We do business with companies expecting that they've hired honest employees to handle our data, so one form of identity theft that is difficult to defend against is the "insider" or employee who steals and either uses or resells customer data. Even when companies go to great lengths to hire people they think are honest, it's hard to catch when the person is a first time thief or has covered his tracks well enough that he hasn't been caught in the past.
The recent breach at Countrywide Financial Corp. involved an insider stealing and reselling data of about 2 million loan applicants. The breach occurred over a two-year period when Rene Rebollo, Jr., who worked for Full Spectrum Lending, a division of Countrywide, and an accomplice sold personal and account information of Countrywide customers. The information was allegedly sold to other mortgage companies to make pitches.
It is unknown if any of the information has been used for identity theft at this point. Rebollo was arrested and charged with unauthorized access to a financial institution's computers.
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