http://sf.indymedia.org/news/2006/06/1730073.php data theft huge and wholesale
by W Madsen Wednesday, Jun. 21, 2006 at 9:01 PM
the unprecedented physical theft of personal data by a U.S. intelligence operation to populate Total Information Awareness (TIA) surveillance databases ...
While Lou Dobbs continues to wave the bloody shirt over illegal immigration and the 24x7 infotainment "news" channels carp about North Korea and Iran, the unprecedented physical theft of personal data by a U.S. intelligence operation to populate Total Information Awareness (TIA) surveillance databases continues unabated. WMR has learned that the FBI has been warned off investigating these thefts. Within the last 24 hours, there have been three additional major thefts of data.
A computer stolen from the kidney transplant center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham contained the names, social security numbers, and other sensitive data on 9800 kidney donors, recipients, and patients waiting for transplants. That incident was followed by the theft from an Equifax employee riding a train near London of a lap top containing the names and Social Security Numbers of 2,500 Equifax employees. Equifax is one of the three major credit bureaus in the United States and many of its employees have access to the personal data of millions of Americans and others. This incident was followed by word that VISA USA suffered a security leak that may have compromised personal information of millions of VISA debit card holders. Because of the leak, Wachovia Bank replaced the VISA debit cards of its customers. We've updated our June 17 chart (below) to reflect these latest thefts.
Data thefts continue at breakneck speed while FBI stands idly by.
June, 2006 -- Nevada Democratic gubernatorial candidate Leola McConnell, who revealed that she witnessed George W. Bush perform a homosexual act in Tennessee in 1984, reports that she has received a number of death threats from right-wing extremists. These are obviously the same deranged elements who shopped around a story insinuating this editor is a suspect in the FBI anthrax investigation and provided a link to the FBI's "Amerithrax" tip web site. We have learned that the source for this "story," PHXNews, is located within a high-rent gated community/yacht club at 13952 Bora Bora Way in Marina del Rey, California. Perhaps the FBI would want to pay a visit to the address to investigate a false claim. Perhaps not.
In the case of threats against Ms. McConnell, Federal law prohibits the use of the Internet to convey threats and solicit violent acts. Violations carry a penalty of up to 15 years in prison and up to a 0,000 fine. Anybody home at the FBI these days? Millions of files of personal data being stolen on a daily basis, death threats against a gubernatorial candidate, a journalist tortured in Florida, and false claims circulated on the web against another journalist by a right-wing loon site, and the FBI sits on their collective asses as America continues to drift into banana republic status.
June, 2006 -- With polls showing Mexico's Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador gaining a steady four-point lead over his conservative, pro-U.S. rival, U.S. intelligence sources report that the Bush administration, working closely with new CIA Director Michael Hayden, is beefing up plans to destabilize an Obrador administration. These plans include "wet affairs" (assassinations) against senior figures in a PRD government, including Obrador himself, according to the sources. The U.S. wet affairs plans for Mexico are being coordinated from secret locations in southTexas. Mexico's presidential election is scheduled for July 2.
A President Obrador will be target number one for Bush regime. That may be good news for Iran and Venezuela but not good news for our southern neighbor.
June, 2006 -- George W. Bush is just shy of 30 years old, not old enough to be President. Well, that's according to his Driving While Intoxicated (DWI) arrest record card from the Kennebunkport, Maine Police Department. Bush's date of birth (DOB) is listed as July 6, 1976, which means that Bush would have been only a few months old when he was arrested for DWI on Sept. 4, 1976. Legal sources say this is not a typo but the result of a previous arrest record being scrubbed by changing the birth date to establish a new unblemished record. It is a common practice that is well known to many prosecutors and defense attorneys. Questions remain about Bush's previous arrests, which sources in Houston claim included a cocaine bust in Houston in 1972 or 1973 when Bush was serving in the Texas Air National Guard. Those records were also meticulously scrubbed.
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June, 2006 -- WMR has spoken to a number of informed individuals about the current status of the Patrick Fitzgerald criminal probe of CIA "Leakgate." Legal experts wonder why Fitzgerald is even fooling around with a Grand Jury when the evidence of criminal wrongdoing cited by Judge David Tatel of the US District Court for the District of Columbia in the Scooter Libby matter appears extremely damaging to national security. In a February 2005 decision on the Grand Jury subpoena of reporters Judith Miller and Matt Cooper, Judge Tatel wrote, "the special counsel refers to Plame as 'a person whose identity the CIA was making specific efforts to conceal and who had carried out covert work overseas within the last five years' -- representations I trust the special counsel would not make without support. (8/27/04 Aff. at 28 n.15.)."
