Missing CitiFinancial Data is Latest in Rash of Breaches

By Laura Smitherman, Baltimore Sun

When CitiFinancial, the Baltimore-based consumer-finance division of Citigroup Inc., put a box of computer tapes that documented the financial habits of its customers on a UPS truck in Weehawken, N.J., last month, the shipment represented one routine step in the nation’s sprawling credit system.

Thousands of companies regularly ship or electronically transfer personal information to three credit reporting agencies, and CitiFinancial’s box was bound for a data processing center in Allen, Texas. The process allows other banks and lenders to determine the credit-worthiness of an applicant for a mortgage or credit card.

But when that box didn’t show up at its destination – and CitiFinancial went public this week with the news that it was lost – the incident became yet another example of how exposed consumers and corporations have become in the information age. The box, which hadn’t been found as of yesterday, included computer tapes that contained Social Security numbers, account and other information on 3.9 million people.

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