They’re back. It seems that the information flowing from ChoicePoint has been limited, parsed and maybe not totally revealing.
ChoicePoint has said repeatedly it learned of the breach in October, but delayed disclosing it because it said California authorities had asked it to keep quiet to protect the fraud investigation. It said in a detailed explanation Friday that it first learned of the possibility of fraud on Sept. 27. A similar breach involving 7,000 to 10,000 ChoicePoint records occurred in 2002.
MSNBC had been out in front on this story. Today their website only carried an AP article. In case you’re interested in reading more, here’s a link to the New York Times coverage and an excellent article on how this was uncovered from the Washington Post.
There also seems to be some discrepancy over when they were allowed to tell consumers. Though ChoicePoint waited until February, the authorities say it could have been done much sooner.