LexisNexis data breach linked to New York Mafia
LexisNexis has incurred another data breach, and federal authorities say this time it’s at the hands of the Bonanno crime family.
The New York City-based company — which has more 300 employees in Albany, N.Y. — has sent 13,000 letters to former customers whose personal data may be at risk, the company said in a statement.
The breach involved a former customer for a company called Seisint, which LexisNexis bought in 2004, and was announced by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida in May, according to a LexisNexis spokesperson.
“(The) customer involved in this matter should have provided notice to potentially affected individuals,” LexisNexis said in a statement. “However, because the customer is no longer in business we provided the notice.”
According to the IDG News Service — which includes CIO magazine and PC World — the New Hampshire Department of Justice posted a document Friday on its Web site to inform consumers about the breach.
By Monday evening, however, the link had been removed. The document reportedly tied a Florida man, with mob connections to the Bonanno crime family, with accessing LexisNexis data.
New Hampshire officials could not be reached.
In May, LexisNexis announced it is part of a separate investigation into alleged credit card fraud, perpetrated by former customers of the company, according to a company statement.
That fraud occurred from June 2004 to October 2007.
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service released a statement that said 40,000 letters will be sent to consumers and 300 victims have been identified in an investigation concerning the breach.
The company was part of a similar incident in 2005 and sent letters then to 280,000 customers who may have been victims of identity theft.
LexisNexis U.S. is a unit of Reed Elsevier plc (NYSE: RUK), the Anglo-Dutch publishing conglomerate. The company is an online information services and publishing company with 13,000 people worldwide.
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