Staff at one of the UK’s major mobile phone companies sold on millions of records from thousands of customers, the information watchdog says. Christopher Graham told the BBC that brokers had bought the data and sold it on to other phone firms, who called the customers as contracts neared expiry. The suspected trade emerged after…
Category: Breach Incidents
Starbucks Data Breach Plaintiffs Try Their Luck in the Ninth Circuit
From The Short Names blog: A lost laptop computer containing the personal information of Starbucks employees prompted a class action lawsuit against Starbucks (in Washington). The lawsuit received some coverage (see, for example Bob McMillan here, and Starbucks Gossip here), but the trial court’s dismissal of the lawsuit received almost no coverage. (I mentioned the…
Update: Stolen BCBS hard drives had data on 2 million insured
This is a follow-up to an incident first reported here. Dennis Ferrier reports: One of Tennessee’s largest holders of personal information confirms that an October theft from a Chattanooga office affects about 2 million of its clients. Blue Cross Blue Shield said 68 computer hard drives that contained Social Security numbers and other sensitive information…
UK: Addresses and signatures taken from St Albans council offices
Alex Lewis reports: Four laptops containing the personal details and signatures of more than 14,000 St Albans people have been stolen from the district counil, the Review can reveal. District council officials realised last week that a laptop containing the names, addresses and dates of birth of 14,673 people – everyone who applied for a…
Personal data of Cal Poly Pomona applicants inadvertently put online
The Social Security numbers, home addresses and phone contacts for at least 300 students who applied for admission to Cal Poly Pomona six years ago were unintentionally disclosed online, the university said today. The applicants were notified this week and urged to contact credit-reporting agencies, school official said. The personal information, which did not include…
EFI victims’ bank account numbers released
Karen Velie reports: In the age of rampant identity theft, San Luis Obispo County officials, in a recent mailing to Estate Financial Inc. (EFI) victims, deliberately placed some investor bank account numbers on the outside of envelopes they mailed to the victims through their financial institutions. “My bank called me and said that they had…