Identity Resolution Daily

[Post from Infoglide] Absentee Ballot Fraud

“We’re currently in the heat of the election season. No matter how impeccable the record of any candidate that the major parties put forward, minions of the opposing parties go to great lengths to uncover an embarrassing incident that can be exposed (or even an incident that can be twisted to appear embarrassing) in order to influence voters away from voting for that candidate. While the populace is reasonably good at figuring these tricks out, even more disturbing are the stories involving voter fraud.”

Rob Karel’s Blog: Discussing The Forrester Wave™: Enterprise Data Quality Platforms, Q4 2010

“Also, many data quality vendors specialize and provide depth of expertise in a focused part of the data quality market such as postal address verification (e.g., Experian QAS, Melissa DATA), matching or identity resolution [e.g., Infoglide Software, Netrics (acquired by TIBCO Software), and Pervasive Software], and data profiling (e.g., Ab Initio and Business Data Quality).”

Providence Journal: Deportee charged in identity theft case

“The R.I. State Fusion Center, a state police unit that tracks information on homeland security and crime, assisted in the investigation through the use of facial recognition software that determined that Medrano had been previously issued a Massachusetts identity document in his real name.”

Aviation News Today: November 1 Ends Grace Period For Secure Flight Data Submissions

“While TSA’s watch-list matching takes seconds and can be completed up until the time of departure, the agency cautions passengers that a boarding pass will not be issued until the airline submits complete passenger data to Secure Flight. The agency noted that, despite the crackdown, minor variations in the name on the boarding pass and ID, like middle initials, should not present problems at checkpoints.”

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[Post from Infoglide] Connecting the Dots Revisited: Where There’s a Will, There’s a Way

“On the one hand, recognition of the power that entity resolution can bring to bear on challenging problems both in the commercial and public realms continues to increase. On the other hand, resistance to change and lack of budget seem to be inhibiting dramatic increases in productivity and effectiveness that could be gained by a more rapid uptake of this new technology.”

PC Magazine: Four Big Trends Changing Computing, Gartner Says

“Cloud computing, social computing, context-aware computing, and pattern-based strategy are the four big trends that will alter IT in the next few years, according to Peter Sondergaard, SVP of Research for Gartner… Each of these trends is disruptive, he said, but the combination is an ‘unimaginable force’ that will transform not just IT, but business and government.”

CNBC: More airport security, in time for the holidays

“The TSA estimates that only about 1 percent of travelers won’t make it through security because of a discrepancy, Kimball says. Although it’s unlikely you won’t be able to fly because of a mishap, you still might be delayed if your ID and ticket don’t match up. That hold-up will likely be less than five or 10 minutes while screeners verify your ID and boarding pass, Orbitz’s Tornatore estimates.”

KXAN: DPS Fusion Center Opens (VIDEO)

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By Mike Betron, Infoglide Software Director of Marketing

On the one hand, recognition of the power that entity resolution can bring to bear on challenging problems both in the commercial and public realms continues to increase. On the other hand, resistance to change and lack of budget seem to be inhibiting dramatic increases in productivity and effectiveness that could be gained by a more rapid uptake of this new technology.

A few days after the 2009 Christmas Bomber incident, President Barack Obama made this statement:

“The bottom line is this: The U.S. government had sufficient information to have uncovered this plot and potentially disrupt the Christmas Day attack. But our intelligence community failed to connect those dots, which would have placed the suspect on the ‘no fly’ list. In other words, this was not a failure to collect intelligence; it was a failure to integrate and understand the intelligence that we already had. The information was there.”

Being able to connect the dots by using readily available data is every bit as challenging for private companies. Many commercial organizations (e.g., insurance companies, banks), similarly have all the right data available to them to solve problems related to identity.

While some people are skeptical that we’re making enough progress in developing and using advanced analytics, we’re certain that the remaining issues are solvable using available entity resolution technology in conjunction with readily available data.  It’s more a matter of will and resources than lack of capability that’s holding us back.

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[Post from Infoglide] New Record for Healthcare Fraud: $163 Million

“Last night the largest Medicare fraud operation yet discovered was in the headlines: ‘A vast network of Armenian gangsters and their associates used phantom health care clinics and other means to try to cheat Medicare out of $163 million, the largest fraud by one criminal enterprise in the program’s history, U.S. authorities said Wednesday. Federal prosecutors in New York and elsewhere charged 73 people.’”

Government Executive: Most domestic intel centers lack privacy plans

“After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the U.S. government encouraged and funded a proliferation of domestic counterterrorism centers, commonly referred to as state and local homeland security fusion centers. Although 72 centers now exist, only 28 have privacy and civil liberties plans approved by the Homeland Security Department, National Journal has learned.”

marketwire: Cloud Computing Market to Reach $25 Billion by 2013

“Worldwide Cloud Computing market is continuing to grow at a rapid rate and it is expected to cross US$ 25 Billion by the end of 2013. The different segments of the Cloud Computing market (SaaS, PaaS, IaaS) show different maturities and adoption levels. The various segments within the SaaS market will grow at a different rate.”

