Steve Contorno reports: A state database containing sensitive information, including more than 600 Social Security numbers, was available to the general public through the Virginia Department of General Services website since 2001. The department announced Friday that the site is now secure, and it is notifying affected individuals. The state does not believe the sensitive…
Author: Dissent
Step up Social Security number protection, OIG says
Alice Lipowicz reports: The Social Security Administration should do more to protect against identity theft by increasing security controls on Social Security numbers and programs, according to two new federal audits. One of the audits targeted the millions of SSN printouts distributed by the agency each year, which have much looser security controls than Social…
Cn: Rumor: Renren Suffers Data Breach (UPDATED with Renren’s denial of any breach_
Rumors continue to circulate that Chinese social networking site Renren has been compromised, but there’s no confirmation at this time. Here’s another report: Passwords for 4.76 mln accounts with Chinese SNS site Renren have reportedly been leaked online. In response to the news, Renren has notified users said to be affected with instructions on how…
Thousands of domain registrar’s customer details exposed
Lia Timson reports: More than 28,000 Melbourne IT customers have had their details emailed to others in an embarrassing privacy breach by the domain registrar. Each year the registrar is obliged by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to send a reminder to customers to ensure it keeps registrant information up to…
NZ: WINZ staff fired for breaching client privacy
Ian Stewart reports: Five South Auckland Work and Income staff have been fired for inappropriately accessing clients’ files. The employees, all from the Manukau office, were fired for accessing information on family and friends. WINZ said there were “many breaches” by the staff and a national investigation has now been launched. Read more on Nelson…
Trion Worlds hacked
Trion released a statement today informing their customers that there has been unauthorized access to a Trion Worlds account database. They offer reassurances that customer credit card information has not been conpromised. Players will be required to reset their passwords and security questions the next time they log in, and Authenticator users will have to…