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-WJLA SCRIPT-
ANCHOR:
A TRIP TO YOUR DOCTOR, DENTIST, EVEN YOUR LAWYER'S OFFICE IS ALL IT TAKES TO HAVE YOUR PRIVATE INFORMATION STOLEN. TONIGHT... A "7 ON YOUR SIDE" INVESTIGATION EXPOSES THE SECURITY BREACH AND HOW YOU COULD BE AT RISK. ROSS MCLAUGHLIN IS HERE WITH THE STORY... ROSS?
ROSS IN STUDIO:
YOU WOULDN'T TAKE A FOLDER CONTAINING YOUR SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER OR PRIVATE MEDICAL INFORMATION AND THROW IT ON THE GROUND FOR ANYONE TO SEE..BUT WE DISCOVERED IN THE COMPUTER WORLD WIRELESS DUMPSTER DIVERS COULD GET IT THROUGH INTERNET HOTSPOTS..SOME BUSINESSES ARE NOT TAKING ENOUGH PRECAUTIONS TO PROTECT IT.
STORY:Aaron Titus: "One, two, three, four computers on this network."
INTERNET HOTSPOTS.
Aaron Titus: "We're all at risk."
AARON TITUS KNOWS.
Aaron Titus: "We're looking at somebody else's computer."
HE'S HAD HIS IDENTITY STOLEN. AND WANTS TO SHOW US JUST HOW EASY IT IS.
Aaron Titus: "We're looking at sensitive information for patients."
THIS NEEDS TO STOP...THERE'S MORE.
Aaron Titus: "I'm watching this off of his computer."
ALL HE HAS TO DO IS LOG ONTO AN UNSECURED WIRELESS NETWORK. AND ONCE THERE...
Aaron Titus: "This isn't looking very good."
EVERYTHING'S AVAILABLE, FAST.
Aaron Titus: "Took about 30 seconds."
NAMES, ADDRESSES, PERSONAL INFORMATION AND SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS ARE ALL AROUND US. IT'S VERY PERSONAL EVEN FOR THOSE WHO WORK IN THESE OFFICES... LIKE THIS PICTURE OF SUPERSTAR... AN EMPLOYEE WORKING FOR A DENTIST.
Ross: "Are you super star?"
Superstar: "Yes."
Ross: "I want to show you something."
WE SHOW THEM WHAT WE FOUND.
Ross: "We got your picture."
Superstar: "Oh my goodness."
Ross: "That's you."
Superstar: "Uh-huh."
Ross: "You know how we got that?"
Superstar: "Nuh-uh."
Ross: "You're wireless network is wide open."
THEY CAN'T BELIEVE IT.
Aaron Titus: "Your patient names, your patient's social security numbers, your patient's addresses, your patient's phone numbers..."
Worker: "Oh, wow."
WOW IS RIGHT. HERE'S WHAT'S HAPPENING. WHEN AARON LOGS ONTO AN OPEN WIRELESS CONNECTION, HIS COMPUTER BECOMES PART OF THE NETWORK. NOW HE CAN BROWSE SHARED FILES AND EVEN LOG ONTO OTHER COMPUTERS.
Aaron Titus: "What we do is we document it, we notify the individuals, and then we destroy the information."
HE'S PART OF THE LIBERTY COALITION AND SSNBREACH.ORG. IT'S THEIR MISSION TO EXPOSE BUSINESSES THAT DON'T TAKE ENOUGH PRECAUTIONS WITH YOUR PRIVACY. AND FOLKS, THIS PROBLEM IS EVERYWHERE.
SO FAR, AARON HAS UNCOVERED MORE THAN 300,000 NAMES WITH PERSONAL INFORMATION FLOATING AROUND UNSECURED.
Ross: "Your wireless network is not encrypted."
LIKE THIS MORTGAGE COMPANY.
Ross: "Show him what's broadcasting."
CREDIT REPORTS, APPRAISALS, SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS ALL ON AN OPEN NETWORK.
McKinley Belcher: "That's uh, supposed to be confident...confidential information."
MCKINLEY BELCHER IS NERVOUS AT FIRST, THEN WANTS TO KNOW HOW TO FIX IT.
McKinley Belcher: "I am supposed to have a firewall on that, that protects that."
Aaron Titus: "If you like, I can come in and help you figure it out."
FIRST FIND THE WIRELESS ROUTER.
Aaron Titus: "Security mode is disabled."
NOT GOOD. HE NEEDS TO PROTECT IT. AND IT'S THIS SIMPLE.
Aaron Titus: "Just simply by clicking enable, now nobody can access the internet."
NOT WITHOUT THE PASSWORD MCKINLEY CREATED. NOW HIS CLIENT'S INFORMATION IS PROTECTED.
McKinley Belcher: "I am a little bit upset, but at the same time I appreciate the fact you guys pointing this out to me."
THANKS, BUT WE'RE DOING IT FOR ANYONE WHO HAS EVER SEEN A LAWYER, A DOCTOR, A REAL ESTATE AGENT, EVEN A DENTIST.
Superstar: "Thank you."
Ross: "Okay."
Superstar: "And thank you guys for taking the time to come out and let us know."
ROSS IN STUDIO:NOT EVERYONE IS HAPPY WITH WHAT AARON TITUS IS DOING.. ONE DOCTOR WAS SO OUTRAGED HE CONTACTED THE FBI (web) ABOUT IT AND SENT THIS LETTER TO EVERYONE IN HIS BUILDING WARNING THEM. TITUS SAYS HE'S NOT STEALING INFORMATION HE JUST WANTS THE PROBLEMS FIXED. WE'VE GOT MORE INFORMATION ON OUR WEBSITE GO TO WJLA.COM AND CLICK ON "7 ON YOUR SIDE" OR CALL OUR TOLL FREE HOTLINE..866-236-3401.
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For more information visit www.ssnbreach.org and Liberty Coalition.
Every month when I pay my Minol utility bill online they charge a $3 convience fee. I have contacted them twice to find out why this fee is so high and why they charge one at all. No other utility charges such a fee. In fact, most other utilities encourage consumers to pay their bill online to reduce their costs by reducing the amount of processing that they must do on their end of things.
In the end I end up paying $36 a year for saving them money.
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