With such damage to national security already well established by the evidence collected by early 2005, legal experts say that Fitzgerald could have bypassed the Grand Jury process and filed a complaint, also known as an "information," with a Federal circuit court judge. Fitzgerald could have told the judge that sufficient evidence existed that a crime or crimes was/were committed, that this evidence was sufficient for a regular jury to consider, and requested that an arrest warrant or warrants be issued. Similarly, a Grand Jury can also file an information regardless of the wishes of the special prosecutor. The Grand Jury also has the power to subpoena any relevant document, including the diaries of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney.
Which brings us to what kind of 11th hour deal was worked out between Fitzgerald and Karl Rove's attorney Robert Luskin. On June 12, Luskin was faxed a letter from Fitzgerald stating that the special prosecutor "does not anticipate seeking charges against Karl Rove." There is much speculation among legal experts that Rove and Luskin worked out a cooperation agreement with the prosecutor in lieu of pressing ahead with an indictment. There is also a belief that the largely African-American Grand Jury, already hostile to the Bush administration, issued a True Bill (an indictment) against Rove on its own (in what is called a "runaway Grand Jury") without prompting from Fitzgerald and that this indictment remains sealed pending the outcome of Rove's cooperativeness with the prosecutor.
Whatever is the case at this point, it is clear, in the minds of legal experts, that Fitzgerald owes the American public some information on the progress of this case. With America's constitutional government hanging by a thread, legal experts reason that, above all, Fitzgerald owes some information to the American people and particularly to the next of kin of those Americans who have died in Iraq. After all, the entire leak matter was caused by White House retaliation against Ambassador Joseph Wilson and his covert CIA wife over the Bush administration being called to task over their lies about the "danger" from Iraq. Fitzgerald has been portrayed by the media as a crime fighting Elliott Ness-type from Chicago. In actuality, Fitzgerald is a prosecutor who should be looking out for the public interest, not engaging in a legal chess match with the likes of Rove and Luskin. And it is to the public he remains answerable. The public's patience in the CIA Leakgate is not infinite and we suggest that the families of those killed or maimed in Iraq send a letter to Mr. Fitzgerald demanding an update on a criminal case that directly resulted in the losses of their loved ones.
Patrick J. Fitzgerald
Office of Special Counsel
Bond Federal Building
1400 New York Avenue, NW, Ninth Floor
Washington D.C. 20530
Families and friends of Iraq war dead and maimed: send your letters here, demand some information from Patrick Fitzgerald
June 20, 2006 -- Yesterday, this editor was present at the launch of a new web site, thedemocraticstrategist.org. The three main Democrats who launched the new web site were pollster Stan Greenberg; Ruy Teixeira of the Center for American Progress; and Bill Galston of the Brookings Institution and a founder of the Third Way movement discussed in a previous WMR article.
Also present for the launch were such Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) luminaries as Will Marshall of the pro-Iraq war Progressive Policy Institute and Donna Brazile, who serves on the advisory board of the neo-con Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. Among those who contributed to the first edition of the on-line magazine, Democratic Strategist, was Bob Borosage of the Campaign for America's Future (and co-host of last week's "limousine liberal" Take Back America conference where Hillary Clinton was booed despite efforts to control the audience) and Jerome Armstrong of the Daily Kos world. Although there were contributors from the Democratic Socialists of America and the labor movement, the slant of this new Democratic Party web site is very much DLC-oriented and is the first move to ensure that neocons/neo-libs have a major voice in a future Democratic Congress and White House.
The major theme of the news conference was a continuation of last week's Take Back America focus, "framing the message." The Democratic Strategist speakers stressed "less factional and more fact-based debate." Greenberg stated that Bob Borosage and Will Marshall agree that security is first." Other slogans tossed about were "no off-year on security," "facing special global challenges," and "Democrats must speak to Red America."
