunks — watches the driver from the moment he enters the garage and, once they’re sure the driver won’t be back, go to work. After all, if an item weren’t valuable, why would anyone go through the effort of putting it in the trunk.”

What AlertSec has to say?

Alertsec is the frontrunner in offering hard disk encryption as a fully managed service. We provide information security in a cost-effective & easy way

By using encryption software, you greatly enhance the laptop security as there is no way that the information is compromised if lost or stolen. A theft would simply be reduced to an insurance matter and cost of the hardware plus time to rebuild the laptop. A small price to pay compared to what can happen if you lose confidential or sensitive data. Our industry news provides a few examples of this.

Alertsec Xpress offers a very good and easy-to-use laptop security service that includes more than the traditional software licensing model. Feel free to subscribe for your personal 30 day trial.

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Posted in Computer security, Encryption, Identity and Information loss, computer security software, identity theft, laptop encryption, laptop theft

Tags: alertsec computer encryption software Computer security data security data theft prevention Encryption Hardware Kroll Inc laptop laptop theft Notebooks and Laptops security Theft

Computer containing personal information taken from Dept. of Aging

June 24th, 2011

Laptop theft on the rise

A Laptop/Notebook is stolen or lost every 12 seconds

How are laptops stolen?

90% of the Laptops are being lost/stolen during the travel.

Some are stolen at the work place, conference centers, hotel rooms, cars, airports and train stations. As statistics show, it is just impossible to be able to prevent theft to occur as opportunists are everywhere in our society.

Laptop loss not only proves costly to the owner but it also includes the loss of sensitive and creative information/data in it. It could be your important documents, presentations, credit card details, financial information or maybe a contract or legal document.

Here’s a story which talks about laptop theft and loss of valuable health related data.

Laptop stolen from Dept. of Aging

A laptop belonging to a PASSPORT case manager, with the Mansfield Area Agency on Aging, Inc., was stolen on June 3 from his car in the Ohio District 5 region which serves counties in the Mansfield area. It contained data of thousands of clients.

According to the agency the laptop contained the personal health information on up to 43,000 consumers and the personal contact information on up to 35,000 related clients’ personal representatives.

In a news release, CEO Duana Patton said, “The Area Agency on Aging understands the importance of safeguarding our consumer’s personal information and takes that responsibility very seriously. We deeply regret that this incident occurred and we have already taken steps to ensure our laptops are properly equipped to secure personal information from unauthorized access in the future.”

The department is in the process of informing all of the affected users by letter to explain credit protection options available to them.

Individuals can reach the staff for queries related to the data breach on the following number – 800-522-5680 extension 1234

Preventive measures

a. Always back-up your data on a server or back-up device

b. Use encryption software. It greatly enhances the laptop security as there is no way that the information is compromised if lost or stolen. A theft would simply be reduced to an insurance matter and cost of the hardware plus time to rebuild the laptop. A small price to pay compared to what can happen if you lose confidential or senstive data

Computer protection with Alertsec

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Alertsec Xpress is powered by Check Point, the market leader in the field of mobile data protection. The software was launched 16 years ago and is the most robust software on the market today. You can read more about Check Point here.

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