Lisa Gartner reports: An external hard drive containing personal information on as many as 1,234 Prince William County elementary school students has disappeared, prompting investigations by the school system and the police department. The hardware housed names and addresses of Glenkirk Elementary students, as well as the names of their classroom teachers. It also stored…
Author: Dissent
Senate wades into effort to prevent data breaches
Josh Smith reports: Protecting personal information is all the rage on Capitol Hill these days, with two new data-breach bills introduced on Thursday in the Senate. Sens. Thomas Carper, D-Del., and Roy Blunt, R-Mo., introduced legislation designed to prevent identity theft and account fraud. The bill, tentatively named the Data Security Act of 2011, would…
Without proper laws governing public disclosure of data security hacks, Canadians remain at risk.
Lawyer Jonathan Penney writes: Another day, another hack. Apple, Sony, Citigroup, and Lockheed Martin are just some of the big-name companies afflicted by recent cyber-security breaches. Canada has not been spared. Beyond the attacks on the federal Treasury and Finance Departments, Sony, Husky Energy, and Honda have all had Canadian branches or units compromised in…
Stolen USB stick contained police investigation details
Graham Cluley writes: Greater Manchester Police have warned that sensitive information about an ongoing criminal investigation was contained on a USB memory stick stolen from an officer’s home in Oldham, UK. The officer has been suspended, pending an investigation, and the matter has been referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission and the Information Commissioner….
Ru: Internet Shopping Data Compromised
First it was Megafon leaking SMS history and having it indexed on Yandex’s search engine. Now there’s a bigger breach. Natalya Krainova of The Moscow Times reports: A third Internet leak in just a week has exposed the private shopping habits of people at more than 80 online stores, including those selling model cars, perfume…
AU: Westpac cans cards as AFP investigates breaches
Luke Hopewell reports: Westpac has this week confirmed that it has canned the cards of an undisclosed number of customers following a fresh merchant data breach. The breach comes as the Australian Federal Police (AFP) opens a new investigation into recent merchant data compromises. Westpac told ZDNet Australia this week that merchant data breaches are…