Paul Kunert reports: Two former workers at roadside assistance provider RAC were this week given suspended sentences after illegally copying and selling tens of thousands of lines of personal data on people involved in accidents. Debbie Okparavero, 61, of Salford, and Maliha Islam, 51, of Manchester, had worked as customer services specialists at RAC’s call…
Category: Insider
School districts in Illinois, Louisiana, and Texas all recently reported breaches
School districts in Illinois, Louisiana, and Texas have all recently reported data security incidents. One involved insider wrongdoing, while the other two appear to be external incidents. In Illinois, Sydney Sinks reports: A recent data breach in Bethalto Community Unit School District #8 targeted Superintendent Dr. Jill Griffin, according to the school district. On Oct….
Former Epsilon Senior Executive and Sales Manager Both Sentenced for Selling Data on Millions of U.S. Consumers to Fraudsters
Here is yet another case that reminds us of the insider threat. In this case, the defendants misused Epsilon’s algorithms to predict and sell lists of consumers most likely to respond to fraudster’s schemes’ mailings. Epsilon settled its criminal liability via a deferred prosecution agreement to pay $150 million in penalties and victim compensation and…
VA staff got into Vance, Walz medical files, sparking investigation
Today’s reminder of the insider threat, as reported by The Washington Post: At least a dozen employees at the Department of Veterans Affairs improperly accessed the medical records of vice-presidential nominees JD Vance and Tim Walz this summer, VA investigators found, in a violation of federal health privacy laws that is under criminal investigation. VA…
IRS Information Technology Supervisor Pleads Guilty to Accepting Bribes from Government Subcontractor Whom He Attempted to Extort
Today’s insider-wrongdoing example comes to us from the government sector. The Office of Public Affairs for the U.S. Department of Justice issued the following press release: A Maryland man pleaded guilty yesterday to accepting cash bribes in exchange for helping acquaintances and their businesses procure and continue work on subcontracts with the IRS. According to…
Ex-Police Scotland employee charged with 44 data breaches
Today’s reminder of the need to control and regularly audit employee access to personal information comes to us from Erin Maguire in Scotland: A FORMER member of Police Scotland staff is due to stand trial after she denied 44 charges of illegally accessing the personal data of dozens of people over a period spanning four…