TravelAgentCentral: Update: Secure Flight Rules Effective November 1

“Secure Flight watch list matching takes a matter of seconds to complete, and providing this data enables passengers to print their boarding passes at home or at an airline kiosk, TSA notes. The November 1 deadline marks the end of the year-long grace period for airlines to clear out their systems of older reservations made before Secure Flight requirements took effect in October 2009. After November 1, 2010, Secure Flight will not conduct watch list matching or approve the issuance of a boarding pass by an airline if complete passenger data is not submitted, the TSA says.”

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By the Infoglide Team

Kaiser Health News: Medical Loss Ratio Rule Should Encourage Health Care Fraud Fighting

“There is undoubtedly a direct connection between health care fraud and health care quality. Consider the Kansas physician convicted of health care fraud linked to the death of patient. He had been running a ‘pill mill’ in a small town, which led to more than 100 overdoses and at least 68 deaths. All the while, he submitted millions of dollars in false claims to government programs and private insurers.”

Miami Herald: Final phase of TSA’s Secure Flight program taking effect

“The information will be required on third-party online booking sites and with travel agents as well as directly through the airlines, according to TSA. David Castelveter, spokesman for the Air Transport Association, said airlines have updated their reservation systems as needed since TSA started requiring airlines to collect the data a year ago. He said compliance on the part of passengers is necessary for their ease of travel.”

Washington Independent: Combatting Homegrown Terrorism With Fusion Centers

“One of the ways DHS is approaching this threat is by beefing up the country’s network of fusion centers — groups that fuse local law enforcement work with national-level intelligence.”

backupify: The Economics of Cloud Computing

“Cloud computing became the hot topic of discussion when the recession hit and companies had to tighen up their budgets. They could no longer afford expensive servers, clunky software, and entire IT teams to manage this infrastructure. Cost constraints led decision makers to open their minds to cloud computing. At this time, cloud computing was a fairly new concept and term, which led to many raised eyebrows and question marks. However, as companies slowly adopted cloud services, many others began to understand its purpose and benefits.”

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[Post from Infoglide] Preventable Nightmares?

“Every father’s nightmare happened in North Carolina this week. A young woman apparently left a bar voluntarily with a man she met there, and she was subsequently found murdered. The apparent murderer arrested in Niagara Falls had a criminal record that included sexual abuse and was on probation in North Carolina. Could this tragedy have been prevented?”

mydesert.com: Palm Desert store the good guys in lottery fraud investigation

“In the sting, investigators presented lottery retailers with winning lottery tickets for large dollar amounts and tested whether the retailer would properly inform them of their winnings. The Jensen’s on Cook Street was the only retailer who informed the undercover agent of his winnings.”

Fort Worth Star-Telegram: Airline passengers to face new security rules

“American spokesman Billy Sanez said that for tickets purchased before Sept. 15 for travel dates Nov. 1 and later, the Secure Flight data was requested but not required. The airline’s reservation system now requires the data for travel after Nov. 1. ‘Now, you won’t be able to get a ticket if you don’t give us that information,’ Sanez said. He said it must be provided no matter where the ticket is purchased: online, through a travel agency or at the airport.”

DOJ: Lowell Couple Pleads Guilty in Under-the-Table Payroll Scheme

“The defendants concealed the true size of their payroll from the IRS, and from their workers compensation insurer, in order to reduce their employer payroll taxes (FICA) and their workers compensation insurance payments. They did this by paying their employees in cash each week and hiding any record of the payments. Even though they retained a payroll service, they routinely told the service that C&A had no work and therefore no employees. Relying on this misrepresentation, the payroll service filed over 20 quarterly payroll tax returns on behalf of C&A that reported no payroll.”

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[Post from Infoglide] Making Systems Smarter

“Several years ago, identity resolution  was almost exclusively tied to detecting fraud. Over time, the ‘identity’ of identity resolution has continued to evolve and broaden. Many areas of commerce are discovering that efficiency can be improved dramatically when you have a clear picture of the individuals you’re dealing with and their social network. Of course, identity resolution is not the only way to gain that efficiency.”

Workers’ Compensation: Facebook Makes an Appearance in Workers’ Compensation Court

“In a recently published article, Law School Professor Gregory M. Duhl and attorney Jaclyn S. Millner, focus on the issues of professional responsibility, discovery, privacy and evidence when social networking factors integrate with a workers’s compensation proceeding. Since the compensation system is theoretically no-fault and the evidentiary system is informal, the authors theorize that the workers’ compensation arena will act as a fertile ground for experimentation in the legal application of this new technology.”

