Identity Resolution Daily

[Post from Infoglide] Start Early on Data Quality

“Identity resolution plays a vital role in data quality applications. Applying identity resolution on the front-end can ensure that error-filled and fraudulent identity information is detected and kept from entering production systems.”

Nashua Telegraph: Owners take on workers at issue

“In addition, the business avoided more than $368,000 in worker’s compensation insurance premiums by under-reporting the number of workers they had hired, prosecutors claim.”

Kiplinger Business Resource Center: Government to Take over Screening from Airlines

“Under a program dubbed Secure Flight, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) will assume responsibility for checking passengers against a watch list of known and suspected terrorists. Currently, that job is performed by the airlines, and each one has its own process.”

CSO Security Leadership: Opposing Forces in a Down Market

“In a tightening economy, history has proven that the risks faced by businesses increase significantly. When times begin to get tough for individuals, many will turn to crime to abate their diminishing financial situations.”

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“A problem well stated is a problem half solved.”
Charles F. Kettering (1876 - 1958)

Have you been wondering how something as big as the sub-prime mortgage fiasco could have not been forecast well before it happened? Ellen Pearlman pondered this while writing in CIOZone about the thoughts of Thomas Redman in his recent book on data quality. Interestingly, Redman wrote that the mortgage crisis “illustrates perfectly how bad or missing data contribute to issues of international importance and the costs and uncertainties that result”, and he wrote it before this past week’s federal intervention.

The data quality predicament in the mortgage arena is one example of a much more ubiquitous problem. Data doubles every 12-18 months, and that includes bad data. Redman estimates that bad data costs as much as 10-20% of revenue. Doesn’t that mean that the earlier in the data life cycle we get a handle on the data quality problem, the lesser the financial impact?

So says Alena Semeshko in a post on ZDNet UK. “I keep wondering how come data quality check still exists as a procedure performed once in a while, rather than as a part of the front-end process? How come most companies start worrying about the quality of your data only when it’s already dirty and in use?”

Identity resolution plays a vital role in data quality applications. Applying identity resolution on the front-end can ensure that error-filled and fraudulent identity information is detected and kept from entering production systems.

How does it work? Take an example of a web application for applicants or new customers. After an online form is completed, the individual’s identity attributes (name, address, etc.) are compared in real-time to a list of known fraudsters to screen out bad guys. The identity info is also similarity searched to discover an already existing master record for that person, and the two can be matched and resolved to one before the data even enters the system.

Redman’s “rule of 10” states that “it costs ten times as much to complete a unit of work when the input data are defective (late, incorrect, missing, etc.) as it does when the input data are perfect.” With bad data just as with software bugs, the earlier they’re found, the more money is saved.

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By the Infoglide Team

CIOZone: What To Do About Bad Data

“The amount of data is doubling every 12 to 18 months—but much of it is inaccurate, incomplete or otherwise flawed. And bad data costs organizations between 10 to 20 percent of revenue. But there are steps CIOs can take to fix the data problem.”

ZDNet: Data Quality - Upstream or Downstream?

“How come most companies start worrying about the quality of your data only when it’s already dirty and in use? How come it doesn’t occur to them that the quality of data needs to be thought through before it’s actually captured? Even at the early stages of data capturing, data quality already plays an important role in the future of the company.”

Star-Ledger: eBay makes bid to oppose limits on online sales

“The big-box retail chains say they are concerned eBay and similar online sales sites offer professional shoplifters a largely anonymous venue for e-fencing their stolen goods. But eBay says brick-and-mortar retailers are using the argument as a ploy to try and stifle competition from online sellers. Coming as it does at the threshold of the holiday shopping season, there is a lot at stake for both sides in this Goliath vs. Goliath battle for the hearts and wallets of American consumers.”

CNW Group: Protecting lottery customers

“Over the past 12 months, OLG has taken significant action toward protecting lottery customers from theft and fraud.”

Your Industry News: Stopgap Bill Includes $101B For DOD Procurement

“The $630 billion-plus stopgap spending bill signed into law by President Bush includes $487.7 billion to fund the Defense Department and more than $40 billion to fund the Homeland Security Department through the end of fiscal 2009.”

Vancouver Sun: The war on retail crime

“Technology is becoming sophisticated enough to recognize when conventional patterns are broken, such as a door that is only entered by employees coming from a certain direction.”

