Jeremy Kirk: Adobe said Wednesday it is investigating the release of 230 names, email addresses and encrypted passwords claimed to have been stolen from a company database. The information was released on Tuesday on Pastebin by a self-proclaimed Egyptian hacker named “ViruS_HimA.” The hacker, who claimed the database accessed holds more than 150,000 records, posted…
Author: Dissent
Agencywide Message to All NASA Employees: Breach of Personally Identifiable Information
SpaceRef posted a breach notification from NASA, dated today: […] On October 31, 2012, a NASA laptop and official NASA documents issued to a Headquarters employee were stolen from the employee’s locked vehicle. The laptop contained records of sensitive personally identifiable information (PII) for a large number of NASA employees, contractors, and others. Although the…
Chicago election site exposed personal information
John Byrne and Hal Dardick report: Chicago election board officials confirmed Tuesday that sensitive personal information for about 1,200 people was exposed online but denied allegations by a computer security firm that the breach was much broader. The firm, Forensicon, announced it uncovered the problem while researching voting patterns. It alleged that personal information of…
UK Businesses Consider Abusing ICO Data Breach Fine ‘Loophole’
Tom Brewster reports: Organisations have considered using a “loophole” to avoid data breach fines – by asking the privacy regulator, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), to audit them when they already know personal data has been lost or stolen. The UK privacy watchdog has promised not to fine any company for breaches of the Data Protection Act if…
Hospitals use patient data to target ads
Ben Sutherly reports: You might not know it when you seek care from some of central Ohio’s hospital systems, but your health information makes you a potential marketing target. OhioHealth and Mount Carmel Health System routinely mine health data from their patients’ records to decide who should receive certain mailings. The approach — sometimes called…
Ca: More charges in TTC Metropass, credit-card fraud scheme
Chris Doucette reports: Five men arrested earlier this fall for a major fraud scheme involving TTC Metropasses have been slapped with 69 new charges for allegedly stealing data from tens of thousands of credit cards. Toronto Police said the investigation, dubbed Project Rocket, has continued since the accused were arrested Sept. 27 on 33 charges….