I am just one of many now

Posted on April 5, 2011 | 1 Comment

epsilon_logo In the last two days I have gotten two notices telling me that some of my personal information was stolen and disclosed to hackers.  I am now just one more of the millions that has had this happen to them.  I am one of the people that you will see news stories about in the coming days. 

A web marketing partner (Epsilon)  of many large corporations was specifically and purposely targeted and hacked recently.  The discovery came last week and the notices to affected customers started arriving this weekend.  At this point the only data that was taken contained names and e-mail addresses.  I am a customer of Hilton’s Honors program, and I am a CitiBank customer.

The risk for you and me is actually quite low if we continue to follow safe e-mail procedures that we should have been practicing for the last 12 years.  Hilton said it well in their letter to me this morning…

The most likely impact, if any, would be receipt of unwanted e-mails. We are not aware at this time of any unsolicited e-mails (spam) that are related, but as a precaution, we want to remind you of a couple of tips that should always be followed:

• Do not open e-mails from senders you do not know
• Do not share personal information via e-mail

Hilton Worldwide, its brands and loyalty program will never ask you to e-mail personal information such as credit card numbers or social security numbers. You should be cautious of "phishing" e-mails, where the sender tries to trick the recipient into disclosing confidential or personal information. I

So keep your defense up – be weary of unsolicited e-mail.  Don’t give out personal information through e-mail to people you do not know or trust. 

The lesson for all of us today, is that no matter how prepared you are to protect your information, you can not always be prepared when others do not protect your information for you. 

Here is one of the hundreds of articles that will flood the news agencies for awhile now.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fiw-epsilon-20110405,0,1400238.story?track=rss

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One Response to I am just one of many now

  1. plimtuna | April 5, 2011 at 2:50 pm |

    I just received my third breach notification. This time from Marriot.

    Dear Marriott Customer,

    We were recently notified by Epsilon, a marketing vendor used by Marriott International, Inc. to manage customer emails, that an unauthorized third party gained access to a number of Epsilon’s accounts including Marriott’s email list.

    In all likelihood, this will not impact you. However, we recommend that you continue to be on the alert for spam emails requesting personal or sensitive information. Please understand and be assured that Marriott does not send emails requesting customers to verify personal information.

    We take your privacy very seriously. Marriott has a long-standing commitment to protecting the privacy of the personal information that our guests entrust to us. We regret this has taken place and apologize for any inconvenience.