RSS Feed Archive: Industry News

Crooks threaten to expose data on millions at benefits firm

Fri, 07 Nov 2008 14:55:19 +0100

Data thieves are threatening to expose the personal details of millions of patients of a major pharmacy benefit management firm unless the company pays up.

Ministers hit by two new security fiascos

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 10:00:08 +0100

A memory stick that could allow hackers to access the personal details of 12m people on a government website has been found in a pub car park

Study: 80% of Organizations Suffer Breaches, Most From the Inside

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 08:04:11 +0200

Breaches originate mainly from mobile devices, the network, mainframe, and paper.

MoD computer hard drive missing

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 08:03:47 +0200

An investigation is under way into the disappearance of a computer hard drive containing the personal details of about 100,000 of the Armed Forces...

Stolen Rochester Institute of Technology laptop

Sat, 30 Aug 2008 15:21:19 +0200

"RIT recently discovered that personal information was on a laptop computer stolen from the National Technical Institute for the Deaf on August 25.

Company loses data on criminals

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 09:40:29 +0200

A contractor working for the Home Office has lost a computer memory stick containing personal details about tens of thousands of criminals.

Mailing error from Keller ISD affects students

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 11:33:00 +0200

Keller Independent School District recently mailed enrollment forms to students and parents for the 2008 - 2009 school year. Unfortunately, some of the forms containing sensitive personal information were mailed to the wrong people.

Sixteen laptops over ten years are stolen from the Irish Office of Comptroller and Auditor General

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 14:24:00 +0200

"THE DEPARTMENT of Social and Family Affairs is contacting 380,000 social welfare recipients after it emerged their personal details were stored on a laptop computer which was stolen more than a year ago."

Errant email exposed Department of Consumer Affairs personal information

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 13:15:52 +0200

"The state Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) has sent letters to 5,000 employees, contractors and board members warning them of a security breach that has compromised their names and social security numbers."...

2.2 million billing records missing on stolen backup tape

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 09:47:11 +0200

"Billing records of 2.2 million patients at the University of Utah Hospitals and Clinics were stolen from a vehicle after a courier failed to immediately take them to a storage center...

.... Employing backup tapes without encryption is a very well documented risk, so why do large organizations still accept it?

ETSU says stolen computer could lead to identity theft

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 10:47:20 +0200

"East Tennessee State University has sent a letter to 6,200 people whose identities could be compromised by the theft of a desktop computer.

Stanford employees' data on stolen laptop

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 07:30:35 +0200

"Stanford University has notified tens of thousands of past and current Stanford University employees that their personal information - including their dates of birth, Social Security numbers and home addresses - was on the hard drive of a stolen university laptop.

UnitedHealthcare data breach leads to ID theft

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 10:54:26 +0200

"A data breach at UnitedHealthcare has led to a rash of identity-theft crimes at the University of California, Irvine.

To date, 155 graduate and medical students at the school have been hit by the scam, in which criminals file false tax returns in the victim's name and then collect their tax refunds.The breach affects 1,132 graduate students who were enrolled with the University's Graduate Student Health Insurance Program in the 2006-07 school year, said Cathy Lawhon, media relations director with the university.

Data breaches increase in Canada

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 10:03:41 +0200

"The number of data breaches in Canada reported so far in 2008 is outpacing last year's figure, with many of the breaches caused by companies failing to take basic steps to protect personal information, according to Canada's federal privacy commissioner

State Street: Data stolen from vendor

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 08:18:13 +0200

"State Street Corp. said yesterday that a disk drive containing personal details from 5,500 employees and 40,000 customer accounts was stolen from the office of another firm hired for data analysis.

Sandown Health Centre backup tape is missing

Wed, 28 May 2008 08:38:40 +0200

"The Isle of Wight NHS Primary Care Trust and the Sandown Health Centre are taking action to reassure patients after a computer tape containing their personal details went missing."...

Bank of New York Mellon loses data on 4.5 million

Thu, 22 May 2008 11:36:51 +0200

"An unencrypted backup tape holding the personal information of about 4.5 million The Bank of New York Mellon customers disappeared three months ago while in possession of a third-party vendor, the Connecticut attorney general announced Wednesday.

Laptop stolen from Sodexo employee's car

Thu, 22 May 2008 12:35:00 +0200

"Sodexo recently reported a information security breach affecting company employees. A letter was sent reporting "the recent theft of a Sodexo-owned laptop computer that may have contained a file with personal employee information."

Laptop stolen from HealthSpring employee affects members

Thu, 22 May 2008 11:19:00 +0200

"Nashville-based managed care company HealthSpring Inc. said Wednesday a laptop computer containing personal information of about 450 state residents was stolen in March.

UK may store all phone calls and emails

Wed, 21 May 2008 09:41:18 +0200

"The UK government is considering a massive database to store every person's emails, phone calls, text messages and internet use. The plan was suggested as a tool to help security forces tackling crime and terrorism.

