When News3 in Madison, Wisconsin started digging into a breach involving 637 veterans’ Social Security numbers, what they found should have everyone asking the VA some hard questions. Adam Schrager reports: The Social Security numbers of Wisconsin veterans are being sent via email without encryption despite numerous federal laws and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs…
Category: Exposure
Comcast Agrees to Pay $33 Million in Data Breach Settlement for Leaking Thousands of Unlisted Numbers
Kelly Vargas writes: On September 17, 2015, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) approved a $33 million settlement between Comcast, CPUC staff, and the California Attorney General’s office (along with public interest groups TURN and the Greenlining Institute), related to a Comcast data breach that resulted in the personal information (name, address and telephone number) of nearly 75,000 Comcast…
UK: Confidential hospital patient details found lying on public footpath
The Argus reports: Confidential details of 37 patients were discovered lying on a public footpath near a hospital. The information related to patients, many of whom were elderly and vulnerable, being cared for at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton. The papers included patient names, the town where they lived, their treatment and whether they live on…
UK: Marks & Spencer Website Suspended After Customer Data Breach
Tom Jowitt reports: Marks & Spencer temporarily suspended its website on Tuesday night after “technical difficulties” that exposed customer information to other website users. But the British retailer insisted that its website was not hacked by outside third parties, and there is no security risk for affected customers. Read more on TechWeek Europe.
UK: Another ‘data disaster’ at Islington Council after third major breach in four years
James Morris reports: An investigation has been launched after yet another data leak by Islington Council. On Sunday, it emerged personal information about penalty charge notices was freely available on the council’s parking appeals website. Information included scanned cheques, medical information to justify appeals – and even one person’s prison record. It is the council’s…
National University Hospital of Iceland (Landspítali) sued over privacy breach
The Iceland Monitor reports: A Vietnamese national previously denied residence in Iceland owing to suspicions that her marriage was a sham will now be allowed to stay. Controversy has emerged over how the Directorate of Immigration received the information about the couple on which the previous decision to deny residence was based. According to the…