The DLC slant of this new operation was best exemplified by what the speakers said about the Connecticut Democratic primary race between neo-con Joe Lieberman and anti-war challenger Ned Lamont. Greenberg confessed that he is a friend of Lieberman and is working for his re-election. Brazile also said she was a friend of Lieberman and that she considered him a "man of true principles."
In answer to a question from this editor about how this new group would get its message out beyond the Internet to those workers and senior citizens who spend little or no time on the net, the answer was quite clear, "we are on line and if you don't use the Internet, you can't read our magazine." In addition, he emphasized that the new web site was directed at net-savvy Democratic operatives, activists, blogs, and the netroots. As I mentioned last week, the Democrats cannot seem to break out of their "limousine liberal" confines of the Washington Beltway. Democratic presidential candidate Mike Gravel is mixing with real people this week in Iowa as someone who remembers the grass roots and hands-on politics that propelled FDR, Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Jimmy Carter, and Bill Clinton into the White House.
The DLCers' infatuation with security was not quite as evident after their press conference kicked off late because they were detained in the locked down foyer of the National Press Club to wait for Vice President Dick Cheney to take his seat at a simultaneously scheduled awards function. As sniffer dogs, armed guards, and Secret Service men waded through the waiting DLCers to enter a cordoned-off lobby complete with portable blue curtains and metal detectors, the Democratic-Lite moderates could be heard complaining about having to wait for Cheney. What's the matter? I thought they wanted national security. I guess not when it means they are inconvenienced. That, my friends, is the very definition of a limousine liberal.
New idea: fish and game commissions are tagging animals with RFID chips to monitor their migratory movements. Perhaps we could similarly tag neo-cons as they begin to migrate from the Republican to the Democratic Party.
DLCers: Standing by their man, "JoeMentum" Lieberman, Bush's Trojan horse in the Democratic Party
June 20, 2006 -- Yesterday morning, Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick, fresh from attending the Bilderberg meeting in Ottawa along with Goldman Sachs International chairman Peter Sutherland, abruptly announced his resignation in order to become the vice chairman of -- Goldman Sachs International. State Department sources are speculating that Zoellick may have been asked to resign over the State Department leak to The Washington Post of a June 6, 2006 cable from the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad to the State Department. The leak of the cable reportedly infuriated George W. Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice who had just painted glowing portraits of the improving situation in Iraq after Bush's quick visit to the former Saddam palace that now serves as the US Embassy.
Robert Zoellick: Sacked over leak?
The cable, officially signed by US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad (but not necessarily written by him), is titled, "Snapshots from the Office: Public Affairs Staff Show Strains of Social Discord." The cable claims that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki, who was given 10 minutes notice of Bush's presence in Baghdad when he was summoned, Warsaw Pact-style, by the president's staff, is reported in the cable to have no real power. Actual power lies with the militias and local warlords, according to the cable. The cable also describes Sunni-Sh'ia tensions among US Embassy staff who must all hide their employment lest they be killed by the militias for consorting with "the enemy." The poor electricity situation in Baghdad is also described in the cable: "employees all confirm that by the last week of May, they were getting one hour of power for every six hours without." Temperatures soared to 115 degrees Fahrenheit during the power outages.
The leak of the cable countered the White House propaganda about the improving situation in Iraq.
June 20, 2006 -- The spate of physical theft of personal data on computer storage devices continues at an alarming rate. WMR has previously reported that most of these thefts are not coincidental but are part of a coordinated and unprecedented effort by U.S. intelligence agencies to obtain personal data to populate Total Information Awareness surveillance databases. The latest theft was that of a flash memory drive at the University of Kentucky containing personal information on 6500 current and former University of Kentucky students. The theft occurred on May 26 but was recently made public by university officials. The chart in the June 17 article has been updated to reflect this most recent theft report.
From hard drives and laptops to data tapes and flash memory drives, personal data is being stolen on a virtual daily basis.
June 19, 2006 -- No sooner had we written the article on a coordinated effort by a covert U.S. intelligence operation to steal large amounts of personal data to populate Total Information Surveillance databases, came word that yet another laptop with personal data was stolen from the home of an ING Bank employee in Washington, DC. The laptop contained personal data, including financial information and Social Security Numbers, on 13,000 current and retired DC employees who participate in the DCPlus retirement plan.
It was also reported that in Dec. 2005, two ING laptops were stolen that contained personal data on 8500 Florida hospital employees. The physical theft of personal data is now approaching a virtual epidemic and is unprecedented in the history of the computer security practice, which dates back to the early 1970s. We have updated out chart (below) to reflect these most recent data theft reports.