Two stolen Saks Incorporated laptops contained sensitive information

Mon, 12 May 2008 13:31:56 +0200

"In mid-April 2008, Saks learned that four company laptops were stolen. Two of the stolen laptops contained several files that included customer names, addresses, Saks Fifth Avenue credit card account numbers, and/or Saks Fifth Avenue/MasterCard co-branded credit card account numbers.

Stolen PC had Agilent workers' personal data

Wed, 07 May 2008 15:43:00 +0200

"A laptop containing sensitive and unencrypted personal data on 51,000 current and former employees of Agilent Technologies was stolen from the car of an Agilent vendor March 1 in San Francisco, the company said in a letter mailed to former employees this week."...

New data security breaches come in fours

Wed, 07 May 2008 15:42:22 +0200

"Potential compromises of personal info disclosed by a quartet of organizations

More U.K. government laptops go missing

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 09:23:13 +0200

"The Ministry of Defence is launching a new inquiry after admitting to the loss of two more laptops containing unencrypted personal details."...

NHS laptop with 5,123 patient records stolen

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 09:23:14 +0200

"An NHS laptop holding information on 5,123 patients has been stolen from a hospital in Dudley."...

New Data Scandal: MoD Laptop Stolen

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 09:23:16 +0200

"The Government is under fire for yet another data breach after revealing a Royal Navy officer's laptop containing the details of 600,000 people has been stolen."...

230 retailers affected by data breach after tape lost

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 09:23:17 +0200

"A backup tape containing credit-card information from hundreds of U.S. retailers is missing, forcing the company responsible for the data to warn customers that they may become the targets of data fraud." ... "The missing backup tape was unencrypted."...

Nashville laptop theft may cost $1 million

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 09:23:19 +0200

..."Since state data breach disclosure laws went into effect a few years ago, the theft of an unencrypted laptop computer can become a major problem for any organization that stores sensitive data."...

U.K. politicians want losing data to be a crime

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 09:23:20 +0200

"A committee of MPs has called for tougher criminal penalties for data security breaches as incidents where the government or contractors have lost people's personal data continue to come to light."...

Personal Information record losses reach new heights

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 09:23:22 +0200

"More than 120 million people in the U.S. had personal data exposed in 2007 as identity theft reached record heights. That's according to research from the nonprofit organization the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) which reported 446 separate breaches exposing 128 million records."...

Government betrayed people's trust

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 09:23:23 +0200

"The chancellor admits that the government betrayed the trust of citizens when it lost the personal details of 25 million people."...

U.K. agency loses sensitive data on 25m people

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 09:23:24 +0200

"The head of HM Revenue & Customs, the United Kingdom's tax agency, resigned on Tuesday, taking responsibility for a massive data leak that potentially put the sensitive personal details of 25 million people at risk"...

Doctors may be fined for losing laptops

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 09:23:26 +0200

"The UK Information Commissioner has told public figures such as doctors that they face fines if they lose personal data belonging to people in their care. And that includes if their laptop is pinched and they are found to have been negligent"...

E-Mail privacy to disappear?

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 09:23:27 +0200

From SecurityFocus:
"What is important in this case is not the ultimate resolution of that narrow issue, but the position that the United States government is taking on the entire issue of electronic privacy. That position, if accepted, may mean that the government can read anybody's e-mail at any time without a warrant."...

Theft of Home Depot laptop puts 10,000 at risk

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 09:23:29 +0200

"Home Depot on Wednesday confirmed a company laptop was stolen that contains personal information about approximately 10,000 employees of the do-it-yourself retailing giant."...

Nevada Law Mandates Encryption of Electronically transmitted Person Information

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 09:23:30 +0200

"Even though a company has not experienced an unauthorized access or acquisition of its customer information (and thus has not been subject to Nevada?s breach notification law), in 2008 merely transmitting customer information in an unencrypted format may violate a separate Nevada data security law.

Nevada has enacted a data security law that mandates encryption for the transmission of personal information (see Nev. Rev. Stat. § 597.970 (2005)). Specifically, the Nevada encryption statute generally prohibits a business in Nevada from transferring ?any personal information of a customer through an electronic transmission,? except via facsimile, ?unless the business uses encryption to ensure the security of electronic transmission.?[1] The Nevada encryption law goes into effect on October 1, 2008."...

Hacker exposes embassies' e-mail

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 09:23:31 +0200

"A Swedish security expert released last week the addresses and passwords for 100 e-mail accounts, claiming that he has uncovered a flaw that exposes more than a thousand sensitive e-mail accounts at government agencies, such as embassies, and corporations."...

TJX estimates breach costs at $118 million

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 09:23:33 +0200

"Retail giant TJX Companies announced on Tuesday that it would take a $118 million charge to pay for the costs and potential liability stemming from the earlier theft of some 45.6 million credit and debit accounts."...

Los Alamos nuclear lab loses more data

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 09:23:34 +0200

"The error-prone Los Alamos Nuclear Laboratory has inadvertently released highly classified nuclear weapons material again, this time by e-mail."...

President's Warrantless Wiretapping Powers Extended

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 09:23:36 +0200

"Bush promoted the new law to deal with limitations and criticisms of intelligence agencies' activities since 2001."...