Confidential information held by social services about children in care has been found on a pavement by a passer-by. Dozens of sensitive Stoke-on-Trent City Council documents were discovered on a memory stick left in Potteries Way, Hanley, yesterday. The social services records of foster carers, family court proceedings, parenting assessments, child custody arrangements and the…
Author: Dissent
TJX Accomplice Sentenced to 7 Years in Prison
Kim Zetter reports: A hacker who helped TJX hacker Albert Gonzalez and others gain access to corporate networks was sentenced to 7 years and one day on Monday . Christopher Scott, 27, pleaded guilty to breaching the wireless access points of several retailers between 2003 and 2007 to siphon credit and debit card numbers, which…
'Tummy tuck' thief bilked coworker for plastic surgery
Levi Pulkkinen reports on yet another case of ID theft to get plastic surgery: A Kirkland woman is facing felony identity theft charges following allegation that she used a co-worker’s credit card to pay for plastic surgery and thousands of dollars worth of electronics. In charging documents, King County prosecutors claim Alexandra K. Polack lifted…
Statement by Griffin Hospital about security breach
Griffin Hospital in Derby, Connecticut issued this statement today on its web site: Griffin Hospital has notified 957 patients of an apparent breach of personal protected health information during the period from February 4, 2010 to March 5, 2010 after an investigation prompted by patient inquires revealed the breach. Based on information available to it,…
(follow-up) St Albans City and District Council takes action after voters’ details stolen
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has found St Albans City and District Council in breach of the Data Protection Act. A laptop was stolen which was used to store postal voters’ records as part of an election process in June 2009. The personal information, which was password protected but unencrypted, remained on the laptop when…
Thousands of stolen bank account numbers seized in Ontario
Karen Mullins reports: Police have seized thousands of bank account numbers stolen by an identity theft ring and charged six people with 80 criminal offences. Durham Regional Police and the Ontario Provincial Police have been working almost a year to bust up an ATM tampering ring in an operation dubbed Project Kaiser. […] During the…