Data loss, but no seemingly big risk of data misuse: Maharashtra government has lost data of about three lakh people collected under the controversial Aadhaar scheme, mostly from Mumbai who enrolled into the number scheme. According to a report in the Times of India, the data containing permanent account number (PAN) and biometric information was lost…
Category: Government Sector
UK: Personal data breach by police to G4S
Raymond Brown reports: An investigation was launched after private details on a massive scale were sent to controversial contractor G4S. The data breach involving personal information about more than 1,000 ‘backroom’ staff at Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire police happened amid negotiations to privatise services. […] The three forces notified the Information Commissioner’s Office in February…
Miami woman convicted for role in tax refund fraud scheme
Natoya Mashea Handy, 30, of Miami, was convicted on April 12 for her participation in a tax refund scheme using stolen identities. She was one of the 40 people charged in October 2012, as part of law enforcement’s crackdown on tax refund fraud schemes. According to testimony and evidence presented at trial, on or about…
NZ: Privacy breaches revealed
Then again, maybe the government of New Zealand should just stop using all mail altogether – postal and email. Here’s yet another breach: Confidential legal aid details of a Bay man accused of breaching community work were mistakenly sent to a woman in a major privacy breach. The Katikati man’s name, address and what his…
Queenstowners’ personal details leaked in privacy breach
There have been a slew of email gaffes in the New Zealand news recently, so many so that I haven’t posted most of them here. But here’s one that strikes me as pretty inexcusable. Celia Crosble reports: Thousands of Queenstowners’ personal details have been exposed in an “embarrassing” major privacy breach by the district council’s…
EPA acknowledges releasing personal details on farmers, senator slams agency
Joseph Weber reports: The Environmental Protection Agency acknowledged Tuesday that it released personal information on potentially thousands of farmers and ranchers to environmental groups, following concerns from congressional Republicans and agriculture groups that the release could endanger their safety. Read more on FoxNews. The information released reportedly included the names, postal and email addresses, and…