uHealth Insurer CareFirst Latest Hack Victimr

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• More than 1.1 million current and former members of CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield are among the latest victims of a cyberattack, the health insurer confirmed this week.

  Reuters reports that CareFirst, which offers insurance in several areas of the East Coast, suffered a data breach nearly a year ago.

  The company says the June 2014 hack was only recently discovered while CareFirst was undergoing a security refresh initiated after a string of high-profile breaches at other insurance providers.

  The cyberattackers reportedly accessed one of the insurer’s databases, potentially acquiring user names for CareFirst’s website, names, birth dates, email addresses and member identification numbers.

  In addition to actual CareFirst members, the breached database may include information about non-members who simply access the insurer’s websites and online services.

  For now, CareFirst says it has blocked member access to those accounts and requested that all members create new user names and passwords.

  CareFirst’s data hack is just the latest in a series of health insurer breaches. Back in March, Pacific Northwest-based Premera Blue Cross announced that information for 11 million consumers was compromised during an attack.

  Before that, in February, Anthem – the owner of BlueCross and BlueShield – suffered a massive breach that affected more than 78 million consumers.

  CareFirst says cyberattack stole data of 1.1 mln users in U.S. [Reuters]

  
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by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

uGuy Upset Over Overbooked US Airways Flight Strips Naked In Charlotte Airportr

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  (edward.valio)

  There are many things you can do when a flight is overbooked, but a lot of those things won’t get you on an airplane. That includes stripping down to your birthday suit in the airport while yelling at people, like witnesses say one man did after trying unsuccessfully to get aboard a US Airways flight at Charlotte Douglas International Airport to Jamaica yesterday.

  One witness told WBTV.com says she saw people running and others standing around snickering, so she asked an airport employee what was going on and was told there was a guy angry over the flight to Jamaica. She says he sounded very angry and was yelling.

  “He had his clothes on, at that point, and then he started standing there with his arms crossed and hollering at the lady at the desk,” she told WBTV. “He stood there for a moment and then started taking off his clothes. I ain’t never seen nothing [like that] in my life.”

  The yelling stopped when he started disrobing, she says, while the crowd started to back away from him and security swooped in.

  “And that’s when I got out my phone and started taking pictures,” she added like a true 21st century American.

  All told, she says he was au naturale in the concourse for about an hour.

  Police confirmed to the station that they responded to a “disturbance call where a male was suffering from a medical issue.”

  He was taken by a medic for treatment and won’t be facing charges, the police added.

  Witness: Man angry about overbooked flight strips naked in airport [WBTV.com]

  
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by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

uEBay Rolling Out Its Own Prime-Like Service… In Germanyr

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  (Erik Gunther)

  Just weeks after rumors surfaced that Walmart was working on its own Amazon Prime-esque service, eBay is jumping into the game — except its subscription service is only available across that big Atlantic pond – for now.

  The Wall Street Journal reports that eBay is currently testing a Prime-like service called eBay+ in certain areas of Germany.

  EBay+ reportedly encompasses much of the same things Amazon Prime offers such as free shipping and returns and fast delivery. The biggest difference – for now – appears to be in price.

  Local German news organizations put the annual cost of eBay+ around $17 to $22 (or €15 to €20).

  An eBay spokesperson tells the WSJ that the program promises better product placement for sellers’ merchandise, discounts on selling fees and a subsidy to help offset the cost of shipping and returns.

  To be included on the eBay+ merchandising side of things, sellers are required to ship orders on the day the transaction is made and offer free returns within one month.

  A spokesperson said that more information would be available about the service later this year, when the company is expected to roll it out to more areas of Germany. There’s no word on when or if the service will launch in the U.S.

  EBay’s new service comes less than two weeks after it was reported that Walmart was preparing to launch its own subscription quick-ship service, currently code-named “Tahoe.”

  eBay Preps Amazon Prime Competitor [The Wall Street Journal]

  
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by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

uInvestigation Found 103 Card Skimmers In Florida Gas Stationsr

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  (u2acro)

  If you’re still using your debit card and PIN at self-pay gas pumps, here’s a reminder of why that isn’t such a good idea. Florida’s Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services sent inspectors out to look for card skimmers in gas pumps all over the state. They found more than 103 of the devices.

  That’s only about 1.5% of the 7,571 pumps that they checked, sure, but it’s 103 more electronic devices than law enforcement, consumers, and gas station owners want stealing the card numbers and often the PINs of their customers.

  As a consumer, you can avoid having a skimmer scammer drain your bank account by using a credit card or processing your debit card as a credit card at the pump, and by checking the pump itself to see whether any security seals have been broken or removed. This isn’t a foolproof method, since some gas stations still struggle with the concept, but it does help.

