The problem with identity theft is that you don't really have any control on the information an identity thief can use. The information is actually in the hands of your insurance agent, your doctor, your lawyer, various government agencies, your employer, and on and on and on. For example, we can see that the Blue Cross "mailing error" (read - data breach) affecting over 3000 clients was easily avoidable, but someone wasn't paying attention to their job. They were quick to reassure their members:

"No social security numbers, date of birth or other financial information were included on the information sent to the incorrect prior addresses."

This is the bad part of misinformation. Instead of addressing the real concern (medical identity theft) Blue Cross has reassured people that their money will not be affected. But your medical information in the hands of a stranger could be a far bigger problem than your social security number.

It's unclear if the medical procedure Manquis Daniels underwent was responsible for his death, but this should serve as a somber reminder to everyone that medical identity theft can be deadly.

Reports on medical identity theft tend to run in two categories - those committed by illegal immigrants and others who use stolen social security numbers to get medical help they cannot afford, and medical "professionals" who use patient information to submit false claims to insurance companies, medicaid, etc. But regardless of who commits identity theft,  the outcomes can be the same for the victim: collections from medical groups they have never heard of, and improper medical care which can cause many inconveniences including death.

The increasing number of people who are victims of medical identity theft is the clearest warning I can personally emphasize to illustrate the point that, until the way patient information is tracked changes, taking our medical records to the digital frontier is the most dangerous idea President Obama's socialized healthcare law presents to the American consumer.

Data Security expert Mac McMillan has written a brief piece about virtual network (or VLAN) security that will be of interest to IT professionals as well as "C-level" executives who actually take the responsibility (and often the consequences) for data breaches resulting from a poorly-protected network. The article is pretty technical, so be forewarned.

Data security needs to be of major concern, especially to medical institutions and healthcare providers. Medical identity theft is the undisputed terror of the identity theft world, since victims are literally gambling with their lives every time a doctor looks at their medical record. The recent push toward digital record-keeping is being nudged ever-further-along by President Obama's socialized healthcare program, and this is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

I love shredding companies. They may very well be the front-line in data security education - probably because they profit from it. After all, a company is more interested in protecting personal information (which requires shredding or burning of documents when they are no longer needed) once they know that there are legal issues involved with failing to do so. But a recent survey showed that nearly 1/4 of all companies surveyed had no idea that they had liabilities if they weren't proactive with data security. In fact, the survey shows that most companies don't give it a thought until after they have suffered a breach. Just like identity theft, it's something best left undiscussed with the naive belief that "it'll never happen to us."

Our articles at About.com are geared toward the consumer, but I have put together a series specifically designed for business owners to get an overview of what their liabilities are. Business identity theft has many faces, but all of them are of concern to anyone owning a business. And just to be clear, these laws don't differentiate between the mega corporation downtown, or a home-based mail-order mom-and-pop operation. Being in business is the only definition you need to be concerned about - but if you are, you can't afford to wait until it's too late to consider the risks. Once you are at the business end of these laws, you will more than likely be shut down for good.