FW: Globe and Worcester T&G customer credit info mistakenly released

["Richard M. Smith" <rms () computerbytesman com>]

Globe and Worcester T&G customer credit info mistakenly released

By Robert Gavin, Globe Staff  |  January 31, 2006

Credit and bank card numbers of as many as 240,000 subscribers of The Boston
Globe and Worcester Telegram & Gazette were inadvertently distributed with
bundles of T&G newspapers on Sunday, officials of the newspapers said
Tuesday.

The confidential information was on the back of paper used in wrapping
newspaper bundles for distribution to carriers and retailers. As many as
9,000 bundles of the T&G, wrapped in paper containing subscribers' names and
their confidential information, were distributed Sunday to 2,000 retailers
and 390 carriers in the Worcester area, said Alfred S. Larkin Jr., spokesman
for the Globe.

In addition, routing information for personal checks of 1,100 T&G
subscribers also may have been inadvertently released.

The Globe and T&G, which are both owned by The New York Times Co., share a
computer system.

The release of the data is another in a long list of high-profile incidents
in which companies, universities, and federal and state agencies have had
sensitive financial information lost or stolen.

Globe and T&G officials said the newspapers have notified the four major
credit card companies - American Express, Discover, MasterCard, and Visa -
of the problem. The newspapers will turn over the card numbers of
subscribers who may have been affected to the companies upon request. As of
last night, Mastercard and Visa have asked for the details. The newspapers
are doing the same thing with banks of customers who may be affected.

About 227,000 Globe subscribers pay by credit or bank cards, although it's
unclear exactly how many had their information released. Larkin, however,
said a reconstruction of the errors that took place suggests a majority of
those affected are Globe subscribers.

...

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2006/01/31/globe_and
_worcester_tg_customer_credit_info_mistakenly_released/
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