Identity theft at the credit bureau

Equifax suffered a theft of the data on 1,400 people according to an item in the Globe and Mail. Bad news. Little snip:

Vancouver ó Criminals have gained access to the detailed, personal credit files of about 1,400 people, in a security breach that raises fears of a major identity theft.The security breach was confirmed Monday by Equifax Canada Inc., a major national consumer-credit reporting agency.

Not surprising though given that a credit bureau is like the motherlode of identity ore to be mined for fun and profit. Shouldn't there be better safeguards on the encryption and protection of the actual information so that it's rendered useless except to those posessing the essential knowledge to make sense of it? AND, why weren't the apparently "legitimate credit grantor" criminals unmasked for what they were through some better authentication protocol?

Posted by Grayson at March 17, 2004 07:27 AM