Mark Hawthorne of The Brisbane Times reports: A security breach has allowed confidential Westpac shareholder information to be included in an official document published on the Australian Securities Exchange website. A document Westpac released to the ASX in March contains the security holder reference numbers (SRN) and holder identification numbers (HIN) of up to 20…
Category: Exposure
NZ: Police investigate alleged leak from DNA database
Police are investigating a claim an Environmental Science and Research worker has made an “inappropriate disclosure” from the national DNA profile databank. ESR said today a criminal investigation had started. “A staff member has been suspended pending the outcome of the police and internal investigations,” a spokeswoman said. The alleged security breach was the first…
Follow-up: No charges will be filed for improper disposal of medical records
The Catoosa County News provides a follow-up on a case I had reported here: The family member of the doctor whose sensitive medical records were found in a dumpster in Hixon, Tenn., two weeks ago will not be charged with any crime. According to Jerri Weary, public information officer with the Chattanooga Police Department: The…
OIS Commentary: Is this really necessary?
Capstone Dental Center, PC (dba Arnerident Dental Associates) recently notified (pdf) the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office that an email address for one doctor was typed incorrectly. As a result, attachments containing unencrypted dental information and the Social Security number of one patient were sent to the email address of a dairy farmer located in…
IL: Confidential CPS Documents Found Dumped in Alley
Erin Mendez and Sean Leidigh of WGNTV report: Years of CPS [Chicago Public Schools] student’s confidential, sealed records somehow made their way to a Lakeview alley early this morning. “I came upon my dumpster, totally filled. See this box? Sped –special education records..Lakeview,” said Art Kuesel, who found the documents behind his home. Inside, he…
OK: Medical files found in a dumpster
Meg Alexander of KFOR in Oklahoma reports that hundreds of medical files containing Social Security number and medical records from the office of from Dr. David Cavallaro, a podiatrist, were found in a dumpster. Oklahoma reportedly has no law governing disposal of medical files. Now if there was a national data protection law that required…