Should We file Lawsuits against NTID?

My feeling here is that a laptop was stolen is because the theft actually WANTED the laptop itself not the content in the hard drive. The theft has to be a NTID student because it happened in a NTID building ie LBJ

And that it occurred in August which means maybe during SVP.

anyway.. it seems that some of you are not informed enough... I mean some of you didn't read FAQ carefully... at RIT - University News

I'll paste important parts of FAQ;
first of all;
Q. What happened to the private information?

A. We have no indication at this time that the information was accessed. We are notifying people for precautionary purposes.
(That means nothing has happened yet.. They think laptop was stolen for the hardware itself only not the content on the hard drive but are playing safe to inform us anyway)

Q. How could this happen?

A. Like all organizations that store personal information, RIT is acutely aware of the need to secure sensitive data. All organizations are susceptible to criminal activity, however.


Q. Where was the information stored?

A. The information was stored on a laptop computer used by an employee at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf. The laptop was stolen from an office.
(More likely in LBJ building because that's where most of NTID offices are)

then there is a statement in "Conclusion' section which says...
RIT is committed to doing the right thing, and therefore immediately notified you of this incident. The primary purpose of our communication is to encourage you to immediately take action in an effort to prevent potential loss due to identity theft.

This is telling you nothing has happened but It would be very important to take action to defend yourself from possible theft of identity JUST IN CASE the theft decide to commit fraud. NOW Since RIT has communicated with us right away (few days after the incident) and rest of the USA has heard or read about it then the Theft would think it may not be worth to commit a crime because your bit of informations are being watched.

Now, It is not worth to file a lawsuit as OP wanted. I appreciate that RIT has taken a immediate action and hope that theft would be caught and hope that we learn that the theft only wanted the laptop not the content. I am sure the theft will be caught and tried in court of law then be found guilty then imprisoned.
 
Blaming on RIT is irrevelent when it comes to stolen identity.

I can tell you, I blame all creditors, and credit bureau that depends on Social Security Number system. The SSN system was NEVER intended for financial transaction outside of Uncle Sam's home. ALl creditor should be responsible for the mess started from 1992. That is when first identity thieve start at this magitude. What did the government did since 1993? Almost NOTHING!!!

What I believe is that Creditors should be responsible and create security system to prevent identity thieves. They should NEVER use SSN at all, should have create something which they can change themselves over time if needed while SSN can not be changed without lengthy court proccss.

What we need to solve this problems and it is actually alot cheaper....

Create Financial Security Number system! In order to get Financial Security number, one requires to go in bank and provided few hard evidences supporting the Identity then Bank process to request FNS, and requires yearly renewals. This will surely prevent Identy thieves from hitting one victims again and again and higher risk of getting caught.
 
RichardDeaf said:
I don't think notifying customers is enough when their data is stolen or lost, they should offer them 5+ years of credit monitoring service plus FREE credit counseling if someone indeed did use your stolen ID for unauthorized use. If my info got stolen due to company's careless handling of data, why should I spent countless of hours trying to clean their mess (loss of wage, loss of time, etc), they should be doing this for us.. And pay us any damages due to credit score being hurt (higher interests, loss job, increased car insurance, loss of job, etc..).. Bottom line, company MUST pay for damage, not just giving notification and/or free 1 year monitoring.
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:hmm:

diehardbiker said:
Blaming on RIT is irrevelent when it comes to stolen identity.

I can tell you, I blame all creditors, and credit bureau that depends on Social Security Number system. The SSN system was NEVER intended for financial transaction outside of Uncle Sam's home. ALl creditor should be responsible for the mess started from 1992. That is when first identity thieve start at this magitude. What did the government did since 1993? Almost NOTHING!!!

What I believe is that Creditors should be responsible and create security system to prevent identity thieves. They should NEVER use SSN at all, should have create something which they can change themselves over time if needed while SSN can not be changed without lengthy court proccss.

What we need to solve this problems and it is actually alot cheaper....

Create Financial Security Number system! In order to get Financial Security number, one requires to go in bank and provided few hard evidences supporting the Identity then Bank process to request FNS, and requires yearly renewals. This will surely prevent Identy thieves from hitting one victims again and again and higher risk of getting caught.
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Interesting....
 
RichardDeaf said:
I don't think notifying customers is enough when their data is stolen or lost, they should offer them 5+ years of credit monitoring service plus FREE credit counseling if someone indeed did use your stolen ID for unauthorized use. If my info got stolen due to company's careless handling of data, why should I spent countless of hours trying to clean their mess (loss of wage, loss of time, etc), they should be doing this for us.. And pay us any damages due to credit score being hurt (higher interests, loss job, increased car insurance, loss of job, etc..).. Bottom line, company MUST pay for damage, not just giving notification and/or free 1 year monitoring.
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That is what my company did for me. They offered to pay for free 1 year monitoring and I took advantage of it. I don't think they should offer them 5+ years of credit monitoring plus free credit counseling. That is like the state has to pay for 5+ years of protection plus free counseling service for victim of rape/burglary/crime. You are right - they were careless with handling the sensitive data but they still abide by the federal law.

We just need to demand our government to upgrade its federal law regarding handling and storing the sensitive data to EU standard. That's all.
 
jiro123 said:
That is what my company did for me. They offered to pay for free 1 year monitoring and I took advantage of it. I don't think they should offer them 5+ years of credit monitoring plus free credit counseling. That is like the state has to pay for 5+ years of protection plus free counseling service for victim of rape/burglary/crime. You are right - they were careless with handling the sensitive data but they still abide by the federal law.

