Attack on InfoTrax
Every day new attacks are launched on large servers. Hackers have automated hacking into a zombie-like phenomenon where computers slave away in order to obtain your personal data. Hackers span the globe and catching them sometimes simply can’t be done, even if they do a sloppy job and get found out. InfoTrax recently lost about a million customer files as a hacker repeated breached their weak systems.
The criminals who committed the crime weren’t some tech-savvy geniuses either – they were found out because they kept making their digital footprint bigger and bigger – InfoTrax finally discovered the breach when they saw one of their servers filled to the brim with the hacker’s handiwork. The Federal Trade Commission is not happy and is actually filing a lawsuit against InfoTrax for its security fumble.
“InfoTrax’s failure to provide reasonable security for the personal information of distributors and end consumers has caused or is likely to cause substantial injury to consumers in the form of fraud, identity theft, monetary loss, and time spent remedying the problem,” FTC lawyers wrote in the complaint.
Only after implementing security protocols outlined by the FTC can they get involved in the personal information business again. Additionally, InfoTrax is now on a watchlist and has to pass security audits by a third-party every two years. The fallout from this data breach has yet to be seen.
According to Ars Technica and the FTC complaint, the hacker accessed the system undetected 17 times over the next 21 months; then on March 2, 2016, the intruder accessed personal information for about one million consumers.
One call center handling customer complaints for InfoTrax recorded the following: 238 complaints of unauthorized payment card charges, 34 complaints of new credit lines opened, 15 complaints of tax fraud, and one complaint of misuse of information for employment purposes.
It’s not always clear what hackers do with personal information, but in this case, the information is being used maliciously. If you think your personal information has been compromised, contact Wiperts today and remove your info from the internet. Don’t wait for your credit report to tell you that something is going on – act today.