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[Post from Infoglide] See You at the MDM Summit?

“Big Master Data Management (MDM) issues are swirling around these days, not the least of which is the role of identity resolution. We’ve posted multiple times about MDM, customer data integration (CDI), data quality (DQ), and related topics. People sometimes are unsure about the relationship between identity resolution and these areas. Most of the time, they are complementary. Identity resolution can play a critical and unique role in each case.”

TDWI: Master Data Management is Inevitable… So Get Ready

“Eventually master data management will extend beyond customer and product data into broad enterprise use. As this trend wends its way, the challenge for data professionals is to develop a strategy that addresses both isolated pockets of MDM today (for customer and product data) and broader enterprise use tomorrow (as MDM is applied to employee, patient, claim, supplier, and other business entities).”

b-eye.com - Business Intelligence Network - Blog: James Taylor: First Steps To and Beyond Operational Business Intelligence

“This article outlines some steps organizations can take as they move from ‘traditional’ business intelligence (BI) toward operational business intelligence and enterprise decision management.”

The Bunker Blog: Economic Pressures Affect Retailers In Many Ways

“As retailers, under pressure to sell more, relax their security measures on high ticket (high risk) product, the pressure will be on loss prevention professionals to double, even triple, their efforts to protect this merchandise, and therefore the company’s profits.”

Hub Solution Designs: Experts and Analysts Panel Discussion at MDM Summit

“I’m going to be attending the upcoming MDM Summit in New York on Sunday, 10/19/08 through Tuesday, 10/21/08.I’ll be on an ‘Experts and Analysts Panel’, moderated by Jim Ericson, Editorial Director of DM Review, along with Jill Dyché, Partner & Co-Founder of Baseline Consulting and Aaron Zornes, Chief Research Officer of The MDM Institute.”

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By Ram Anantha, Infoglide Director of Product Management

Big Master Data Management (MDM) issues are swirling around these days, not the least of which is the role of identity resolution. We’ve posted multiple times about MDM, customer data integration (CDI), data quality (DQ), and related topics. People sometimes are unsure about the relationship between identity resolution and these areas. Most of the time, they are complementary. Identity resolution can play a critical and unique role in each case.

Given that background, we’re looking forward to attending the MDM Summit Fall 2008 that starts October 19 in the Big Apple and is put together by Aaron Zornes of the MDM Institute. We suggest that you join us in checking out presentations, panels, and demos from forward-thinking companies like DataDelta, DataFlux, and NominoData. Also, look for events involving thought leaders like Aaron, Jill Dyché of Baseline Consulting, David Loshin of Knowledge Integrity, and Dan Power of Hub Solution Designs.

As a reader of this blog, you especially don’t want to miss the expert panel on “Trends in Identity Resolution for MDM” with Ed Allburn of DataDelta and Al Macdonald of NominoData. It’s Tuesday, October 21 at 1:45pm.

Hope to see you there!

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By the Infoglide Team

Lottery Scam: Lottery Scam Watch - Keep Track of Your Tickets

“The ticket was bought in May. When the ticket holder came to the store for verification, the clerk allegedly told him he was mistaken and kept the ticket. A police report contends that Melissa Trahan, 27, sent the winning slip to her mother in Mississippi. That woman, Gwen Landry, drove to the state capital, Baton Rouge, and cashed it in for the $800,000.”

Hub Solution Designs: Customer Data Quality

“Sometimes, attempts are made to programmatically improve data quality within a customer record, but because of tight deadlines, data quality across the file is usually not given serious attention.”

CT.gov: Waterford Town Employee Charged with Workers’ Compensation Fraud

“The warrant alleges that Mr. Hall ‘intentionally misrepresented his claimed injury and intentionally failed to disclose his employment and wage earnings while collecting disability benefits.’”

Homeland Security Watch: Senate Introduces its First DHS Authorization Bill

“The Senate bill elevates the assistant secretary for policy to the position of Under Secretary for Policy, to ensure policy coordination across the Department, it strengthens the authorities of the Office of International Affairs at DHS, and it authorizes the National Cyber Security Center, along with a private sector board to advise the Secretary on cyber security policy.”

