Identity Resolution Daily

[Post from Infoglide] Identity Resolution Daily: Proud of Our Heritage

“When we examine our company’s roots, we see that our heritage is finding bad guys. That’s what David Wheeler set out to do when he saw that detectives had a critical need for better tools for criminal investigations. That is what we are beginning to do in the great State of Washington to identify businesses trying to cheat on their workers’ compensation premiums. From desktops to mainframes and everything in between, our roots have spread and have helped keep us stable as the winds of change have buffeted us about.”

Miami Herald: Workers’ compensation investigator accused of fraud

“In September, according to an arrest warrant, Vega visited Pipe Designs Inc., 7710 NW 72nd Ave., in Miami-Dade. The company did not have any workers’ compensation coverage, Vega found. Vega told owner Ronald Triana that he would lower the hefty penalty — between $27,000 and $30,000 — if Triana gave him a $2,500 money order with the payee information blank, according to the warrant.”

onestopclick: MDM ‘driving software development’

“Studies carried out by IT industry analyst Gartner indicate the necessity for firms to increase the effectiveness of their database development, while reducing costs and meeting compliance requirements, is driving the take-up of MDM technologies.”

Computing SA: IT downturn: every cloud has a silver lining

“Open source data integration, data quality, and extraction, transformation and loading (ETL) applications will flourish in these conditions because they are less costly to obtain, widely supported and constantly updated.”

opodo: Travellers reminded of Esta regulations

“Jim Forster, British Airways’ government and industry affairs manager, said: ‘The US is our biggest overseas market and we have been working hard to advise our visa waiver customers that they must apply to the Department of Homeland Security well in advance of travel.’”

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By Mike Shultz, Infoglide Software CEO

When we examine our company’s roots, we see that our heritage is finding bad guys. That’s what David Wheeler set out to do when he saw that detectives had a critical need for better tools for criminal investigations. That is what we are beginning to do in the great State of Washington to identify businesses trying to cheat on their workers’ compensation premiums. From desktops to mainframes and everything in between, our roots have spread and have helped keep us stable as the winds of change have buffeted us about.

It is with a touch of sadness that our company looks back to a time when the whole nation was shaken by an event that reminded us that the bad guys are still very much out there. Like everyone who was moved by the loss of so many and so much, we wanted to do something to help. So it is with pride that we recently witnessed a major milestone signifying the final stage in the development of Secure Flight, the nation’s new system to help prevent the events of 9-11 from ever happening again.

We were gratified to hear TSA Administrator Kip Hawley recently announce, “Secure Flight will improve security by maintaining the confidentiality of the government’s watch list information while fully protecting passengers’ privacy and civil liberties.” We could not help but feel proud knowing we have been a key part of this important program since its very beginning.

Our roots run deep, and though we remain small, we remain strong and sturdy. We don’t know what the future holds, but we are certain that as long as there are bad guys out there, we will try to be there to help. For us, you see, it’s more than just a business.

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By the Infoglide Team

Risk&Insurance: Public, private sectors muscling up for fight against comp fraud

“Mention workers’ compensation fraud and images of videographers lurking in the bushes to catch some schemer in the act of peeling off his neck brace for a game of tennis might spring to mind. That scenario outlines what is commonly known as claimant fraud.”

City Journal: How to Stop Medicaid Fraud

“For more than a decade, Medicaid has been the fastest-growing item on many state budgets. Unfortunately, state and federal efforts to uncover and stamp out the astonishing amount of fraud in the program (whose costs the states split with Washington) have lagged. Experts estimate that abuses of Medicaid eat up at least 10 percent of the program’s total cost nationwide—a waste of $30 billion a year.”

DMReview: Why Master Data Management Is Such a Challenge?

“MDM will never be easy. No amount of technology will make it a turnkey operation. There is no single approach that will work for all - or even for most. By nature, MDM needs to be highly customized to the needs of your organization.”

SmartBrief: DHS to phase in Secure Flight program in early 2009

“As the program is phased in early next year, airlines will be required to collect additional information about their passengers — including gender and birth date — while DHS, rather than the airlines, will be responsible for matching the data against terrorist watch lists.”

Daily Insurer: California Man Nabbed in Work Comp Scheme

“Ventura County District Attorney Gregory Totten announced that Norman Anderson (DOB 10/10/46), of Ventura, was sentenced to serve two years in the California Department of Corrections following his felony conviction of workers’ compensation fraud. Anderson was also ordered to pay $97,425 in restitution to the victim, Signal Mutual Indemnity Association.”