June 19, 2006 -- American Media, which owns the tabloids National Enquirer, The Star, and The Globe, and which scooped the mainstream media on Gary Hart's affair with Donna Rice on "Monkey Business II"; Bill Clinton's affair with Gennifer Flowers and salacious details about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky; and Jesse Jackson's illegitimate child has published details of the George W. Bush-Condoleezza Rice relationship and his problems with First Lady Laura Bush in the current, June 26, 2006 issue of The Globe. WMR is quoted in the story.
They got it right about extra-marital affairs of Gary Hart, Bill Clinton, and Jesse Jackson. Now, they have the goods on George W. Bush. There goes Dubya's "5 percent poll bounce." Word from the South: This story ain't playing well among Dubya's white, fundamentalist base, his last bastion of support.
June 19, 2006 -- The annual Bilderberg Conference was held in Ottawa, Canada from June 8-11. We've never been comfortable with those who claim this conference of the elites of international politics, finance, and media somehow represents a conspiracy of global bankers. That canard is as old as dirt and usually is proffered by those with an all-too-familiar agenda. A press release from the conference states that Bilderberg takes name from a hotel in Holland where the first meeting took place in 1954. The release also states that members chosen for experience, knowledge and "standing." However, it is noteworthy that this year's conference continued to include a number of neo-cons, even though their Iraq war and other destructive policies have now come under widespread condemnation. Considering that Bilderberg states that members are chosen based on their standing, it is clear the U.S. neo-cons are still considered very much in charge in the Bush administration. Many of the neo-cons in Ottawa were also repeat participants in the conclave.
The most notable neo-cons at Bilderberg this year were: Richard Perle, Resident Fellow, American Enterprise Institute; William Luti, Special Assistant to the President for Defense Policy and Strategy; National Security Council; Dennis Ross, Director, Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP);
Ahmad Chalabi, Former Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq; Philip Zelikow, Counselor Department of State (and former Executive Director of 911 Commission); and Robert Zoellick, Deputy Secretary of State.
Cattle call for the usual neo-con suspects at Bilderberg 06 Ottawa: Kissinger, Perle, Chalabi, and Dennis Ross.
Also in attendance were the usual suspects: Henry Kissinger, Chairman Kissinger & Associates; James Wolfensohn, Special Envoy for Gaza Disengagement (US); J. Stapleton Roy, Managing Partner, Kissinger & Associates; Vernon E. Jordan, Senior Managing Director, Lazard Freres & Co.; and David Rockefeller, former member JP Morgan International Council.
Also in attendance was George Pataki, the Governor of New York. Neo-con media was represented by Anatole Kaletsky, Editor at Large, The Times (UK) and Paul Gigot, Editorial Director, Wall Street Journal.
The conference agenda was heavily concentrated on energy as witnessed by the participation of Peter Sutherland, Chairman BP and Chairman of Goldman Sachs International; Roger Sant, Co Founder, Chairman Emeritus, AES Corporation and The Summit Foundation; and Mark Medish, Partner, Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer and Feld, LLP, which represents the interests of Saudi Arabia in Washington, DC.
June 19, 2006 -- Received from Australia Friends of the Earth/People for Nuclear Disarmament:
US WARNS DPRK OVER MISSILE TEST - BUT TESTED ITSELF LAST WEDNESDAY!
The United States government has warned the DPRK (North Korea), who seem to be poised to perform a missile test (maybe), of unspecified negative consequences should they perform that test.
However, the United States itself performed an exactly similar test last Wednesday, when it fired a minuteman missile from Vandenberg Air Force Base to Kwajalein Atoll in the pacific.
The test was described as 'routine', and the US conducts such tests on a continuing basis. Nonetheless, the double-standard in dealing with the DPRK is breathtaking.
The DPRK may be preparing to conduct a test of the as - yet untried Taepo-Dong - II missile, which is said to have a range capable of reaching the continental US. The US has warned the DPRK of unspecified but negative consequences should it proceed with the test, which may have been scheduled for this weekend.
Australian peace - groups have called for the US to do as it asks others to do.
