In a shocking failure to protect sensitive details about dozens of ongoing criminal investigations, federal officials somehow allowed confidential information about sealed cases to be publicly accessible via the court system’s online lookup service, The Smoking Gun has learned. Over the past nine months, details of 40 separate sealed court applications filed by federal prosecutors…
Category: Exposure
IA: Hacker hits Clive restaurant patrons’ accounts
Clive police are urging central Iowans to keep close eyes on their bank accounts after more than a dozen patrons of a local Mexican restaurant had their bank accounts illegally accessed. Police Lt. John Broderson said roughly 12 to 18 patrons of Qdoba Mexican Grill on University Avenue have reported improper banking transactions “in the…
Texas fires two tech chiefs over breach
Jaikumar Vijayan reports: The Texas State Comptroller’s office has fired its heads of information security and of innovation and technology following an inadvertent data leak that exposed Social Security numbers and other personal information on over 3.2 million people in the state. Two other employees have also been fired over the incident, a statement posted…
IEEE members notified of second breach in as many months
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) describes itself as the world’s largest technical professional organization with over 365,000 members worldwide, but some of its members may be feeling a bit beleaguered after receiving what may be their second breach notice in as many months. In February, the association notified 828 members that an…
CA: “Embarrassing” Files Found Outside Blockbuster
Bob Hansen reports: The Blockbuster store in Mission Valley was being cleaned out for the last time. The video store chain is in bankruptcy and one worker was finishing up at the store. That’s when privacy rights expert Beth Givens happened to walk by and she was shocked by what she found. “A box called…
OH: COTC students’ personal information left unsecured
Jessie Balmert reports: An error sent more that 600 Central Ohio Technical College students’ personal information to storage at Apple Tree Auction Center, where they were left unsecured for less than 24 hours. On March 10, the Student Records Management Office was moving to another location in the same building when an enclosed file cabinet…