Caroline Donnelly reports: The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has stepped up its enforcement activities, by issuing double the number of data breach fines in 2012-2013 as it did in the previous 12 months. This is according to data obtained via a Freedom of Information (FoI) request by digital comms vendor ViaSat. […] Between March 2012…
Month: April 2013
Honor among (credit card) thieves?
A Michigan State University criminologist dug into the seamy underbelly of online credit card theft and uncovered a surprisingly sophisticated network of crooks that is unique in the cybercrime domain. The thieves, Thomas Holt found, run an online marketplace for stolen credit data similar to eBay or Amazon where reputations drive sales. Thieves sell data…
AU IT security professional arrested; part of LulzSec
James W. Manning reports that a self-proclaimed leader of LulzSec known by the screen name of “Aush0k” has been arrested in Australia. And not surprisingly, the IT security firm he worked for as an IT professional has fired the 24-year-old. Matthew Flannery was arrested after he allegedly infiltrated a government website earlier this month. No…
Psychiatrists will refuse to take part in compulsory assessment abortion
Political hot potato: Irish psychiatrists have said they will not participate in any compulsory assessment of pregnant women who have suicidal ideation and are seeking an abortion. The College of Psychiatrists in Ireland said today its members will not be the country’s “social police”. Good for them! Read more on RTÉ News
Macon, Georgia Macon woman pleads guilty to stealing blood plasma donors’ identity information for tax fraud scheme
Amy Leigh Womack reports that Bridgette Williams of Macon, Georgia pleaded guilty last week in federal court to charges she stole identities of blood plasma donors while employed at BioMat USA. Womack and her co-conspirators submitted fraudulent tax returns to the tune of $191,000. According to The Telegraph, she stole more than 130 patients’ identities…
Shocking! Maharashtra admits it lost Aadhaar data of three lakh people
Data loss, but no seemingly big risk of data misuse: Maharashtra government has lost data of about three lakh people collected under the controversial Aadhaar scheme, mostly from Mumbai who enrolled into the number scheme. According to a report in the Times of India, the data containing permanent account number (PAN) and biometric information was lost…