Workers Compensation: California Fines Auto Body Shops Without Workers’ Comp Insurance

“Failure to carry workers’ compensation insurance is fraud, plain and simple. This is a form of workers’ compensation fraud – not having the appropriate coverage – is more common than you might think.”

Central Coast News: Santa Cruz police crack large commercial burglary case at Safeway

“Safeway loss prevention officers notified Santa Cruz police on Sept. 9 that the company’s store on Morrissey Boulevard had lost a significant amount of merchandise to theft and store managers suspected that an employee, Emanuel Anthony Ruiz, 30, was stealing merchandise. He allegedly took cosmetics, shoes, clothing and over-the-counter pharmaceutical items, including medications, from the store, police reported. Ruiz, with the help of the three others arrested, was then selling the items online, police said.”

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[Post from Infoglide] California Lottery Fraud

“[N]ow state and provincial authorities are shifting resources to address another rapidly growing problem: lottery fraud committed by retailers. The most highly-publicized case of retailer lottery fraud in recent years occurred in Ontario but cases reported by the California Lottery Commission, perhaps the largest lottery in the U.S., indicate that they have a rapidly growing problem as well.”

Information & Data Quality Conference 2008 Blog: IAIDQ Announces Plans for Certified Information Quality Professional certification

“The IDQ 2008 conference is over (but I’ve a tonne of posts to upload tomorrow sketched out on my laptop). However, one piece of news was announced at this week’s conference which too important to hold until the airport departure lounge….”

Telegraph.co.uk: Standard Life in call for HBOS insider trading probe

“Details of the takeover talks between Lloyds and HBOS were announced by BBC business editor Robert Peston on Wednesday morning at 9am, sending shares soaring from their low of 88p to 215p in an hour. The deal was not formally announced until four hours later. However, in two trades at 8:57am and 8:58pm, two buyers alone acquired more than 20m HBOS shares at 96p. In total, around 160m shares changed hands in the moments before the takeover was announced, making a paper profit of nearly £190m for the traders and leading to suspicion of a leak.”

b-eye.com - Business Intelligence Network - Blog: David Loshin: IDQ 2008 - Initial Observations

“As I am slowly emerging from the cocoon imposed by the needs of getting my new book on Master Data Management out the door, I am able to get back to everyday life, including two of my favorite activities (together!!) - conference attendance and blogging. Anyway, I am currently in San Antonio attending the 2008 Information and Data Quality conference.”

Data Governance and Data Quality Insider: Are There Business Advantages to Poor Data Management?

“However, this got me thinking. Could the inability for the stores to maintain more that 18 months of records actually be a business advantage? How many customers lose the paperwork, or even forget about their road hazard policies and just pay the replacement price? How much additional revenue was this shortcoming actually generating each year?”

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By Robert Barker, Infoglide Senior Vice President & Chief Marketing Officer

When I say “lottery fraud” you probably think of the email scam where an unsolicited message from overseas claims you’ve won a large lottery and asks you to send them money, identity information, or both in order to get a big payoff. Many states (e.g., Texas) and provinces have web pages warning consumers about these rip-offs.

Public education has reduced the effectiveness of this particular swindle. And now state and provincial authorities are shifting resources to address another rapidly growing problem: lottery fraud committed by retailers. The most highly-publicized case of retailer lottery fraud in recent years occurred in Ontario, but cases reported by the California Lottery Commission, perhaps the largest lottery in the U.S., indicate that they have a rapidly growing problem as well.

In July, the California Lottery Commission announced their recent success in using undercover work to catch a retailer in Santa Clara County who was defrauding lottery customers. In another case in San Diego, a retailer was sentenced for paying lottery ticket holders less than they actually won and then redeeming the tickets himself for full value.

The cases being caught and publicized likely represent the tip of the proverbial iceberg. While using undercover agents is effective, it’s a very expensive and time-consuming way to catch fraudsters. More precisely, it’s not a very scalable solution because the number of instances of fraud caught is limited by the number of agents deployed.

A more scalable approach to this problem is deploying identity resolution software to constantly monitor and detect hidden connections among the players in the system, for example non-obvious ties between retailer owners/employees and lottery winners. Retailers who game the system change details about their identities to avoid being found out. That may fool conventional software systems, but identity resolution easily catches them, and there’s a bonus – the same software that catches scam artists can match lottery winners with lists of people identified by the state for delinquent taxes, past-due child support, and similar indebtedness that should be collected before paying out lottery winnings.

