ChoicePoint CISO Richard Baich's protestations in 2005 that his company was the victim of fraud, not a hack, sound almost archaic now.

"This is not an information security issue," Baich told Information Security shortly after ChoicePoint disclosed 163,000 customer records had been accessed. "My biggest concern is the impact this has on the industry from the standpoint that people are saying ChoicePoint was hacked. No we weren't. This type of fraud happens every day."

In fact, the incident underscored the vulnerability of sensitive data to many attack vectors, from classic computer hacks to trusted insiders to thieves like the ChoicePoint fraudsters. They posed as legitimate business customers and set up accounts to obtain the type of information that ChoicePoint typically sold third parties.