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By John Talburt, Professor of Information Science and Director of the Laboratory for Advanced Research in Entity Resolution and Information Quality (ERIQ) at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock

I have always liked the definition of Entity Resolution put forward by the Infolab at Stanford University  - “locating and merging records that refer to the same real-world entities”.  The reason is that it succinctly describes the two primary facets of entity resolution, namely locating and merging.  If you look at the literature in the area of entity and identity resolution, you generally find that the focus is on one, but not the other.  Until recently, commercial entity resolution has focused almost entirely on the merge side, mainly because the records being processed were coming from databases, flat files, or other structured sources.  In a structured source, the entity attributes, and consequently the identity attributes, are given explicitly.  In this case, most of the work centers on the process of record linking, i.e. assigning a common identifier to records referring to the same entity.  Unfortunately all too many of these record linking processes subscribe to the “matching myth,” the false assumption that two records represent the same entity if and only if their identifying attributes match, but more about that in another article.

However, now I am seeing increasing attention on the locating side of entity resolution.  Locating is required when information is presented in an unstructured format, such as text documents or images. In this case, the entity references must first be located (identified) and extracted in the source before the merging process can take place.  Once considered the purview of academics, the art of “feature extraction” has gone mainstream as organizations realize that they often possess more information in unstructured format than in structured files.  Recent books like Tapping into Unstructured Data by Inmon and Nesavich, and a number of new commercial software packages for processing unstructured data are evidence of this emerging trend.  Interest by the US intelligence community in developing techniques for efficient, large-scale entity extraction has also motivated new research and interest in this area.  Like so many areas of information technology, the advent of low-cost, high-performance computing has opened the door to many new approaches to entity extraction and identification that were not practical before.  Based on some of the work I have seen, I believe we are rapidly approaching a point where the expression “machine readable” will no longer mean just binary encoding, but reading and understanding in a human sense.

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By the Infoglide Team

Have the courage to say no. Have the courage to face the truth. Do the right thing because it is right. These are the magic keys to living your life with integrity.                                                  – W. Clement Stone

We recently shared a link to an article describing how trucking companies in California illegally mislabeled their drivers as “independent contractors” in order to keep from paying workers’ compensation insurance. The law clearly defines the drivers as “employees” since the companies own the trucks and define everything the drivers do.

Because identity resolution software is often used to detect fraudulent behavior, we continually hear of instances like this one where people try to cut corners or take unfair advantage or flat out cheat other people and companies in ways that often involve obscuring identity information. People try to game software systems and cheat in areas like workers’ compensation, online commerce, lotteries, retail, airlines, insurance, social networking, and others. (You can read more on our web site and in previous blog posts here.)

Almost all of us know the right way and the wrong way to do things. Sadly, we sometimes choose to ignore that inner voice when it benefits us, even though it may harm someone else. OK, so we can’t fix the world with a blog post, but it’s hard not to speculate what the world might be like if we all tried to do the right thing all the time.

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By the Infoglide Team

Long Beach Press-Telegram: 3 more truck firms named in port probe

“In the latest cases, the companies were able to avoid paying overtime, payroll taxes, health insurance and workers’ compensation by labeling their drivers ‘independent contractors’ — a label applied to some 90 percent of truckers in the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles.”

All Things Data: Master Data Management and the Mid-Market Need

“Basically, the MDM Summit in New York confirmed that the process to implement a Master Data Management initiative is generally the same regardless of whether the organization is a Mid-Market company or a larger enterprise.”

SmartBrief: Homeland Security releases more details on Secure Flight program

“The Department of Homeland Security estimates 99% of passengers will breeze through security next year when federal officials take over the job of screening names provided by the airlines.”

Confessions of a database geek: Updates to the Information Quality Aggregator

“It’s great to see more activity in the data quality arena. Dylan Jones started the Data Quality Pro site, and dropped me a note with some additional blogs to consider. A couple look pretty good!”

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By the Infoglide Team

PR-USA.NET: Gartner Reveals Nine Fatal Flaws in Business Intelligence Implementations

“Data quality issues are almost ubiquitous and the impact on BI is significant — people won’t use BI applications that are founded on irrelevant, incomplete or questionable data. To avoid this, firms should establish a process or set of automated controls to identify data quality issues in incoming data and block low-quality data from entering the data warehouse or BI platform.”

Edmonton Journal: ‘Misplaced generosity’ led to fraud

“A former Workers’ Compensation Board case manager who received tens of thousands of dollars in kickbacks is a deeply troubled woman whose “misplaced generosity” led her to overpay claimants more than $1 million, according to a defence report submitted at her sentencing hearing.”

Secrecy News: Intelligence Policy Would Reward Information Sharing

“‘We have taken a critical step toward ensuring that information sharing becomes ingrained in the way the federal government operates,’ said Amb. Thomas McNamara, the ODNI Information Security Environment program manager, in an October 6 news release.”

Retail Technology Blog: Retail theft skyrockets

“The 20th annual retail theft survey found 24 retailers, with more than 19,000 stores, apprehended a record 708,962 shoplifters and dishonest employees in 2007 and recovered more than $150 million in stolen property.”