According to nuclear weapons campaigner John Hallam of Friends of the Earth and People for Nuclear Disarmament, "If the US believes that others such as the DPRK ought not to test nuclear - capable missiles, and describes those tests as 'provocative', it should at least refrain from testing itself. .Having tested a missile as little as a week ago, the US is hardly in a position to complain if the DPRK tests. Current US policies are simply pushing nations such as the DPRK and Iran in precisely the direction that we say we do not wish them to go. We say we don't want a nuclear - armed DPRK (which we already have) or a nuclear - armed Iran (which we do not yet), yet the direction of current policy all but ensures that this is what we will get."
U.S. to North Korea: Do as we say, not as we do.
June 18, 2006 -- You never know what you'll find in the used newspaper bin at Starbucks. Yesterday, a copy of the right-wing, neocon rag, National Review, was found in the newspaper bin at our local Starbucks. We know that with neocon lickspittles like Wolf Blitzer. Rush Limbaugh's girlfriend Daryn Kagan, and recent acquisition, the "Philly fascist" Glen Beck, CNN is nothing more than Fox News-lite, but we had no idea that CNN's network field reporters are readers of the National Review. Click here.
June 18, 2006 -- WMR has heard through the grapevine that Karl Rove and his pimply-faced minions at the Republican National Committee and right-wing boiler shops around the country are going to target this editor in the aftermath of his recent "pass" from the CIA "Leakgate" Special Prosecutor. If Rove and his boys think that trying to link me with the anthrax attacks is going to have any effect, they are in for a big disappointment. I won't even dignify their ridiculous insinuations with a response, but Mr. Rove might want to think twice about directing his particularly nasty venom at yours' truly. The following is what appeared on a Reich-wing web site called PHXNews, with a link to the FBI's anthrax tip line ...
http://www.waynemadsenreport.com Wayne Madsen New “Person of Interest” in Anthrax Probe ?
An OSI News Exclusive !
OSI : Information THEY don’t want you to see …
Washington, June 4, 2006 : Federal investigators have refused to comment on rumors a mysterious “ W. MADSEN” ,who is said to have had ties to and dealings with the controversial NSA “spy shop”,is being “looked at as a person of interest” in the nearly five-year-old Amerithrax investigation.
http://www.fbi.gov/anthrax/amerithraxlinks.htm We have been able to confirm there is a Wayne Madsen : self-described as a Washington-based investigative reporter, who was employed by NSA during the Reagan Administration , and who is, to judge by his website :
http://www.waynemadsenreport.com still privy to much top-secret government information.
Our informants point out that Washington, DC is not very far from Ft. Detrick, Maryland-home of the Army’s Bio-research program-and a relatively short train ride away from Princeton, NJ , location of the deadly “anthrax mailbox” .
A WHOIS lookup shows that PHXNews is located at: 13952 Bora Bora Way, Marina del Rey, CA 90292. Typical of right-wing disinformation machines, they are well-funded to the point they can exist in wealthy and chic places like Marina del Rey. Oh, one more thing. While I'm on my upcoming West Coast book tour, I may pay a little visit to Bora Bora Way just to prove my point that the people who are behind these web sites are socially-repulsive, troll-like life forms who are missing large genetic segments found in the human genome.
My friend Larry Johnson recently (and aptly) said the following about Karl Rove, "Karl is a shameless bastard. Small wonder his mother killed herself. Once she discovered what a despicable soul she had spawned she apparently saw no other way out." Well, Karl. There's something else we know about you. In mid-summer 2004, some time after I wrote an article for CounterPunch about -
(
http://www.counterpunch.org/madsen1101.html ) - the agit-prop crimes of Karl Rove and while I was speaking out against Rove on a number of radio shows, I was contacted by a credible source in Palm Springs, California who told me he was talking to one of his acquaintances who was just getting over the death of his longtime "significant other." Then the Palm Spring resident dropped the big bombshell -- the acquaintance's "significant other" was Louis Rove, the adoptive father of Karl Rove. Louis Rove reportedly suffered from emphysema.
No wonder Karl Rove is so messed up and hateful. Rather than accept things the way they are and not the way he wants them, Karl Rove demonizes gays, Democrats, Gold Star moms, combat veterans, liberals, the peace movement, and anyone with whom he doesn't agree. No wonder Rove and Dubya get along so well. They are both sociopaths living lies every day and every hour.
