Ian Smith reports: A recent report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) found that IRS employees sent unencrypted emails which contained 8,031 different taxpayers’ personally identifiable information. According to the report, TIGTA found 326 unencrypted emails containing taxpayer data. 275 of the emails were sent internally within IRS, while 51 emails were…
Category: Commentaries and Analyses
LabMD: Is the FTC’s data security joy ride finally coming to an end?
Here’s your must-read today on LabMD’s challenge to the FTC by Gus Hurwitz, who, like this blogger, has been criticizing the FTC’s over-zealous enforcement for the past three years. Unlike this blogger, however, Gus is actually a lawyer. 🙂 When LabMD prevails in the Eleventh Circuit, as I am hopeful they will, I will talk to Gus…
Protenus’s October Breach Barometer is available
As it has done in past months, Protenus has compiled a monthly report on health data breaches in the U.S. that were disclosed during October. Their analyses are based on data and information provided by this site and blogger. Of special note: in the past two months, we have now learned of two incidents affecting at…
NHS patients being put ‘at risk’ because of cybersecurity flaws
Tom Cheshire reports: A Sky News investigation has discovered the NHS trusts putting patients at risk by not protecting their data online. Seven NHS trusts, serving more than two million people, spent nothing on cybersecurity in 2015. Sky News worked with security experts to find serious flaws in their cybersecurity, which could be easily exploited by…
Security Researchers Want to Hide Your Data in ‘Cyberfog’
Michael Byrne reports: The expression “fog of war” refers to the dramatic increase in uncertainty—a decrease in situational awareness—encountered by soldiers and commanders in military operations. Where is the enemy? What does it consist of? Where is my own army in relation? This was a very literal limitation prior to aircraft, and, later, satellite surveillance. Intelligence came…
DCLeaks was a conspiracy to get Trump elected, but wait until you hear these Russian hackers’ motivation!
Sometimes a story just lands in your lap that is so incredible that you can’t believe it, but it’s such a great story that you can’t just ignore it, either. Sometimes you wind up debunking it, sometimes you wind up confirming it, and sometimes, you take the story as far as you can and still…