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| North Las Vegas DMV Breakin: ID Info, Driver's License Blanks Taken |
| 2005-03-12 |
| Bad: Personal information from more than 8,900 people was stolen when thieves broke into a Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles office, officials said Friday. A computer taken during the break-in contained names, ages, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, photographs and signatures of southern Nevada residents who obtained driver's licenses between Nov. 25 and March 4 at the North Las Vegas office, state DMV chief Ginny Lewis said. "The state is extremely sorry that this has happened," Lewis said. "Those motorists whose data was on that computer need to know their personal information has been compromised." Worse: The DMV had previously maintained that the information on the computer stolen in Monday's break-in was encrypted, making it virtually useless to thieves. But Lewis said Friday that Digimarc Corp., the Beaverton, Ore.,-based company that provides digital driver's licenses in Nevada, told her Thursday the information was not encrypted, and was readily accessible. Miz Nakajima, Digimarc spokeswoman, said Friday she could not comment on specifics about state DMV customers or the Nevada theft. The publicly traded company provides a service Nakajima called "digital watermarking" to motor vehicle departments in 34 states and the District of Columbia. All 21 Nevada DMV licensing stations around the state were ordered by the end of the day Friday to remove personal information from computers to prevent a recurrence, Lewis said. The Nevada DMV planned to send certified letters by next week informing the 8,900 drivers who obtained licenses at the Donovan Way office in North Las Vegas that their personal information was in the hands of thieves. The licenses of each motorist will be canceled and a new license will be issued with new identification numbers, Lewis said during a news conference outside the office at the end of a remote industrial road wedged between Interstate 15 and the Union Pacific railroad tracks. Paul Masto, assistant special agent in charge of the U.S. Secret Service office in Las Vegas, said the agency was investigating. He urged those affected to take precautions against identity theft. "That's the juicy stuff - the dates of birth, the Social Security numbers," Masto said. "They have that information. There's nothing we can do about that." The Nevada DMV data theft comes after personal information was stolen from a database owned by the information broker LexisNexis and from the giant data broker ChoicePoint Inc. Another data loss affected some 1.2 million federal employees with Bank of America charge cards. Police said thieves smashed a vehicle through a back wall of the office and escaped before police arrived a half-hour later. WORST: In addition to the computer, thieves took a camera, 1,700 license blanks and laminated plastic covers bearing the embossed state seal. Authorities said the equipment could be used to manufacture licenses virtually indistinguishable from legitimate Nevada driver's licenses. The state's top homeland security adviser said he notified federal Homeland Security officials about the break-in. sure...just a typical breakin...crap |
| Posted by:Frank G |
| #15 Been waiting for that one Tom? :) LOL |
| Posted by: Shipman 2005-03-12 10:31:19 PM |
| #14 She still does everything in duplicate to this day. ;) |
| Posted by: Tom 2005-03-12 9:33:52 PM |
| #13 # 10 & 11 this is exactly how the government works ass backwards! I worked in state government so I experienced it first hand. ANdrea Jackson |
| Posted by: Andrea Jackson 2005-03-12 9:15:14 PM |
| #12 # 10 & 11 this is exactly how the government works ass backwards! I worked in state government so I experienced it first hand. ANdrea Jackson |
| Posted by: Andrea Jackson 2005-03-12 9:14:42 PM |
| #11 Bomb, 1) That would make sense. And... 2) This is the Government we are talking about. To Err is Human To Forgive Devine To Really screw things up requies a computer But to achive total chaos you need a Government Agency! |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2005-03-12 6:32:36 PM |
| #10 You can't claim secure data if thieves can break in and steal the computer that holds it. Ah, but data and access can be encrypted to a prohibitively high level, can it not? Deeply encrypted data would probably be practically useless to just about anyone. What I'm wondering tho, is why data of the sensitive kind is being stored in a computer in a DMV office? Why can't they give the DMV drones dumb terminals with no hard storage and link up to a centralized information center located in the state's seat of government? |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2005-03-12 3:38:07 PM |
| #9 Amateurs.... sheesh! |
| Posted by: Shipman 2005-03-12 2:22:19 PM |
| #8 It's all FAITH BASED SOCIALISM and the coming Red/Pink/Mauve war of decorator colors. I know Art Deco and I hope he gets 5 to life. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2005-03-12 2:21:15 PM |
| #7 # 6 YES!!!!!! I have tried to work in this type of environment and you can't---blood over water. It is prevelant in the government related job's...and you can't get "rid" of someone due to the union. (I worked with some serious DEAD WEIGHT.) Andrea |
| Posted by: Andrea Jackson 2005-03-12 1:26:50 PM |
| #6 There is some regularity in New Mexico of MVD personnel selling blank drivers licenses. Low civil service pay [state being #48 or 47 in per capita income] combined with cronyism and nepotism contribute significantly to the cronic problem. |
| Posted by: Angash Spinelet3775 2005-03-12 1:23:54 PM |
| #5 Bomb and Trailing wife. Just getting ahold of someone's social security is enough to destroy and innocent victim...I worked with a woman who had this happen to her and the criminal's committed crime's in other states (New York, Washington D.C. Virginia) Three year's ago my co -worker was pulled over for speeding and the cop ran her plate, got out of his crusier with gun drawn and ordered her out of her car at gun point explaining that she had to go to the station....5 outstanding warrent's were out on her over the last three year's- armed robbery, breaking and entering----major crime's. It was hard to get ahold of an attorney on a Sunday, she was finally released after being shackled at the station etc and did have to go to court to clear her name and explained what had happened, it did end up costing a few thousand...they have never caught the true criminal to this day! Andrea Jackson |
| Posted by: Andrea Jackson 2005-03-12 1:23:10 PM |
| #4 North Las Vegas is indeed very seedy and is a good place to avoid. |
| Posted by: bartelson 2005-03-12 12:08:12 PM |
| #3 Rule Number One in IT security: There is no IT security without physical security. You can't claim secure data if thieves can break in and steal the computer that holds it. |
| Posted by: badanov 2005-03-12 12:05:22 PM |
| #2 So now would be a good time for Nevada to quickly redesign their licenses, and require everyone to come in to get the replacement. Put a fingerprint or something on the replacement as well, for future reference, if possible. Make the stolen ones obsolete, and maintain a strict credit watch on the stolen identities. And get the information encrypted NOW! |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2005-03-12 12:05:19 PM |
| #1 ..at the North Las Vegas office, state DMV chief Ginny Lewis said. I seem to remember that North Las Vegas is the more seedy part of town, relatively speaking. Can anyone confirm this? But Lewis said Friday that Digimarc Corp., the Beaverton, Ore.,-based company that provides digital driver’s licenses in Nevada, told her Thursday the information was not encrypted, and was readily accessible. Absolute, utter incompetence. Time to give the competition another look. n addition to the computer, thieves took a camera, 1,700 license blanks and laminated plastic covers bearing the embossed state seal. Authorities said the equipment could be used to manufacture licenses virtually indistinguishable from legitimate Nevada driver’s licenses. Assuming these are standard licenses, swiping them through a magnetic strip reader may expose them to be counterfeit, if the thieves aren't technically savvy. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2005-03-12 11:33:06 AM |