We just need to demand our government to upgrade its federal law regarding handling and storing the sensitive data to EU standard. That's all.
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People need to keep in mind, also, if the stolen computer results in the data base being hacked into, and identities stolen and used, it becomes a criminal matter, not a civil one. Whoever stole the computer committed a criminal act against the university and they are liable for criminal prosecution of such. If they hack into the program and steal identities they are liable for additional criminal charges. The university was the victim of a thief. If anyone's information is used, they, too will be the victim of a thief. To date, however, there has been no evidence that the data base has been accessed. Everyone, of course, should take precautions, and the university has fulfilled their obligation by recommending that anyone whose information was on the stolen computer take preventative action. The university did not give your information away, they did not sell it. It was stolen from them.
 
Byrdie714 said:
Whose 'we' ?

I know what you mean--I think it would've been a nice gesture on NTID/RIT's part in not only notifying us in regards to the stolen laptop but to notify the credit bureau's on our behalf to save us the time and headache of listening to....."Push 1 if you are reporting fraud on your credit report. Push 2 to enter your mailing address. Sorry that number isn't recognized! Please try again. Again the number isn't recognized. ( Like I don't know my own mailing address. :roll: ) Good-Bye!"
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As indicated in this post and in some of the others. It's also a question of that don't we sometime have enough challenges or dilemmas to deal with that we could do without this inconvenience being imposed on us all cause, as in the case with some of us, we happened to have gone to that school decades ago.

For instance, I know of a friend who had just moved and is still settling down into his new home and into the new neighborhood and all that. I had to inform my friend about this issue. Knowing there's a good chance the R.I.T letter would have been sent to his old address.

And I also know of another friend who had just lost a parent last week.

Just to mention a couple.
 
I'm not worry about that because I am sure the person who stole the laptop, needs the computer for school and that person probably formatted the hard drive for a fresh start.
If that laptop comes with system recovery CD and Windows Serial number, that's all they need to reformatted the hard drive. Also the laptop is password protection and if they couldn't get into then it's worthless. System recovery is the only way to reformat to be able to access to laptop.

Yes, I'm former NTID student.
 
jtlytle said:
I'm not worry about that because I am sure the person who stole the laptop, needs the computer for school and that person probably formatted the hard drive for a fresh start.
If that laptop comes with system recovery CD and Windows Serial number, that's all they need to reformatted the hard drive. Also the laptop is password protection and if they couldn't get into then it's worthless. System recovery is the only way to reformat to be able to access to laptop.

Yes, I'm former NTID student.
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You sound like an old school guy.


1. they stole the laptop

2. the guy who is responsible for the laptop surely will lose his job or suspended.

3. The credit are all your responsibility and to get a great deal, YOU have to do it yourself since you can explain to them about what's happening, I'm sure they'll help you by offering you deals.

4. Patience with the services because no patience only means one thing, you aren't taking responsibility.



What I'm trying to say is, the info are secured on laptop, but once stolen and hacked into, for sure, that HD isn't formatted to be erased just yet. AND they stole the LAPTOP, they didn't sit in the office and hack.
 
Think about it. If they were hackers, they wouldn't have needed the laptop at all. They would have hacked into the system from a remote location.
 
jillio said:
Think about it. If they were hackers, they wouldn't have needed the laptop at all. They would have hacked into the system from a remote location.
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Yes, people can hack from anywhere. The situation at NTID isn't any different form other hacking or identity theft from places like a bank.
 
ClearSky said:
Yes, people can hack from anywhere. The situation at NTID isn't any different form other hacking or identity theft from places like a bank.
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Yep. Which is why I believe that this was just a thief after a laptop, and not a hacker looking to steal sensitive information. It just so happened that the laptop they chose to steal was one with the data.
 
jillio said:
Yep. Which is why I believe that this was just a thief after a laptop, and not a hacker looking to steal sensitive information. It just so happened that the laptop they chose to steal was one with the data.
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Yep, quite a possible and good theory and hope it was so! lol
 
web730 said:
Yep, quite a possible and good theory and hope it was so! lol
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I hope so, too. Since it doesn't appear that anyone has had a problem with identity theft (although I would certainly reccommend taking precautions), I'd say there is a better than average chance that was the situation. If identities were going to be stolen and used, we would have seen it happening very quickly after the theft, before the alerts went out.

Of course, I am just making an educted guess based on my knowledge of human behavior. I can't guarantee anything! LOL.
 
jillio said:
I hope so, too. Since it doesn't appear that anyone has had a problem with identity theft (although I would certainly reccommend taking precautions), I'd say there is a better than average chance that was the situation. If identities were going to be stolen and used, we would have seen it happening very quickly after the theft, before the alerts went out.

Of course, I am just making an educted guess based on my knowledge of human behavior. I can't guarantee anything! LOL.
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Yep, who knows!

I did set the 90-day cc alert but better to remember to reset on this early December.

Curious: Do you people trust the LifeLock?
 
web730 said:
Yep, who knows!

I did set the 90-day cc alert but better to remember to reset on this early December.

Curious: Do you people trust the LifeLock?
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I'm not familiar with LifeLock. Can you explain it to me, please?
 
I saw the lifelock program, but my problem with that is if you're deaf and you rely on relay to receive your call...how do you get your call from anywhere if someone's trying to open a credit in your name? Sounds nice, but how does this help deaf people?

The credit report agencies offer that, too. I don't know if it's the same thing. I have a thread about this.
 
Also, when you do things online, you should make sure that you have a lock image in either the toolbar above or below when filling out personal information online.
 
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