Murray Brewster reports what is undoubtedly a lame and disappointing response to an egregious privacy breach: Veterans Affairs bureaucrats who rifled through the personal files of a department critic were handed written reprimands and three-day suspensions – penalties the victim calls a “slap on the wrist.” An internal investigation found 54 veterans bureaucrats improperly snooped…
Month: March 2011
Audit finds confidential data on NJ state computers sent to auction
Angela Delli Santi reports: Taxpayers’ Social Security numbers, confidential child abuse reports and personnel reviews of New Jersey workers nearly went to the highest bidder after the state sent surplus computers out for auction. Nearly 80 percent of surplus computers in a comptroller’s office sample had not been scrubbed of data before being shipped to…
Rogue Penn Mutual employee may have accessed and disclosed customer personal and financial information
Penn Mutual Life Insurance reports that a former employee may have accessed and disclosed customer information. Through their lawyers, Penn Mutual informed the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office on February 1 that despite their forensic efforts, they were not able to determine definitively which customer accounts were improperly accessed, but they believe that the employee…
Access privileges error on Chapman University file allowed viewing of file with sensitive student information
On February 15, officials at Chapman University were informed that a document that should have been secured was available to authorized logged in system users who were not authorized to see that document . The university immediately secured the document by correcting the access privileges, and on February 22, notified the New Hampshire Attorney General’s…
Virginia Man Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy and Credit Union Fraud
Darnell M. Barnwell, 25, of Norfolk, Va., pleaded guilty on March 4 in Norfolk federal court to conspiring to defraud the Navy Federal Credit Union (NFCU) and to committing credit union fraud. Barnwell faces a maximum penalty of 60 years in prison and a fine of $2,000,000.00 when he is sentenced on June 6, 2011….
SC: Midlands Tech warns employees of security breach
Wayne Washington reports: Midlands Technical College warned employees last month that a flash drive containing some of their personal information was taken from a human resources office at the college. The flash drive, since returned — without the personal data it previously held — could compromise the personal information of some of the college’s 500…