Bank of New York oops: 4 million identities compromised

If you're a customer of Bank of New York Mellon, your personal data may have been compromised and you might be at greater risk of identity theft. In February, the bank lost a box of backup tapes that contained data on 4 million customers.

And now, months later, they're getting around to telling you. The bank started informing customers about six weeks ago. But that's not very prompt to me! At the very least, the lost data includes Social Security numbers and names and addresses. At the worst, it also includes account numbers and financial details.

Bank of New York is offering those affected "free" credit monitoring service for a year. Yahoo! If someone opens a credit account in your name and using the details supplied by Bank of New York, you will be notified!!! Good luck cleaning up that mess.