Nick Higginbottom and Stephen McMahon of Herald Sun report on how weak passwords just won’t cut it: Security at the nation’s biggest online trader has been exposed as wide open to attack by computer hackers. Security flaws at CommSec potentially endangered accounts containing billions of dollars of mum-and-dad investors’ money. After a Herald Sun investigation,…
Month: April 2009
UK: Barclaycard apologises to widow for 317-strong letter error
Gill Montia of Banking Times reports: Barclaycard has had to apologise to a Mrs Sandra Grant of Erith in Kent, after sending her 317 letters in one day. The recently widowed 55-year-old said it took her all morning to open the post, which contained details of various Barclaycard customers, including account numbers, names and amounts…
WV: Bar association reports hack; members’ personal info at risk
The Associated Press is reporting that the West Virginia State Bar’s web site and network were hacked and that members’ names, mail and e-mail addresses, lawyer identification numbers, and Social Security numbers of some members and former members may be compromised. The breach was reportedly discovered “recently” and there is no indication as to when…
UK: Anonymity proves grey area for IDScan
John Ozimek of The Register reports: Security software provider IDScan has been left red-faced after a page of supposedly anonymous details of ID cheats on its website turned out not to have been anonymised after all. […] To protect the anonymity of the individuals depicted, IDScan has helpfully left their photos visible but greyed out…
Bits ‘n Pieces
In the justice system: In AZ, Sheila McCarthy and Christina Hansen were charged with aggravated identification theft involving stealing personal information and credit card information from an employer and an unnamed hair salon’s customers. More. In VA, Karen Priscilla Jones has been charged with aggravated identity theft as well as other crimes for stealing the…
TX: TWU shuts down, secures computer system after student finds way to access adviser reports
Candace Carlisle of the Denton Record-Chronicle reports that a student at Texas Woman’s University discovered that he could access the uni’s Degree Audit Report System. DARS does not contain student identifiers, but it does contain a copy of students’ names, courses, and grades. Exposure of such information may be a FERPA violation, but based on…