  If you live in or have traveled to Florida recently, you can check out the full list of pumps where skimmers were found during this investigation.

  State finds 103 credit-card skimmers in 3-month inspection of gas pumps [Orlando Sentinel]

  
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by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

uIvory Shrinks Body Wash Bottle, Switches Out Fragrancer

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• Elizabeth has been a loyal user of Ivory’s Clean & Simple body wash for a long time, and she got an unpleasant surprise the last time she picked one up at the store. The package had been redesigned: no big problem there. She noticed, though, that the redesign washed away 3 ounces out of the 24-ounce bottle.

  She made an even worse discovery when using the new bottle in the shower for the first time: it didn’t smell right. “Changing the formula and scent with no warning on the packaging?” she writes. “That’s bull! I have a fragrance allergy and could tolerate the last one, as it was very lightly scented. This one is straight up old lady perfume now.” Not just perfume, old lady perfume!

  Here are side-by-side comparisons of the old and new bottles.

  

  

  
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by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

uRadioShack Will Not Be Selling Your Phone Number To New Ownersr

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  (Matthew Hunt)

  If you’re part of the 117 million or so names on RadioShack’s mailing list, we have good and bad news for you. Today, the Shack and various states’ attorneys general came to an agreement about what customer data may be sold to RadioShack’s new owners, and under what circumstances. Everyone has agreed that the Shack won’t be handing over customer phone numbers, but they also will be giving people on the mailing list only a week to opt out.

  RadioShack, notorious collector of customer phone numbers, won’t be able to transfer those phone numbers to the new owners under this agreement.

  If you’re on the e-mail list, you’ll be able to opt out at any time before the data is formally handed over (we’re not sure how, and will let you know when we find out.) The new owners will send out a “clear and conspicuous notification” saying where they got your e-mail address from and offering the opportunity to take yourself off that list.

  If the Shack doesn’t have your current e-mail address but has your postal address, they’ll send a mailing out offering the opportunity to opt out within 30 days. There will be a 1-800 number available to do so.

  If your e-mail address hasn’t been “active” in the last two years–that’s to say that you haven’t shopped at RadioShack or signed up for anything in the last two years–your data will not be transferred over to the new owners. If any mailings are returned as “undeliverable,” the new owners of RadioShack are supposed to remove that person’s information from the database, and their information will be “destroyed in accordance with standard industry practice.”

  The new owners have also agreed that the previous RadioShack privacy policy applies to people on the mailing lists, and that any “material” changes to the policy will be opt-in only. If they wanted to sell the mailing list to other marketers, for example, they would need customers to agree to the new policy.

  
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by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

uTakata Beefing Up Replacement Airbag Production, Againr

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  (Listener42)

  Just as federal regulators caution that it could take years before the nearly 34 million recalled vehicles equipped with Takata airbags that can spew shrapnel upon deployment are replaced, the Japanese auto parts maker says it expects to speed up its output of replacement parts by year’s end.

  Takata plans to make one million replacement inflators per month by September, Reuters reports. The increase represents just 100,000 more parts than the company previously expected to be making by that time.

  The parts supplier had announced back in March that it would work to double its current replacement production from 450,000 to 900,000 parts per month by September.

  A spokesperson for Takata says the company has produced 3.8 million replacement kits since manufacturers began recalling vehicles with the potentially deadly airbags last year.

  But 3.8 million is just a drop in the bucket when considering the nearly 34 million vehicles in the U.S. and millions more worldwide awaiting new airbag inflators.

  As Takata has attempted to increase the availability of replacement kits by boosting production and working with other suppliers, some car manufacturers have sought to take matters into their own hands, Reuters reports.

  General Motors, for example, said last year that it would deal with a shortage in replacement parts by asking Takata to share inflator information with rival suppliers Autoliv and TRW.

  A spokesperson for the automaker says there hasn’t been much progress on a deal but that additional testing is currently underway.

  As for rival suppliers, Autoliv says it has already boosted production capacity and expects to produce 25 million airbag inflators for delivery in 2015 and 2016.

  A company spokesperson says they are currently working to provide replacement parts for Honda, which was previously the largest customer for Takata.

  Reuters reports that smaller Japanese-based parts maker Daicel has plans to build a second U.S. plant to specifically produce alternative airbag inflators for Takata customers. The company is reportedly providing some parts for Honda and Toyota.

  UPDATE 2-Takata to boost production of replacement air bag inflators [Reuters]

  
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by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist