Jordan Robertson of Bloomberg News provides media attention to a problem I’ve noted previously on this blog – that Experian suffers a lot of data breaches* where a client’s login is compromised and misused by unauthorized individuals. His coverage will hopefully inform national conversations about transparency, consumer protection, and breach notification. First is the issue…
Category: Commentaries and Analyses
Experian Customers Unsafe as Hackers Steal Credit Report Data
Jordan Robertson reports: When hackers broke into computers at Abilene Telco Federal Credit Union last year, they gained access to sensitive financial information on people from far beyond the bank’s home in west-central Texas. The cyberthieves broke into an employee’s computer in September 2011 and stole the password for the bank’s online account with Experian Plc,…
FTC Finalizes Settlements with Two Businesses that Exposed Consumers Sensitive Information Over P2P Networks
From the FTC, a follow-up to a previously-reported action: Following a public comment period, the Federal Trade Commission has accepted as final settlements with two operations it charged with illegally exposing the sensitive personal information of thousands of consumers by allowing peer-to-peer file-sharing software to be installed on their corporate computer systems. Settlements with Utah-based debt…
Class Actions Adding to the Cost of Data Breaches
Sharon R. Klein and Jeffrey L. Vagle of Pepper Hamilton LLP review what’s going in the federal circuits when it comes to getting potential class action lawsuits over data breaches or privacy breaches dismissed. You can read their article on JD Supra. I’ll take a wild guess and hypothesize that they’re defendants’ lawyers and not…
174 million records compromised in 855 data breach incidents last year, says report
Out-Law.com has a recap of some of the main findings in the 2012 Verizon DBIR: Verizon’s Data Breach Investigations Report (92-page / 3.47MB PDF) (DBIR) covering the year 2011 found that 174 million records were compromised in a total of 855 data breaches in what it called an “an all time low” for protection against data breaches….
Data security flaws part of FTC complaint against Compete
The FTC has been active in going after companies that do not provide adequate data security. Today, they announced that Compete, Inc. had settled charges involving unfair or deceptive practices associated with collecting and sharing personal information of users. Of interest here, however, are the charges in the complaint that relate to data security: Compete’s…