Millions of Honda Owners Victims of Yet Another Data Breach

The FBI has arrested another person in the ongoing investigation into the sharing of insider information with investors by consultants working for so-called expert firms.

The latest to be arrested is Winifred Jiau, 43, of Fremont, Calif. Like others charged or arrested on Dec. 16, she has ties to Primary Global Research. She’s accused of providing inside information to Primary Global clients who were portfolio managers at hedge funds of Nvidia and Marvell Technology during a period from 2006 to 2008. Prosecutors say she collected $200,000 during that time. She’s facing charges of conspiracy and securities fraud.

In August of 2008, the complaint says, she provCarmaker Honda is warning more than two million of its customers in the U.S. that an email database containing some of their personal information has been stolen.

It’s not yet 100 percent clear if this breach is connected to the recent breach of the email marketing firm Silverpop Systems, but it sure looks that way. Honda was an enthusiastic Silverpop customer as recently as 2009, according to this press release. It’s the same company whose data was breached in thefts of customer data from McDonald’s and deviantArt. A similar incident was reported concerning the drugstore chain Walgreen’s, but it hasn’t been tied specifically to Silverpop.

The list contained the names, login names, email addresses and–get this–vehicle identification numbers of more than two million Honda owners. Another list, this one containing only the email addresses of nearly three million Acura owners, was also taken.

Honda has contacted all the customers via email. The worry is that affected owners, especially those on the list with the VINs, may be targeted for some kind of phishing attack. Imagine getting an email from someone pretending to be your local Honda dealer who correctly identifies the car you just bought and asks you to give up more personal information so that you can get “special offers.”

ided managers of two hedge funds with detailed numbers for quarterly revenues, per-share earnings and gross margins for the quarter ending that month. The complaint says that in the conversations she made it clear she had obtained the information directly from an employee of Marvell. The funds in question–they were not named in the complaint–allegedly made $820,000 on trades from the information.

On Aug. 8, 2008, the complaint says, Jiau provided the hedge fund managers with an early look at Nvidia’s quarterly revenue and told them it planned to announce a stock buyback, which it did four days later.