The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has found Warwickshire County Council in breach of the Data Protection Act (DPA) following the theft of two laptops and the loss of a memory stick. The laptops, which were unencrypted and not physically secured or locked away, were stolen from council offices. They held sensitive personal information relating to…
Category: Government Sector
Personal details sent to the wrong family in data security breach
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has found The Highland Council to be in breach of the Data Protection Act after personal data relating to several members of one family was inadvertently disclosed to another unrelated individual. The data contained sensitive information including data relating to the physical and mental health of individuals. The incident occurred…
UK: Foster files left in street on unencrypted USB
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…
(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…
Seven indicted in NYS-DMV ID theft ring
Seven members of an identity fraud ring who allegedly sold more than 200 New York state driver’s licenses and other identification documents in stolen identities, netting more than $1 million, were indicted yesterday in New York. The ring included two New York City-based employees of NYS-DMV. The defendants were previously charged in a Complaint unsealed…
(follow-up) DHEC employee fired after SLED inquiry
As a follow-up to a breach first reported earlier this month , WIS10 in South Carolina reports: A probe into how improperly discarded medical documents from the Department of Health and Environmental Control ended up unshredded at a recycling center has been completed. The State Law Enforcement Division’s inquiry found a DHEC was responsible for…