Monday Morning News Kick Off: Identity Theft Runs High in the U.K., Medical Identity Theft Soaring, and Global Cybercrime Treaty Rejected at U.N.

Welcome to the Monday Morning News Kick Off post on the ITAC blog. Each week, we like to compile all of the key news that relates to identity theft, data breaches and cyber fraud – all in one spot. This week, we cover stories about identity theft being on the rise in the UK, data security and hospitals, as well as a piece about a proposal for a treaty on global cybercrime being rejected by the United Nation last week.

High Rate of Fraud and Identity Theft Revealed
Infosecurity Europe researcher’s have conducted a survey revealing that, out of 1,000 London commuters, 44% had been victims of bank/credit card fraud and 42% had had their identity stolen. Those who were victims of such crime lost an average of £1,448, and had a 37% chance of not getting their money back from their bank. The chances of getting the money back is largely dependent upon the sum that has been stolen, with more than nine out of 10 getting it back if the stolen amount exceeded £5,000, but only 41% getting it back if they lost £100 or less. Read the full Banking Times article here.

How Well Do Hospitals Protect Your Data? Abysmally
A just released survey of about 200 compliance executives in hospitals from around the country shows that data breaches and medical identity theft continue to soar. While these survey results are from a vendor that sells identity protection services – and they have a vested interest in painting as bad a picture as possible: if the survey results are halfway on target we’ve witnessed what as a significant problem become an abysmal failure in the past were 0 when it comes to hospitals protecting patient information. Read the full InformationWeek blog post here.

For Cyber Gangs, Fooling Google Isn’t That Hard to Do
Within security circles, they refer to the practice as social engineering, shorthand for a con game where unsuspecting employees get tricked into divulging important corporate information. And it works more times than you might assume. The most recent case: the coordinated January cyber attack against computer networks run by Google and at least 20 other big companies. In what’s since become known as Operation Aurora, corporate computer systems were penetrated after users innocently called up malicious web pages that they believed to be legitimate. Read the full CBS News article here.

Global Cybercrime Treaty Rejected at U.N.
A proposal for a treaty on global cybercrime was rejected last week by the United Nations. The proposal was discussed for 10 days at the 12th pentennial UN Crime Congress in Salvador, Brazil, but ended up a stalemate as Russia, China and a number of developing countries could not reach agreement with the United States, Canada, the U.K. and the European Union. As cybercrime develops into a major international scourge, efforts over the past 10 years among world powers have sought to broaden policing policies to allow law enforcement agencies to reach across national borders in pursuit of criminals. Read the full SC Magazine article here.

70% Of IT Security Pros Favor A Federal Data Breach Law
Seventy percent of IT security professionals believe that the federal government should pass data breach / data privacy legislation that overrides the current patchwork of state legislation, according to a recent survey by nCircle, the leading provider of automated security and compliance auditing solutions. The online survey of 257 security professionals was conducted between February 4 and March 12, 2010, and covered a range of security topics including smartphones, healthcare, cloud computing and social media. Read the full press release here.