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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] Managing Unstructured Data

“In an earlier article, Governing Unstructured Data, I discussed some of the challenges in managing and securing unstructured data in a large enterprise. Given that unstructured data accounts for more than 80% of all business data, this is a big issue.”

b-eye.com - Business Intelligence Network - Blog: James Taylor: What if someone with a lower pay grade were to do this?

“Patrick Joseph Gauthier wrote a great post this week called “Business Process Reengineering: The Right Skills And Roles For The Task Will Save You Money” and I loved the question he suggests (that gave me the title for this post):  ‘what if someone with a lower pay grade were to do this?’ . . . This is, indeed, one of the main drivers of decision management. . . . Instead of having hundreds of front-line staff refer decisions to many managers who follow guidelines taught to them by the one person who understands the company policy, empower the front-line staff to act by having that one person control the rules in a decision and having that decision happen automatically.”

kentnews.co.uk: Police facing tough battle to tackle cybercrime

“Tackling paedophiles who use the internet to groom children through chat rooms and create and share child pornography on the web was discussed at the conference and has been the subject of many high-profile cases. This time last year a paedophile ring involving a woman, who used to work at a pharmaceutical company in Kent, were jailed as part of a Kent Police investigation called Operation Starlight, which traced the criminals’ activity using the internet. Officers discovered extensive abuse of children under 13.”

The Bunker Blog: Couple Who Sold Stolen Merchandise On Craigslist And eBay Caught Using Doll And Stroller To Shoplift

“A couple in Pasco, WA was caught using a doll and stroller to conceal DVD’s and other merchandise. . . . At least they weren’t using a real baby! Still, they had over $800.00 in stolen merchandise in the stroller when police stopped them. Police have also stated that the couple have sold stolen merchandise on Craigslist and eBay in the past.”

Evolution of Security: Seven Years Later

“Thinking back to 9/11 and when I joined TSA, I remember how people often said hello and even shook our hands. For the traveling public, it’s been seven years without an attack in the U.S., and to many, the rules are now burdensome and our checkpoints are a necessary evil. For officers, it’s one day at a time, with some days when you find a gun, a knife, hollowed out shoes, or items in bags that look like plastic explosives or an IED. Things that make the hair on the back of your neck stand up, your heart stop, because it’s a threat until you can prove it’s not one. It happens far more than you think, so when an officer asks to get a better look at you or your bag, know that it’s because they want to make sure everything’s okay.”

PogoWasRight.org: Hacker pleads guilty in breach (TJX update)

“Federal prosecutors won a guilty plea yesterday from one of 11 men who made up a ring that was charged last month with the largest data theft case in history, involving tens of millions of customers of retailers, including TJX Cos. of Framingham and BJ’s Wholesale Club of Natick. Separately the government also said it has evidence the group breached the security of many more businesses than previously disclosed.”

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By the Infoglide Team

Fraud, Phishing and Financial Misdeeds: Lottery Bandit Nabbed in California

“In May, alert SaveMart grocery store employees noted an individual attempting to cash in a on a winning lottery ticket reported stolen in the burglaries. . . . It’s pretty obvious that the alert employees at SaveMart were tipped off electronically that the ticket(s) being presented were ‘hot.’ . . . This isn’t the first time in recent history, the California Lottery Police have made headlines. In May, it was announced that they were using undercover agents to catch dishonest retailers, who were cheating winners out of their prizes. Winning tickets of $500 to $25,000 were presented to retailers and several of them were caught pretending the prize was smaller and keeping the proceeds for themselves. Several arrests were made throughout California as a result of the sting.”

Informatica Perspectives: Communicating the Value of Data Quality

“Many of our customers express frustration that even though it is quite obvious how their business suffers from poor data quality, they find it difficult to convince their associates to invest in initiatives that correct the problems. Earlier this year, we participated in Rob Karel’s Forrester research that addresses this issue. The resulting research paper is titled ‘A Truism for Trusted Data: Think Big, Start Small’ and its getting a lot of interest. . . . The report is available from Forrester’s web site. It contains some nice examples of how customers have built a business case for justifying investment in Data Quality.”

KRISTV.com: Squabble Heats Up Over Online Sale of Stolen Goods

“Lawmakers are pushing for a crackdown on online marketplaces, such as eBay, Yahoo, Overstock.com and others, for inadequate efforts to block the sale of stolen products on their platforms. . . . The proposed legislation is the latest skirmish in an ongoing battle over Internet intermediaries’ responsibility for their customers’ actions. Supporters of the bill want online marketplaces to more closely monitor transactions on their sites. They say the technology exists for the sites to track stolen goods sales, whether through targeting sellers who are known for proffering the products or hunting down frequently stolen goods.”

PogoWasRight.org: DHS Privacy Office - Privacy Impact Assessments

“The following Privacy Impact Assessments have been added to DHS’s site:”

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