3.3 Million Affected in Mass Idenity Theft

In what is believe to be the largest ever breach of secure and private information, nearly 3.3 million people with student loans became the victims of a mass identity theft.

Names, addresses, Social Security numbers and other personal data were stolen using a portable media device. The Educational Credit Management Corp - a nonprofit guarantor of federal student loans is location in St. Paul, Minnesota.

In a growing string of mass identity theft, last weeks theft at ECMC is just another incident. Earlier this month, a former employee of HSBC Holdings allegedly stole data on 24,000 Swiss private bank accounts. In 2005, an estimated 40 million accounts serviced by the credit card payment processing company, CardSystems were compromised.

ECMC services more than $11 billion in student loans. The 320 employees at the St. Paul headquarters all have key card access and their security is being reviewed.