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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2014
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Home Depot said Thursday that malicious software lurking in its check-out terminals between April and September affected 56 million debit and credit cards that customers swiped at its stores. Target, Michaels and Neiman Marcus have also been attacked by hackers in the past year.
Some lenders are preparing to reissue credit or debit cards to customers to head off possible losses following the breach of customer data at Home Depot.
Banks reissuing cards over Home Depot breach
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Earlier this month, Home Depot confirmed that malicious software lurking in its check-out terminals between April and September affected 56 million debit and credit cards. Target, Michaels and Neiman Marcus also have been attacked by hackers in the past year.
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Capital One Financial and JPMorgan Chase & Co. said Wednesday they are preparing to assign new cards to accountholders due to the data theft at the home-improvement retailer.
While lenders will issue customers a card after it's been lost, stolen or used to make an unauthorized purchase, Capital One and JPMorgan are taking action based merely on whether accounts may be compromised.
Capital One, which issues debit cards in addition to its namesake credit card, is preparing to do a proactive "mass reissue" of credit and debit cards on accounts that it believes are at risk due to the Home Depot data breach.
said spokeswoman Pam Giardo.
In one of the notices Chase sent to customers with a United-brand card, the bank said it would be reissuing their cards because the security breach at Home Depot "may have put their United card at risk.
She declined to say how many accountholders would be receiving new cards, but added that the lender also reissues cards once it detects fraudulent activity.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. began notifying some of its customers last week to expect new cards, said Chase spokesman Edward Kozmor.
In the meantime, Chase is advising cardholders to keep their current cards and monitor their accounts for any purchases they don't recognize.
The note told customers that Chase would be mailing out their new cards at the end of this month.
Other major card issuers are taking a different approach.
American Express has beefed up its fraud monitoring on accounts that may have been affected by the breach. If the company confirms fraudulent activity on an account, it will immediately replace the card, said Amelia Woltering, a spokeswoman at American
Bank of America is also monitoring accounts for fraud and, if it believes a customer's account is at risk, it will reissue the card, said spokeswoman Betty Riess.
Express.
Philip Tschudy, a spokesman at CUNA Mutual Group, which insures credit unions against card fraud losses, said many credit unions are blocking and reissuing cards in the wake of the Home Depot data theft as a precautionary measure to prevent fraudulent transactions.
Among the bank customers who have had to be issued a new debit card recently due to fraud risk is Beverly Blough of Belpre, Ohio.Blough, a retired dietitian, was notified by her small community bank a few weeks ago that her debit card was compromised and needed to be replaced.
There weren't any unexpected charges on her account, though. And the lender didn't say specifically whether her card was snared in the Home Depot hack.
Despite the risks, Blough said she's not changing where or how she uses her debit card.
"I continue to shop at Home Depot and use my new debit card," she said. "I'm just going to be cautious and vigilant."
Trend for trying electronic cigs may be leveling off
ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK - A new government study suggests the number of U.S. adults who have tried electronic cigarettes may be leveling off.
The proportion of adults who have ever used e-cigarettes rose from about 3 percent to 8 percent from 2010 to 2012. But there was no significant change last year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study.
The study's conclusions seem to parallel a modest decline in e-cigarette sales during the same period that have been noted in analyst reports.
But e-cigarettes are not yet regulated by the federal government, and there hasn't been much research on them completed yet.
The findings come from an annual survey of thousands of adults. It has been the CDC's only source on e-cigarette trends since the devices started selling in the U.S. in late 2006.
"The long-term public health impact of these products is uncertain," study's lead author, Brian King said. But he called the leveling off in adults who have ever tried e-cigarettes "a positive note."
E-cigarettes are battery-powered devices that produce an odorless vapor that typically contains nicotine. They are often described as a less dangerous alternative to regular cigarettes, one that may help smokers quit.
Roughly 75 percent of current e-cigarette users said they also smoked regular cigarettes — and that figure hasn't changed much in the four years of the survey, released last week by the medical journal, Nicotine & Tobacco Research.
The study also found the percentage of adults who are described as current e-cigarette smokers — that is, they said theyd used one at least one in the previous 30 days — has been hovering at around 2 percent.
