Izzy Kapnick reports: A $380 million settlement over the 2017 Equifax data breach is hanging in the balance in the 11th Circuit, where a tort-reform attorney argued Tuesday that the deal unfairly lumped all plaintiffs into a single class. During the cantankerous appellate hearing, a three-judge panel weighed whether to preserve the historic settlement arising…
Category: U.S.
Internal Facebook Memo Reveals Company Plan to ‘Normalize’ News of Data Leaks After 500 Million User Breach
Adam Smith reports: A leaked internal Facebook memo has inadvertently revealed the social media giant’s tactics after its recent data scraping controversy. Approximately 535 million accounts, one of which belonged to chief executive Mark Zuckerberg, had their personal information exposed. Online tools allowed anyone to check if their information, which included phone numbers, was revealed. Facebook said it would…
FL: Hackers post 26,000 Broward school files online
Scott Travis reports: Hackers who demanded up to $40 million from the Broward School District have now published nearly 26,000 files stolen from district servers. An initial review by the South Florida Sun Sentinel found a few isolated incidents where confidential student or employee information was released, but none that contained Social Security numbers. The…
School system mistakenly releases names of students, staff with COVID
Jim McConnell reports: The local school system failed to properly redact personal information from a document requested through the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, inadvertently releasing to a parent last week the names of all Chesterfield County Public Schools students and employees who have reported testing positive for COVID-19. Chesterfield resident Grace Olsen, the mother…
Geico admits fraudsters stole customers’ driver’s license numbers for months
Zack Whittaker reports: Geico, the second-largest auto insurer in the U.S., has fixed a security bug that let fraudsters steal customers’ driver’s license numbers from its website. In a data breach notice filed with the California attorney general’s office, Geico said information gathered from other sources was used to “obtain unauthorized access to your driver’s…
Ransomware ‘bull’s eye’ grows, clouding telehealth’s rise in long-term care
Kimberly Mersalas reports: Even as COVID-19 and its emphasis on telehealth have opened providers to greater cybersecurity risks, insurance policies that offer potential protection are becoming more expensive, and in some cases, harder to get. Insurers are issuing 25% to 50% premium increases this year, reflecting a large number of ransomware payouts over the last…