MassDevice: Clinical Science coughs up $525,000 to settle Medicaid fraud allegations

“‘We will continue to work with our state and federal partners to police abuse of the program that so many people depend on,’ Coakley said in prepared remarks. Over the last three years, Coakley’s Medicaid fraud division has recovered approximately $125 million for the state Medicaid program, according to the AG’s office.”

The 33: TSA demands more information from air travelers

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By the Infoglide Team

Fire Chief: NIST Makes Push Toward Electronic Health Record Nationwide Network

“The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) published a set of approved procedures used to test information-technology systems that work with electronic health records (EHRs), with an emphasis on building out a nationwide health information network for better patient care. The report was released earlier this year in draft form, and now the finalized testing procedures are available for use, said Bettijoyce Lide, program coordinator and senior advisor for NIST’s health IT section.”

Homeland Security: Remarks as Prepared by Secretary Napolitano to New York City First Responders

“By the end of this year, all 72 fusion centers should be able to analyze information and spot trends in order to effectively share timely intelligence – with local law enforcement, and with DHS, so the information can also be used by others within the Intelligence Community. To support this vision: we’re prioritizing fusion centers in our FY2011 grants, and looking for ways to support them through additional technology and personnel, including the deployment of highly-trained experts in critical infrastructure; we’re deploying experienced DHS analysts to every one of these centers – 64 at last count – and we won’t stop until we have them in every one; and we’re linking them together, and with DHS headquarters, through the classified Homeland Security Data Network.”

WRAL.com: Linden woman gets 10 years in prison for Medicaid fraud

“Prosecutors said Elliott filed bills for therapy sessions that never happened, employed non-licensed personnel and provided unwarranted therapy. Tricare, the military equivalent to Medicaid, lost $1.17 million in the scheme, while Medicaid lost $712, 548, authorities said.”

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[Post from Infoglide] International Privacy Compliance

“International companies, particularly those in the financial services markets, have long struggled to comply with the varying data privacy laws of the countries in which they operate.  Simple data analysis practices in one region of the world may or may not be acceptable in another, and the penalties of non-compliance can be harsh to say the least.  This leads to inefficiencies in areas such as AML, Compliance and Fraud Investigation.”

nj.com: Elizabeth doctor is charged with hiring phony physicians to bilk Medicaid

“Despite their alleged lack of medical licenses, authorities say, the trio treated thousands of disabled and low-income patients, helping Masood bilk at least $1.8 million from Medicaid, the federally funded health care program for the poor. ‘Unsuspecting patients were placed at risk through deceit and substandard medical care, while taxpayers were being defrauded of millions of dollars,’ said Michael B. Ward, head of the FBI’s Newark office.”

FierceGovernmentIT: More DHS components to receive Watchlist Service data from FBI

“The specific initial recipients of the new automated service were identified as the TSA’s Office of Transportation Threat Assessment and Credentialing; the TSA Secure Flight Program; CBP’s Passenger Systems Program Office for inclusion in the Traveler Enforcement Compliance System; and US-VISIT for inclusion into the DHS Automated Biometric Identification System (IDENT).”

East Valley Tribune: Authorities: Valleywide crime database nears reality

“‘There are so many databases out there, officers want to be able to get into one portal for information,” Romley said. “Technology capabilities have improved immensely over the years, the real future is in databases when it comes to helping solve crimes quicker. Everyone knows the value of having an intelligence sharing system. the meeting was a baby step, but a monumental step forward.’ One example Romley cited was the East Valley Gang and Criminal Fusion Center that consists of law enforcement agencies throughout the East Valley such as the Mesa, Tempe, Chandler, Gilbert and Scottsdale police departments sharing information through having all of their police reports in a database for investigative purposes.”

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By the Infoglide Team

OCDQ Blog: The Data-Decision Symphony

“Data is now everywhere.  Data is no longer just in the structured rows of our relational databases and spreadsheets.  Data is also in the unstructured streams of our Facebook and Twitter status updates, as well as our blog posts, our photos, and our videos. The challenge is can we somehow manage to listen for business insights among the endless cacophony of chaotic data volumes, and use those insights to enable better business decisions and deliver optimal business performance.”

SecurityInfoWatch.com: Welcome to the melting pot

“A Fusion Center is a terrorism prevention and response center program that began as a joint project between the DHS and the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Program. It is designed to gather information from government and the private sectors to aid in safety and security. The Fusion Centers share information at the federal level between the CIA, FBI, DoJ, U.S. Military and state and local level governments, as well as Emergency Operations Centers in the event of a disaster. State and local police departments provide both space and resources for the majority of Fusion Centers. The analysts working there can be drawn from DHS, local police, or the private sector as in the case of Dallas.”

South Florida Business Journal: Clinic operator convicted in $2.3M fraud

“According to evidence presented during the two-week trial in Michigan, between about November 2006 and March 2007, the defendants submitted about $2.3 million in claims to Medicare for injection therapy services that were never provided and were not medically necessary. Medicare paid about $1.7 million.”

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