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-- National student loan centre loses information on 583,000 Canadians

National student loan centre loses information on 583,000 Canadians

http://o.canada.com/2013/01/15/cana...c/#.USgB5UpfaSo

quote:

The gentleman on the other end of the line sounded like he�d given the same speech 100 times already today. He probably had. I am one of 583,000 Canadians who took out a student loan between 2000 and 2006 whose personal information was lost by the federal government. The information, we now know, was stored on an external hard drive (yes, the kind you can pick up at Best Buy) which went missing. The information includes names, social insurance numbers, dates of birth, contact information and loan balances on any Canada Student Loans. With that information, it�s easy to get a false driver�s license (which only requires proof of name, date of birth and signature) or a birth certificate (which requires address, date of birth, gender, parents names, previous names and the information for a guarantor ) and can even be ordered online. With a SIN, address, DOB and any other form of ID, you can open bank accounts, apply for credit and generally assume someone�s identity. Approximately 583,000 Canadians have been placed in that danger because of insufficient security and privacy policies in Canada Student Loans. But don�t worry. Canada Student Loans is �very sorry� for this inconvenience and assured me they are �monitoring� to make sure this information is not used criminally by whoever now has that data. The representative I spoke to on the phone said I would be receiving a letter in the mail outlining action I can take to protect myself, including contacting credit rating firms and my bank. �For the most part, you don�t really need to worry about anything because we�re taking care of it,� he said. �The RCMP and the Privacy Commissioner are also watching over it.� According to Canada Student Loans, the external hard drive included: personal information on 583,000 Canada Student Loan borrowers who were clients of the CSLP from 2000-2006. Student loan borrowers from the province of Quebec, Nunavut and the Northwest Territories during the same time period are not affected; Student names, Social Insurance Numbers, dates of birth, contact information and loan balance of Canada Student Loan borrowers; Personal contact information of 250 HRSDC employees; No banking or medical information was included on the portable hard drive. For people who have questions or want to verify if their information was on this drive, a phone line has been set up at 1-866-885-1866 (or 1-416-572-1113 for those outside of North America). That line is open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. EST, 7 days a week. Canada Student Loans has also provided basic notes about how these people can procede. You may wish to contact your bank concerning protecting your bank account. Report any irregularities in your mail delivery to Canada Post, (for example, opened envelopes, missing financial statements or documents); You may also wish to contact a Canadian credit reporting agency to monitor your credit rating. Canada�s major credit reporting agencies are Equifax and TransUnion. You can ask that a copy of your credit report be mailed to you, a service offered for free once per year. Their numbers are: Equifax: 1-800-465-7166 TransUnion: 1-800-663-9980 (For residents of Quebec call 1-877-713-3393) For Canadians who believe that their SIN is being used fraudulently, there are still further steps that can be taken: File a complaint with the police. Ask for the case reference number, and the officer�s name and telephone number. If you choose to obtain a copy of the police report, make sure it states your name and SIN. Contact the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre at 1-888-495-8501. The national anti-fraud call centre is jointly managed by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Ontario Provincial Police and Competition Bureau Canada. They provide advice and assistance about identity theft. Call Canada�s two national credit bureaus. Ask for a free copy of your credit report. Review it for any suspicious activity. Also check to see if your credit file should be flagged. This will indicate that your personal information has been put at risk and may be vulnerable to fraud. Inform your bank and creditors by phone and in writing about any irregularities. Report any irregularities in your mail delivery to Canada Post, for example, opened envelopes, missing financial statements or documents. Visit a Service Canada Centre and bring all the necessary documents with you proving fraud or misuse of your SIN. Also bring an original identity document (your birth certificate, or immigration or citizenship document). One of our officials will review your information and provide you with assistance and guidance. Despite the massive breach of privacy � all because someone thought it wise to store the personal information of a half million Canadians on a portable external hard drive � Canada Student Loans assured me that all payments are expected to proceed as normal and will continue to be removed from my bank account. But sorry for the inconvenience.

I was one of the many affected, and its pretty scary. Im basically screwed for life potentially. They offer 6 years of credit checking, gee...

same here

Too bad they couldn't have permanently lost the amount owing too!

They should nullify all the loans. If they are incompetent with that information, they should feel the burden of losing millions of dollars, if not billions.

There is a class action lawsuit taking place. Feel free to sign up.

http://www.strosbergco.com/studentloans/dashboard

Wow

quote:

Originally posted by jester They should nullify all the loans. If they are incompetent with that information, they should feel the burden of losing millions of dollars, if not billions.

Then the tax payers have to pick up the bill? People who didn't take loans?

Yup, great logic right here.

quote:

Originally posted by hardcore trancer There is a class action lawsuit taking place. Feel free to sign up. http://www.strosbergco.com/studentloans/dashboard

How can you file a lawsuit when there are no damages? IF somebody's identity was stolen, then file a lawsuit, but before any damages?

quote:

Originally posted by Orko Then the tax payers have to pick up the bill? People who didn't take loans? Yup, great logic right here. How can you file a lawsuit when there are no damages? IF somebody's identity was stolen, then file a lawsuit, but before any damages?

yeh, not following the logic of this. pre-emptive lawsuit?

gotta read up more on this.

quote:

Originally posted by Orko Then the tax payers have to pick up the bill? People who didn't take loans? Yup, great logic right here. How can you file a lawsuit when there are no damages? IF somebody's identity was stolen, then file a lawsuit, but before any damages?

The damage has been done. They lost peoples personal information.

Plus I didn't say anything about a lawsuit, only that the loans should be nullified for their incompetence. As much as it does suck, that someone would get free money for their education, it does seem like the right thing to do for their lose of personal information. Hence the meaning of losing millions or billions. Maybe next time this agency will make sure not to lose any info.

I've signed up for their credit protection.

They are very clear to mention on the phone that they have "misplaced" the hard drive and it may or may not be in the building.

My concern really is my SIN number. Gonna be keeping a close eye out for suspicious activity.

My first loan was from 2007. GREAT SUCCESS

quote:

Originally posted by jester The damage has been done. They lost peoples personal information. Plus I didn't say anything about a lawsuit, only that the loans should be nullified for their incompetence. As much as it does suck, that someone would get free money for their education, it does seem like the right thing to do for their lose of personal information. Hence the meaning of losing millions or billions. Maybe next time this agency will make sure not to lose any info.

If you nullify the loan, who pays for it? With your solution, regular taxpayers would be on the hook for those loans.

"This agency" is the government, which is you and me.

There is no such thing as free money. wow

quote:

Originally posted by jester The damage has been done. They lost peoples personal information. Plus I didn't say anything about a lawsuit, only that the loans should be nullified for their incompetence. As much as it does suck, that someone would get free money for their education, it does seem like the right thing to do for their lose of personal information. Hence the meaning of losing millions or billions. Maybe next time this agency will make sure not to lose any info.

So you're ok with higher taxes?

Oh my god, I would really want to see the faces of people who have never originally took out the loan getting the bill for it. But you know, seriously, how they could let this mess happen. Knowing our government I would not be that surprised to learn that the whole situation has had a certain aim and everything was set up. In any case, it does not make any sense. Why so many people suffered. The leak of information is a pretty serious thing. So we pay some extra for the security of each personal�s data and in return what we get is this chaos. You know lots of people besides student loans, also turned to advanced cash companies as well

Well played, spammer, well played.

Holy shit, that was a clever spam, very intuitive in it's scanning too...

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