People applying for federal jobs recently had their personal information stolen by a crafty hacker that nailed the USAJobs web site, operated by the Office of Personnel Management. Some 146,000 job applicants hoping to get a job with the fed instead may find themselves the victims of identity theft. Although the fed insists no social security numbers were compromised, the information stolen is still quite valuable.

Security experts (people who, like O.J., speculate how they would've accomplished an illegal feat "if they did it") believe that the information stolen will be used to phish additional information from Monster.com subscribers (the USAJobs web site is powered by Monster--the inspiration for our blue friend in the picture). So, if you've applied for a federal job recently using USAJobs, it might be wise to use caution when corresponding with Monster by e-mail or web. Office of Personnel Management is sending letters to subscribers to alert them of possible counterfeit e-mails. Individuals who receive a suspicious e-mail regarding a federal job search should forward the e-mail to mayday@fedjobs.gov.

The TSA is supposed to protect us from terror in the skies, but they've recently given night-sweats to 100,000 employees whose personal data -- including names, bank routing data and Social Security Numbers -- have gone missing along with the external hard drive they were stored on. What's worse, among those 100k employees are the elite team of Air Marshals, the armed and mysterious force who may or may not be on any US flight you board.

The Washington Post offers a tongue lashing editorial on the subject, and writes, "This is getting ridiculous. When it comes to safeguarding private information from the growing identity theft industry, Uncle Sam's track record is horrendous."

The TSA is unsure if the drive is simply lost or whether it's fallen into the hands of someone with ill intent. The message remains clear however; if you're storing important data, safeguard it physically, as well as digitally or you may face the same fate.

Bad news for everyone out there pretending to be the IRS online: party's over. The hammer is coming down. Gone are the carefree days when every man, woman, and child could run wild through cyberspace pretending to be Treasury Department without fear of repercussion. 'Wait', you ask. 'Wasn't this illegal before?' Apparently not illegal enough, since the House of Representatives voted 407-7 in favor of expanding the the prohibition against using the Treasury names and symbols online.

Technically speaking, this has always been prohibited by federal law, but the penalties weren't stiff enough to deter this type of activity. This new bill would cause anyone caught to be subject to up to $25,000 in civil penalties, as well as a year in jail. A number of websites would be affected by this new bill, most notable -- and highly contested -- would be IRS.com. The domain, owned by InterSearch Group, Inc, claims itself as the "#1 Independent Tax Source on the net." Some politicians claim that IRS.com was "built to deceive" despite the fact that on the top and bottom of every page there is a disclaimer that clearly states that the site is not the Internal Revenue Service. Maybe the government is just upset that InterSearch is stealing their traffic.

On a completely unrelated note, another section of the bill states that if the IRS discovers that an individuals identity might have been stolen, it has to notify that person "as soon as practicable." The use of the word "practicable" tells us two things: 1) Letting people know that they might be a victim of identity theft is not terrible high on the government's priority list, and more importantly, 2) whoever wrote this bill is incredibly pretentious.

No this is not a post on the hot TV show Heroes but is about a FREE site that allows you to search for your Social Security Number or credit card number in their database they build from scouring the web. It is what it sounds like, no fancy Ajaxy Web 2.0 junk, just enter your numbers and click the button, get the results. I can't tell you what the information looks like if it finds your information, because mine was not found.

So where did they get their data from? Well from the FAQ on their site, here is their response. "The information that powers StolenID Search is found online, by looking in places where fraudsters typically trade or store this kind of information. All information behind StolenID search is publicly available, but not in places where search engines such as Yahoo and Google would look. TrustedID abides by all state and federal laws in the collection and provision of this compromised information. The information behind StolenID Search comes from collection efforts led by TrustedID directly and also from other reputable companies that assist us in finding this information on our behalf. One of those companies is Cyvellience."

Of course after your search they offer up information about subscribing to their Monitoring product offering. But it is not that should detract you from searching for your information.