Chris Merritt reports: The federal government is considering changing the law so corporate victims of criminal computer hacking can be sued over privacy breaches. This change formed part of discussions on Monday between Privacy Minister Brendan O’Connor and a lobby group that wants to subject companies and journalists to criminal penalties for privacy breaches. The…
Author: Dissent
Data-Breach Disclosures May Decline 50% Under Proposed Bills
Corporate disclosures of data breaches involving U.S. consumers’ personal information may fall by 50 percent under legislation before Congress. House and Senate lawmakers have introduced at least five data-security bills this year requiring businesses to notify customers of intrusions if there is a “reasonable risk” that personal data including credit-card and Social Security numbers may…
New River Health Association breach highlights a source of confusion in HHS breach tool
I love HHS’s breach tool, but it remains a source of frustration. Consider this newly added entry: “New River Health Association ,WV,,950,4/1/2011,Unauthorized Access/Disclosure,Paper,,” We know who, we know how many, we know when, but we don’t know what data types were involved, and for those who try to analyze breach data, there’s a big difference…
Stolen SilverPop laptop results in notifications
The name “SilverPop” may not seem familiar to some readers of this blog, but if you also read DataBreaches.net, you’ll recognize it as the name of an e-mail marketing service that got hacked a while back. As a consequence, a number of its clients wound up having to notify their customers that their email addresses had been…
Shortened Breach Disclosure Periods Could Hurt Consumers
Ericka Chickowski writes: As the SAFE Data Act data breach law made its way to the House Energy and Commerce Committee after passing through the Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade last week, security experts are wondering at the wisdom of a national data breach law that requires notification within 48 hours of a breach’s…
UK: Personal data of those who signed up for contests on The Sun stolen in last month’s hack and posted online
Stewart Mitchell reports: Personal details of thousands of Sun readers have been posted online following the hack attack on News International last month. The paper’s parent company News International sent out warning letters to readers explaining that compromised information could have been posted online in the wake of the 19 July attack. […] “Details vary, but could…