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…
Category: U.S.
NE: Hackers Breach State Database
A hacker has broken into the Nebraska Worker’s Compensation database, prompting an FBI investigation and an effort to contact those who may be affected. Several thousand people could be affected by the breach, which was discovered last week when the state’s chief information officer noticed an unusual amount of Internet traffic traversing the Worker’s Compensation…
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…
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…
Data breach could affect 60,000 GIs, civilians
Jim Tice reports: The Corps of Engineers is investigating the recent loss of an external hard drive that could pose identify theft problems for as many as 60,000 soldiers and Army civilians. Maj. Mark Young, a Corps of Engineers spokesman in Washington, said the security breach occurred in the command’s Southwestern Division, which is headquartered…