The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has found Redstone Mortgages Ltd in breach of the Data Protection Act (DPA) after personal information relating to 15,333 mortgage accounts was emailed to a member of the public by mistake. The information, which included personal data relating to individuals’ arrears or possession proceedings, was sent to Redstone’s head office…
Category: Breach Incidents
Ca: Alarming breach in privacy investigated at London school
An armload of personal documents — health records and criminal record checks among them — was found carelessly tossed out by a private vocational school in London, an alarming breach of security, the school’s director says. The bulk of the documents included criminal record checks, transcripts, diplomas, doctors’ notes, immunization and vaccination forms, health card…
HHS starts to reveal healthcare breaches reported to government
When HITECH was passed as part of the stimulus bill, it introduced new data breach notification requirements, including a requirement that breaches of unsecured personal health information held by covered entities or their business associates affecting more than 500 individuals be reported to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. The requirement was somewhat…
Equifax offers employees free Equifax credit monitoring after SSN exposed in mailing gaffe
After Equifax recently sent out IRS W-2 statements to most of its current employees and some former employees, they discovered that some employees’ control ID numbers were partially or completely viewable in the return address window of the envelope used by the payroll vendor. In an unspecified number of cases for U.S. employees, the control…
Widespread Data Breaches Uncovered by FTC Probe
The Federal Trade Commission has notified almost 100 organizations that personal information, including sensitive data about customers and/or employees, has been shared from the organizations’ computer networks and is available on peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing networks to any users of those networks, who could use it to commit identity theft or fraud. The agency also has…
(follow-up) Cops say suspected data thief continued spending while awaiting trial
George Warren reports: A data breach involving 29,500 Northern California Kaiser Permanente employees discovered a year ago has led to at least 400 Kaiser employees becoming victims of identity theft, according to criminal investigators. Detectives said the woman accused of stealing the personnel files continued to victimize employees even while she awaited trial. Mia Garza,…