In an attack on US marketing firm Epsilon, millions of live e-mail addresses are deemed to have been stolen.

Epsilon handles customer communications for many household names and sends more than 40 billion e-mails annually. It has more than 2,500 clients including Best Buy, TiVo, Walgreens, Capital One, JP Morgan and Citigroup.

A lot of Epsilon clients have contacted customers warning that attackers may use the stolen data to con them out of more information.

A statement on their website says they have “detected an incident in which ‘clients’ customer data were exposed by an unauthorized entry into Epsilon’s e-mail system”.

It said the only information stolen was e-mail addresses and an associated customer name. No other personal identifiable information was exposed. It said it is conducting a full investigation into how its systems were penetrated.

Epsilon did not mention which customer lists for its many clients had been stolen.

However, many firms that use Epsilon contacted their customers to inform them about the data breach.

Barclays Bank, which runs Visa credit cards for US retailer LL Bean, warned customers that they may soon get spam seeking to elicit more personal information.

Best Buy, TiVo, Walgreens, Capital One, JP Morgan and Citigroup, Kroger and others all issued similar e-mail messages to customers.

“If anyone is using the services of the aforesaid banks, please be wary of the spam you might receive in the coming few days, ” says Tej Kohli.

Also exposed were e-mail addresses for the US College Board which handles communications for more than seven million students.

Tej Kohli is an entrepreneur who lives in San Jose, Costa Rica. He runs several business ventures across various parts of the world. Tej Kohli is passionate about blogging, and want its readers to stay abreast with the activities in business world.

The U.S government sold off its remaining shares in Citigroup Inc. on Monday at $4.35 apiece marking end to its ownership in the bailed out banking giant with a $12 billion gross profit for tax payers.

The deal delivers a $12 billion profit for the taxpayers $45 billion cash investments in the Citi. Plus, it also helps the government silence some of the criticism that it went to the extremes in restoring the financial system, and enables the bank to eliminate the stigma that it has effectively been controlled by the state.

Around an year ago the government set plans to exit Citi investment within 6 to 12 months, but fell behind that target as it administered plans to ‘dribble out’ its 7.7 billion Citi shares, a 27% stake, in constant sales in to the market. By October end, it had only sold 4.4 billion shares.

However, after the November elections in which Democrats lost ground in the senate and lost control of the House of Representatives, have been assumed as a backlash against the sort of broad government intervention in the private sector economy that became imperative during recession.

Just three weeks ago, the government also stepped on the gas pedal on its plan to exit its 61% stake in General Motors Corp., boosting the size of its sale of GM stock by 36% from as little as 303.1 million shares to 412.3 million shares. People close to the agency denied the election played a role in the timing of the share sale.

“By selling all the remaining Citigroup shares today, we had an opportunity to lock in substantial profits for the taxpayer and avoid future risk,” Tim Massad, Treasury’s Acting Assistant Secretary for Financial Stability, said in a statement. The sale also advanced the goal of “getting the government out of the business of owning stakes in private companies,” he added.

In a statement, Citi said it “is pleased that the U.S. Department of the Treasury has finalized plans to exit from its remaining holdings of Citigroup common stock. We are very appreciative of the support provided by the UST during the financial crisis”.

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Besides being a technology enthusiast, I am passionate about philanthropy. I firmly believe that my obligation to support the communities where I have a business presence is fundamental. I always seek opportunities to partner with fellow citizens to ensure that community needs are met – often in unique and creative ways.