June 17, 2006 (UPDATED) -- What's behind all the personal data thefts? Populating the surveillance databases specified by John Poindexter's Total Information Awareness (TIA) system. WMR has learned that the thefts of personal data from corporations and government agencies, most of which were accomplished by stealing computer hard drive devices, is more than coincidental. Intelligence sources report that many of the large scale thefts are part of a well-planned covert intelligence operation to obtain data on hundreds of millions of people in order to accomplish what former Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) official John Poindexter was not able to bring about through his defunct (but secretly restored) Total Information Awareness (TIA) system -- the population of intelligence and surveillance databases with files on the financial, medical, employment, telecommunications, and other sensitive data of Americans and foreigners. Much of the new TIA work is being conducted under the umbrella of the National Security Agency and Department of Homeland Security Advanced Research Projects Agency.
A number of computer security experts have said the recent rash of data thefts is unprecedented in scope, method, and frequency. Some claim that the thefts appear to be coordinated and targeted at specific data types.
The physical theft of personal data is unprecedented in the history of computer security in the United States. Intelligence sources reveal massive data theft is part of a plan to populate U.S. surveillance databases.
The following is a compilation of the recent reported data thefts (not all may be related to
the data gathering operation):
Target Date Number of persons affected Type of data Method
ING Bank June 2006 13,000 SSNs, financial data Physical theft
University of Alabama - Birmingham June 2005 9,800 SSNs, medical data
VISA USA
Denver Election Commission June 2006 150,000 Voter's records Physical theft
Oregon Dept. of Revenue June 2006 2,200 Tax records Trojan horse
Union Pacific Railroad June 2006 30,000 SSNs, DOBs Physical theft
KDDI Telco, Japan June 2006 4,000,000 Phone numbers, DOBs Leaked
Minnesota State Auditor June 2006 493 state employees SSNs, DOBs Physical theft
Humana Medicare Program June 2006 17,000 SSNs, DOBs,Medical info Poss. compromise
Hanford Nuclear Reservation June 2006 4,000 SSNs, DOBs Physical theft
Royal Ahold (Giant, Tops, Stop & Shop supermarkets)
June 2006 Unknown number SSNs, DOBs Physical theft
Buckeye Community Health Plan (Ohio) June 2006 72,000 SSNs, medical data Physical theft
Internal Revenue Service June 2006 291 IRS employees SSNs, fingerprints, DOBs Physical theft
YMCA Rhode Island May 2006 65,000 SSNs, DOBs Physical theft
Equifax May 2006 2,500 SSNs, DOBs Physical theft
University of Delaware May 2006 1,076 SSNs, DOBs Hacking
Sacred Heart University May 2006 unknown SSNs, DOBs Hacking
Mercantile Potomac Bank May 2006 48,000 SSNs, account data Physical theft
Florida International University May 2006 thousands SSNs, DOBs Hacking
University of Kentucky May 2006 6,500 SSNs, DOBs Physical theft
Miami University of Ohio May 2006 851 SSNs, DOBs Loss of hardware
American Institute of CPAs May 2006 330,000 SSNs, DOBs Loss of hardware
Texas Guaranteed Student Loan Corp. May 2006 1,300,000 SSNs, DOBs Loss of hardware
University of Ohio Hudson Health Center
May 2006 60,000 SSNs, medical data Hacking
Humana Medicare Program May 2006 250 Medicare applicants Paper applications Physical theft
Wells Fargo Bank May 2006 unknown SSNs, account data Physical theft
Dept. of Veterans Affairs May 2006 28,700,000 SSNs, medical information Physical theft
Columbus Bank & Trust May 2006 2,000 Credit card data Physical theft
University of Ohio Apr 2006 137,000 SSNs, DOBs Hacking
Purdue Engineering School Apr 2006 1,351 SSNs, DOBs Hacking
Department of Defense Apr 2006 14,000 SSNs, DOBs Hacking
Aetna Apr 2006 38,000 SSNs, other data Physical theft
Morgan Stanley, Clydesdale Bank (UK), Master Card
Apr 2006 2,000 Credit card data Hacking
University of Texas McCombs Business School
Apr 2006 197,000 SSNs, DOBs Hacking
Fraser Health Authority, Br. Columbia
