It’s Time to Protect Yourself From Data Breaches; Tweaking the Meaning of ‘Recyclable’–Coachella Valley Independent’s Indy Digest: Aug. 15, 2024

Indy Digest: Aug. 15, 2024

The Los Angeles Times earlier this week published a story that seems to be flying under the radar. The headline: “Hackers may have stolen the Social Security numbers of every American. Here’s how to protect yourself.”

Sounds pretty danged important, right?! The lede:

About four months after a notorious hacking group claimed to have stolen an extraordinary amount of sensitive personal information from a major data broker, a member of the group has reportedly released most of it for free on an online marketplace for stolen personal data.

The breach, which includes Social Security numbers and other sensitive data, could power a raft of identity theft, fraud and other crimes, said Teresa Murray, consumer watchdog director for the U.S. Public Interest Research Group.

“If this in fact is pretty much the whole dossier on all of us, it certainly is much more concerning” than prior breaches, Murray said in an interview. “And if people weren’t taking precautions in the past, which they should have been doing, this should be a five-alarm wake-up call for them.”

According to a class-action lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., the hacking group USDoD claimed in April to have stolen personal records of 2.9 billion people from National Public Data, which offers personal information to employers, private investigators, staffing agencies and others doing background checks. The group offered in a forum for hackers to sell the data, which included records from the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, for $3.5 million, a cybersecurity expert said in a post on X.

One of the hackers claims, according to the story, that “the information consists of about 2.7 billion records, each of which includes a person’s full name, address, date of birth, Social Security number and phone number, along with alternate names and birth dates.” Yikes.

However … you should know The Washington Post also published a story on this mess, headlined “Hearing about leaked Social Security numbers? Don’t panic.” It contains this passage which didn’t put my mind at ease at ALL:

James E. Lee, chief operating officer at Identity Theft Resource Center, a nonprofit that helps consumers deal with fraud, said that there is “nothing new” about this particular data haul and that SSNs already circulate online.

“The steps you need to take today are the steps you needed to be taking for years,” Lee said.

Uh … to repeat: Yikes.

I highly recommend the latter story, as it contains some tips on things you can, and should, do to protect yourself. I know I learned a few things.

Cyberattacks and hacks aren’t going to stop. If anything, they are going to just get worse—and if you’re not taking steps to lessen the chances you’re victimized as a result of a data breach … well, it’s time for you to start taking steps.

—Jimmy Boegle

More News

• Another minimum wage increase could be coming to the state. Our partners at Calmatters report: “California voters are being asked to boost the statewide minimum wage again, just two years after the landmark $15 wage championed by unions and embraced by Democratic politicians nationwide took effect. But when Proposition 32—the measure to raise the minimum wage to $18 next year—was confirmed for Californians’ ballots in November, it wasn’t with the same fanfare. … This year in the Legislature, business and labor groups focused on other fights, and it was uncertain whether the measure would even stay on the ballot. Some proponents argued it wasn’t nearly ambitious enough to help the working poor afford California, where MIT researchers estimate the average single, childless adult needs $27 an hour to be ‘self-sufficient.’”

• Mpox is an official global health emergency. The Associated Press says: “The World Health Organization declared the mpox outbreaks in Congo and elsewhere in Africa a global emergency on Wednesday, with cases confirmed among children and adults in more than a dozen countries and a new form of the virus spreading. Few vaccine doses are available on the continent. Earlier this week, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that the mpox outbreaks were a public health emergency, with more than 500 deaths, and called for international help to stop the virus’ spread. ‘This is something that should concern us all … The potential for further spread within Africa and beyond is very worrying,’ said WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. The Africa CDC previously said mpox, also known as monkeypox, has been detected in 13 countries this year, and more than 96% of all cases and deaths are in Congo. Cases are up 160% and deaths are up 19% compared with the same period last year. So far, there have been more than 14,000 cases and 524 people have died.”

• In other illness-related news: Whooping cough is on the rise in the U.S. CBS News says: “A wave of whooping cough infections is continuing to worsen nationwide, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests, with weekly reported cases now accelerating to the highest levels seen in the U.S. for years. At least 259 pertussis cases were reported during the first week into August, the CDC now tallies, up from 215 weekly cases towards the end of June. Pennsylvania has reported 1,489 cases so far this year, the most of any state. New York has reported the next largest total of cases, at 1,266 infections. The increase comes as CDC officials have been warning for months of a return to the pre-pandemic trends of the illness. Whooping cough is caused by the bacteria Bordetella pertussis, which had plummeted to record lows during the COVID-19 pandemic, likely due to more people at the time wearing masks and staying home from schools and offices. So far this year, a total of more than 10,000 pertussis cases have been reported by health departments. By mid-June, total cases this year reached more than triple what they were compared to the same time last year.“

• “When Is ‘Recyclable’ Not Really Recyclable? When the Plastics Industry Gets to Define What the Word Means” is the ProPublica headline. Reporter Lisa Song writes: “Companies whose futures depend on plastic production, including oil and gas giant ExxonMobil, are trying to persuade the federal government to allow them to put the label ‘recyclable’ on bags and other plastic items virtually guaranteed to end up in landfills and incinerators. They argue that ‘recyclable’ should apply to anything that’s capable of being recycled. And they point to newer technologies that have been able to remake plastic bags into new products. I spent months investigating one of those technologies, a form of chemical recycling called pyrolysis, only to find that it is largely a mirage. It’s inefficient, dirty and so limited in capacity that no one expects it to process meaningful amounts of plastic waste any time soon. That shouldn’t matter, say proponents of the industry’s argument. If it’s physically capable of being recycled—even in extremely limited scenarios—it should be labeled ‘recyclable.’ They are laying out their case in comments to the Federal Trade Commission as it revises its Green Guides, documents that define how companies can use marketing labels like ‘recyclable’ or ‘compostable.’ … Under increasing pressure to reckon with the global plastics crisis, companies want to rely on recycling as the answer. But turning old plastic into new plastic is really, really hard.” Ugh.

• The Los Angeles Times reports on the SoCal fault system—the one responsible for that quake you may have felt on Monday—that’s even more dangerous than the Coachella Valley’s San Andreas Fault: “Monday’s magnitude 4.4 earthquake centered four miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles was modest but packed quite a jolt. Although no major damage was reported, experts say the temblor was in the general area of a dangerous fault system—one they have long feared is capable of producing a catastrophic earthquake in the heart of the city. The quake ruptured on a small section of a fault associated with the Puente Hills thrust fault system, which has long been cited as a major seismic hazard for Southern California because it runs through heavily populated areas and is capable of a huge quake. ‘It’s a reminder that this is actually our most dangerous fault,’ earthquake expert Lucy Jones said, surpassing the San Andreas. … Angelenos have been feeling rumbling since June from earthquakes centered in the Eastside neighborhood of El Sereno. And it’s a reminder of the seismic threats that are too often ignored in Southern California.”

• And finally … do you like REALLY spicy or sour food? It’s possible you’re just an adrenalin junkie, says NBC News: “Whether the spice they seek is fiery or acidic and sour, humans can be drawn to the perceived danger of extreme foods. Like watching a horror movie, the experience stimulates a fight-or-flight response during which the brain releases endorphins and dopamine, hormones that make people feel good. After the brain determines everything is safe, there’s a sense of accomplishment in overcoming a dangerous situation. ‘These challenges are really drawing people in who have that psychological affinity—sensation-seeking, reward-seeking types of behaviors. So the more dangerous it is, the more thrilling it is,’ said Elisa Trucco, director of the Research on Adolescent and Child Health Lab at Florida International University.”

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