I’ve been known to get a tad snarky about breach notification letters that begin with how the breached entity takes the privacy and security of our information seriously. Sadly, that line seems to have become a pro forma part of breach notices. Yesterday, though, I read a breach notification from Piedmont Advantage Credit Union about a missing laptop with customer…
Month: February 2015
All in the family: Three Milwaukee sisters face 90 felony charges for filing fraudulent tax returns
Ashley Sears reports on a tax refund fraud scheme that included using the identity information of prisoners in the Mississippi prison system: Three sisters from the Milwaukee area are facing a total of 90 felony charges for filing fraudulent income tax returns following a two-year investigation by the Wisconsin Department of Revenue’s (DOR) Criminal Investigation…
TX: Socorro Independent School District student charged with breach of the district’s computer system
Ashleigh Rodriguez reports: The Socorro Independent School District spent $8,000 this weekend, cleaning up a number of Eastlake High computers. A student downloaded malware, or a malicious program to the school’s computer system. […] After spending the weekend checking 1,000 computers, they found out he had only infected 16. Reyna said he was attempting to…
AZ: Court clerk: Security breach affects hundreds of court cases
Raquel Hendrickson reports: “A severe dereliction of duty” is what Clerk of the Superior Court Amanda Stanford is calling a reported security breach that could impact hundreds of criminal cases in Pinal County. Stanford is alleging her predecessor, Chad Roche, gave the county attorney’s office access to files that had been sealed by the court….
States Respond to Recent Breaches with Encryption Legislation
Scott Weinstein of McDermott Will & Emery writes: In the wake of recent breaches of personally identifiable information (PII) suffered by health insurance companies located in their states, the New Jersey Legislature passed, and the Connecticut General Assembly will consider legislation that requires health insurance companies offering health benefits within these states to encrypt certain types of PII, including social…
Uber security breach may have affected up to 50,000 drivers (updated)
Tracey Lien reports: Thousands of Uber driver names and driver’s license numbers may be in the hands of an unauthorized third party due to a data breach that occurred last year, the ride-hailing company announced today. In a statement, Uber’s managing counsel of data privacy Katherine Tassi said the company discovered on Sept. 17, 2014,…