Apr 2006 thousands SINs, DOBs Physical theft
University of Alaska Fairbanks Apr 2006 38,941 SSNs, DOBs Hacking
Ohio Secretary of State Apr 2006 7,700,000 voters SSNs "Leak" on CDs
Iron Mountain, Inc. Apr 2006 17,000 Long Island Railroad employees and retirees, Bronx VA Hospital SSNs, other data Physical theft
American Red Cross Mar 2006 8,000 SSNs, DOBs Physical theft
American International Group (AIG)
Mar 2006 930,000 SSNs, medical information Physical theft
U.S. Marine Corps Mar 2006 207,000 SSNs, DOBs Physical theft
Georgia Technology Authority Mar 2006 570,000 SSNs, DOBs Hacking
Vermont State Colleges Mar 2006 14,000 SSNs, credit data Physical theft
Verizon Mar 2006 significant number SSNs, other data Physical theft
Hewlett-Packard/Fidelity Investments
Mar 2006 196,000 SSNs, other data Physical theft
Ernst & Young Mar 2006 thousands of records on IBM employees SSNs, DOBs Physical theft
Medco Health Solutions Mar 2006 4600 SSNs, DOBs Physical theft
Hotels.com Feb 2006 243,000 Credit card information Physical theft
Choice Point Feb 2006 150,000 Subscriber data Leak
Georgetown University Feb 2006 41,000 elderly DC residents SSNs, DOBs Hacking
Metropolitan College (Denver) Feb 2006 93,000 SSNs, DOBs Physical theft
Olympic Funding Chicago Feb. 2006 unknown SSNs, financial data Physical theft
Ernst & Young Feb. 2006 unknown SSNs, financial data Physical theft
Deloitte & Touche Feb. 2006 9,000 McAfee employees SSNs, financial data Physical theft
PriceWaterhouseCoopers Feb. 2006 4,000 SSNs, health data Physical theft
Mount St. Mary's Hospital (NY) Feb. 2006 unknown SSNs, health data Physical theft
US Department of Agriculture Feb. 2006 350,000 SSNs, DOBs Leak
Providence Home Services Jan. 2006 365,000 SSNs, medical data Physical theft
Ameriprise Financial, Inc. Jan. 2006 226,000 SSNs, financial data Physical theft
People's Bank Jan. 2006 90,000 SSNs, financial data Physical theft
Atlantis Resorts (Bahamas) Jan. 2006 55,000 SSNs, credit data Physical theft
California National Guard Jan. 2006 hundreds of Guardsmen SSNs, other data Physical theft
University of Washington Medical Ctr.
Jan. 2006 1,600 SSNs, medical data Physical theft
Marriott Dec. 2005 206,000 SSNs, credit data Physical theft
Ford Motors
Dec. 2005 70,000 SSNs, DOBs Physical theft
LaSalle Bank/ABN Amro Mortgage
Dec.2005 2,000,000 SSNs, financial data Lost/recovered
First Trust Bank Dec.2005 thousands SSNs, financial data Physical theft
ING Bank Dec. 2005 8,500 SSNs, financial data Physical theft
TransUnion Nov. 2005 3,623 credit data Physical theft
Safeway Nov. 2005 1,400 SSNs, DOBs Physical theft
Keck School of Medicine (USC) Nov. 2005 50,000 SSNs, DOBs Physical theft
Univ. of Tennessee Medical Center Oct. 2005 3,800 SSNs, medical data Physical theft
Wilcox Memorial Hospital Oct. 2005 130,000 SSNs, DOBs Physical theft
National Nuclear Safety Administration Sep 2005 1,500 SSNs, DOBs Hacking
Children's Health Council (Palo Alto) Sep. 2005 6,000 SSNs, medical data Physical theft
North Fork Bank Sep. 2005 9,000 SSNs, financial data Physical theft
Kent State University Sep. 2005 100,000 SSNs, DOBs Physical theft
J. P Morgan Chase Aug.2005 unknown SSNs, financial data Physical theft
Arizona Biodyne (Blue Cross/Blue Shield) Jul 2005 57,000 SSNs, medical data Physical theft
City National Bank (LA) Jul 2005 unknown SSNs, financial data Physical theft
Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Jun 2005 6,000 SSNs, DOBs Physical theft
Motorola Jun 2005 unknown financial, call data Physical theft
U.S. Department of Justice/Omega Travel Jun 2005 80,000 travel, credit data Physical theft
Cleveland State University Jun 2005 44,000 SSNs, DOBs Physical theft
California Dept. of Health Services May 2005 21,600 SSNs, medical data Physical theft
Colorado State Health Department May 2005 1,600 families SSNs, medical data Physical theft
Lexis-Nexis May 2005 310,000 Phone records Hacking
Bank of America, Wachovia, Commerce Bancorp, PNC Bank NA
May 2005 676,000 Bank account information Hacking
Valdosta State May 2005 40,000 SSNs, DOBs Hacking
MCI April 2005 16,500 SSNs, employment data Physical theft
Georgia Southern Univ. April 2005 thousands SSNs, credit card Hacking
