President Truman had a sign on his desk that said, “The buck stops here.” We could use more of that accountability when it comes to data breaches in the education sector. Back in 2006, when I first began blogging about data breaches on PogoWasRight.org, I covered a series of breaches at Ohio University. One of the things that…
Category: Commentaries and Analyses
Employees steal data to make good impression in a new job
ALex Hamilton reports: Almost all employees that steal data from their companies do so in order to gain headway in their new job. An overwhelming 95 per cent of all the internal data theft is carried out by an employee who wants to get an advantage once they’ve left the firm, according to a report…
Denbighshire: Council privacy blunders exposed
The North Wales Daily Post reports: A lost iPad containing confidential minutes and client records that were accidentally destroyed included in a report to be tabled next week A list of addresses were lost in a street and an iPad was left on a plane in a catalogue of Data Protection Act breaches. Minutes of…
Privacy Rights Group Files Legal Challenge To GCHQ’s Extensive Hacking Activities
Tim Cushing reports: Indispensable organization Privacy International has filed a legal challenge against GCHQ’s hacking of computers and devices, seeking to use the UK government’s own Computer Misuse Act against its national security agency. Much like the (frequently maligned) CFAA (Computer Fraud and Abuse Act) here in the US, the CMA prohibits unauthorized access of computers as well as knowingly…
ICO turns teacher with hit-list of top data breach weaknesses
John E. Dunn reports: The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is burnishing its credentials as a centre of best practice by publishing a hit-list of the top security weaknesses it says are the root cause of many of the data breaches it investigates. Protecting Personal Data in Online Services: Learning from the Mistakes of Others serves as…
The Anatomy of an FTC Privacy and Data Security Consent Order
Daniel Solove and Woodrow Hartzog write: The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently entered into a consent order with the media service Snapchat for not living up to its promises about how it maintains the privacy and security of user’s data. The FTC order prohibits Snapchat from “misrepresenting the extent to which it maintains the privacy, security, or confidentiality of…