Dan Goodin reports on a case where former employees were allegedly able to continue to access databases, despite the company terminating old passwords: Scott R. Burgess, 45, of Jasper, Indiana, and Walter D. Puckett, 39, of Williamstown, Kentucky, both worked as managers for Indiana-based Stens Corporation until taking jobs with a competing company in Ohio,…
Month: November 2009
Health Care Reform in the Breach
Carol Peracchio, a registered nurse, writes: Two weeks ago, I received a letter from the radiology department at a large university medical center in my state. The return address specified their mammography registry. Assuming that it was a reminder to get my yearly exam, I started to toss it out. Then I remembered that I’d…
Sacked employees triple malicious data deletions
Marie Boran reports: Recent findings from Irish online backup firm keepITsafe have revealed there is a correlation between the increase in unemployment as a result of the global recession and the tripling of malicious data attacks on companies. Companies reported they experienced a threefold increase in the number of malicious data deletions as a result…
Doors shut as psychologist testifies at German murder trial
A psychologist briefed German judges behind closed doors Thursday on the mental state of Alex W, the xenophobic unemployed man who killed an Egyptian woman and wounded her husband with a knife in a Dresden courtroom in July. The stabbing death of pharmacist Marwa al-Shirbini, 31, pregnant with her second child, caused outrage in Egypt….
Judge spanks lawyer for leaking personal details in brief
Dan Goodin reports: A judge has chastised a lawyer for including the social security numbers and birthdays of 179 individuals in an electronic court brief, ordering him to pay a $5,000 sanction and provide credit monitoring. US District Judge Michael J. Davis said he was meting out the penalty under his “inherent power,” meaning no…
Bord Gáis data security expert had laptop stolen – report
Elaine Edwards provides an update on a breach previously covered here and here: A staff member at Bord Gáis who downloaded personal data on more than 93,000 customers to a laptop that was subsequently stolen had specific responsibility for ensuring the protection of data, a report has found. A report on the investigation by the…