San Jose Medical Group April 2005 185,000 SSNs, medical data Physical theft
Iron Mountain, Inc. Mar 2005 600,000 Time Warner employees SSNs, financial data Physical theft
University of California, Berkeley Mar 2005 100,000 SSNs, DOBs Physical theft
Ameritrade Feb. 2005 200,000 SSNs, financial data Physical theft
Bank of America Feb. 2005 1,200,000 Federal employees SSNs, credit data Physical theft
Amid all the above personal data thefts, WMR has learned from a U.S. intelligence source that these data thefts pale in comparison to the largest, and as yet, largely unreported, personal data theft in history. Some 30 million Americans were affected and they included customers of Citigroup, Bank of America, and SunTrust. The thefts were conducted between March and April of this year.
June 17, 2006 -- CIA communications put at risk in foreign ownership deal. According to informed intelligence sources, the recent acquisition of Houaston-based SkyPort International, Inc. by Balaton Group Inc., a Canadian private equity firm wholly owned by five Canadians and which is based in Toronto with offices in London and Vancouver, British Columbia. Balaton has been described as a Canadian mini-version of the Carlyle Group.
SkyPort was founded in 1999 by NASA engineers and communications technicians working at the agency's Houston complex. Skyport specializes in KU-Band satellite communications that is effective in all weather conditions. The large 13-meter satellite dishes used by SkyPort were designed at NASA's Ellington Field facility in Houston. When SkyPort began to run into financial problems, Century Tel (a Competitive Local Exchange Carrier or "CLEC") bought stock in the small communications company to bail it out. The deal was worked out by the law firm of Bracewell & Patterson (which has since become Bracewell & Giuliani -- that is, Rudy Giuliani, former NYC Mayor and GOP presidential hopeful). In November 2005, SkyPort filed for bankruptcy and CenturyTel, which had been acquired in a merger with Alltel in March 2002, wanted to clear its books of SkyPort's liabilities.
Enter Balaton Group with a sweetheart deal to acquire the SkyPort. On March 15, SkyPort released the following statement: "SkyPort International Inc, has filed in US Federal Court its motion to have chapter 11 proceedings dismissed as the company no longer needs the protection of the Bankruptcy Code. The motion and full dismissal is expected to be granted on March 30, 2006. SkyPort, with the help of its new financial partner, Balaton Group Inc., will emerge and resume normal operations." Federal Communications Commission (FCC) public notice Report TEL 01016, dated April 13, 2006, states, "On November 21, 2005, SkyPort filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. As a result, its international section 214 authorization was assigned on a pro forma basis to Skyport as a debtor-in-possession. As of February 15, 2006, SkyPort DIP secured debt financing and filed a motion to dismiss its bankruptcy case, which the court granted on March 30, 2006." Debt relief came from Balaton.
CIA insiders report: CIA ultra-secure communications compromised by foreign acquisition deal. Coming as no surprise: Carlyle Group (Bush, Incorporated) is involved.
Through bankruptcy law "Rule 2004" procedures, which grants the ability of involved parties to investigate all bankruptcy matters, including private documents, this is what is now known about the SkyPort deal. SkyPort had active contracts with the CIA at the time its was acquired by both CenturyTel and Balaton Group. SkyPort's secure satellite communications systems gives the CIA the ability to strongly encrypt videoconferencing, data transfer, Voice over IP (VOIP), secure virtual private networks (VPNs), remote video monitoring, and secure Internet. The company is currently involved in constructing a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF) at Ellington Field, which is also the home to the 147th Fighter Wing of the Texas Air National Guard, the unit that George W. Bush was assigned but from which he spent most of his time in AWOL status ...