Lottery players simply will not play if they can’t trust the lottery system. And if they don’t play, revenues will inevitably decline. While sting operations can help restore confidence in the system, they represent an expensive, manpower-intensive, hit-or-miss approach to the retailer fraud problem. Software is the only efficient and cost-effective solution to the retailer fraud problem in lottery systems.

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By the Infoglide Team

info4security: The Cybercrime Arms Race

“Criminal activity has always mirrored legitimate business. The image of a Mafia accountant may be the first to spring to mind. However, it’s worth noting that cybercrime is not currently organised into one or more worldwide Mafia-like organizations with a Dr No figure at the helm. Rather, it’s an interdependent world based on groups who have complementary functionality.”

Portfolio.com: Insider Trading Suspects Settle Up

“In what the S.E.C. called the ‘Wall Street Serial Insider Trading Ring,’ 14 defendants, in two different schemes, traded repeatedly on non-public information in exchange for cash kickbacks, according to the complaint. Overall, they allegedly made at least $15 million in illegal profits.”

SecurityFocus: Two-thirds of firms hit by cybercrime

“More than 7,800 companies responded to the survey (pdf), which classified cybercrime into cyber attacks, cyber theft, and other incidents.”

Information Week: Congress Extends Cybercrime Laws

“The U.S. House of Representatives approved the bill — H.R. 5938 — Monday. The amendment — part of Senate bill S. 2168 — expands the ability of the federal government to prosecute identity theft crimes and allows victims to obtain restitution for the time and money they spend trying to restore their credit. The legislation, which must be signed by President George W. Bush, allows a fine and up to five years imprisonment for spyware.”

NRF LPInformation: Update on ORC Hearing, September 22 (Monday) at 4pm

“The House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security is scheduled to address H.R. 6713, the ‘E-fencing Enforcement Act of 2008′, H.R. 6491, the ‘Organized Retail Crime Act of 2008′ and S. 3434, the ‘Combating Organized Retail Crime Act of 2008′.”

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By the Infoglide Team

[Post from Infoglide] Sexual Predators: Can Technology Be Turned Against Them?

“At the recent International Conference on Cybercrime Forensics Education and Training in Canterbury UK, international experts discussed the challenges involved in keeping up with increasingly sophisticated criminals who target children on the internet. They covered a wide array of subjects that illustrated the complex ways that computer systems are exposed, including topics like mobile phone forensic investigation, the social effects of Spam, digital intrusion forensics, implications and methodology of facial ID training, and virtual reality police training.”

San Diego 6: Retailer Sentenced For Redeeming Lottery Tickets for Less Than Real Value

“Saeed Zori, 62, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to attempted grand theft. He was one of four retailers caught up in a law enforcement sting targeting lottery fraud.”

Evolution of Security: Bar-Coded Boarding Passes – Secure, Mobile, and On The Way

“These mobile boarding passes have digital signatures embedded in the barcodes. Officers who do the document checking are equipped with handheld barcode scanners (generously on loan from our partners) and can confirm the authenticity of the boarding pass instantly. This isn’t rocket science – the (2010 NL East Champion) Nationals use the same process at their new ballpark – and it’s working really well for both TSA and passengers.”

Andy on Enterprise Software: Burning Platform

“Companies struggle to get good management information (for example about levels of counterparty risk for trading organisations such as investment banks) due to inconsistent master data across multiple systems. When times are booming this may be glossed over, but with prestigious companies going to the wall on a daily basis, being certain of the information that you rely on gets a higher priority.”

Homeland Security Watch: Roadmap for Homeland Security Enterprise Released

“A new analysis and set of recommendations entitled Homeland Security 3.0 rolled out yesterday at the National Press Club.”

International Security Info Watch: Congressional hearing to address organized retail crime

“On Sept. 22, 2008, at 4 p.m., at 2141 Rayburn House, Congressman Bobby Scott (D-Va.) will be holding a hearing on the topic of organized retail crime. Scott is chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security. . . . Organized retail crime (ORC), sometimes also called organized retail theft, typically involves crime rings that steal on demand. Those crime rings work as groups for store theft, and a typical ORC ring will steal mass quantities of merchandise with plans to resell that merchandise to unwitting individuals and often independent retailers.”

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