Cops: Saw ambush suspect, then found his dirty diapers
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A suspect in the fatal ambush of a trooper has occasionally made himself visible to officers before melting back into the forest, and police found empty packs of Serbian-branded cigarettes and soiled diapers believed to have been left by him. Pennsylvania State Police said Wednesday.
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A Pennsylvania State Police trooper helps create a perimeter in the search area for Eric Frien near the intersection of Happy Hill Lane and Bear Town Road in Canadensis, Pa., on Tuesday. The manhunt for the survivalist accused of ambushing a state police barracks has narrowed to the rural area where he grew up and his parents still live, but Frein, the suspect, has managed to elude capture despite the efforts of hundreds of law enforcement officials.
Officers saw a man they believe to be Eric Frein as recently as Tuesday, Lt. Col. George Bivens said Wednesday afternoon. But it was at a distance, and the extremely rugged terrain separating the officers from Frein gave him "the ability to disappear," Bivens told reporters.
It was the first time authorities have reported possibly laying eyes on the 31-year-old suspect charged with opening fire at the Blooming Grove state police barracks on Sept. 12, killing Cpl. Bryon Dickson and seriously wounding a second trooper who remains hospitalized.
Bivens said the discovery of the empty packs of cigarettes and dirty diapers is helping to cement authorities' belief they were closing in as the manhunt stretched into its 12th full day. They believe Frein is using diapers so he can remain stationary for long periods of time. They are testing the diapers to confirm he wore them.
Frein appears to be probing the loose perimeter that's been set up around him. He has also purposely made himself visible at times, staying just far enough away to make it unlikely hed be caught, he said
Upwards of 1,000 law enforcement officials have been involved in the search for Frein, named last week to the FBI's 10 most wanted list. He is considered armed and dangerous, and police have authority to kill him if he doesn't surrender.
In an indication of just how
"I almost think that some of this is a game to him," Bivens said.
wild the landscape is, tactical teams have "kicked out quite a few bears" as they search for Frein in caves, Bivens said.
The lengthy manhunt has upended life in this usually tranquil corner of the Pocono
LT. COL. GEORGE BIVENS Officer
Mountains, with unannounced and indefinite roadblocks and a "shelter in place" directive that prevented residents from leaving their houses for more than 24 hours at one point. Those who weren't already home could not return.
Residents say they support police in the search for Frein, but patience is wearing thin.
"Families are getting separated," said Adam Christmann,
who has been kept from his home at least twice in the past few days.
High school student Kendall Lewczak left home at 7 a.m. Friday to go to work with her mom, since classes had been canceled because of the manhunt. They came back in the late afternoon to find access to their street blocked off.
"We spent the night over on the bridge sleeping in the car waiting, and hoping, that we could get home," Lewczak said.
Ralph Mergliola, chairman of the Barrett Township Board of Supervisors, said most residents he's spoken with believe police are "doing the best job they can" under difficult circumstances.
Authorities insist residents have been able to get escorts to their homes in emergencies, such as to retrieve medication. But some residents said elderly relatives have been left unattended and pets unfed.
"Most of them understand," he said. "They'd rather not be in their houses if there's a murderer in their backyard."
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Student walk-outs in Jefferson County continued for the third straight day as students from Chaffield and Dakota Ridge High School protest on Thursday, in Littleton, Colo. The students are protesting a proposal by the Jefferson County School Board to emphasize patriotism and downplay civil unrest in the teaching of U.S. history.
Suburban Denver student education protest grows
LITTLETON, Colo. — In the largest of a series of ongoing student protests, about 700 young people gathered in suburban Denver to rally against a new set of high school history standards proposed by a conservative-led
school board.
The protest at a busy intersection near Littleton marked a continuation of demonstrations that began Friday with a sick out from teachers upset over issues including the plan to focus on material that promotes patriotism and respect for authority.
The Denver Post reports that students mainly from two schools
school board.
rallied for about two hours Wednesday. Later about 75 students from another school walked out after meeting with the district superintendent on the issue.
The Jefferson County School Board proposal comes in response to a new national framework for teaching Advanced Placement history.
Associated Press