John Eggerton reports that Senator Pat Toomey (R-PA) has introduced the “Data Security and Breach Notification Act of 2013” (S. 1193). Although the bill’s text is not yet available online, it’s reportedly the same bill he introduced last year: In the event of data breaches, “the bill would direct companies possessing personal data to notify…
Category: Commentaries and Analyses
Lawmakers seek credit monitoring for veterans
Kevin Freking of Associated Press reports: A bipartisan group of lawmakers asked the Veterans Affairs Department on Friday to offer credit monitoring to veterans and dependents whose personal information, including birth dates and Social Security numbers, might have been disclosed when its computer systems were hacked. The lawmakers are responding to testimony at a hearing where witnesses said foreign-sponsored…
California agencies’ clients vulnerable to ID theft
Shoshana Walter of The Center for Investigative Reporting has a piece on state agency data breaches, here.
CN: Thousands busted in identity theft cases
China Daily reports: Police have busted 4,382 cases of personal information theft, involving 5 billion pieces ofstolen information, People’s Daily reported Thursday. More than 4,000 suspects have been arrested in three national crackdowns launched in 2012 and 2013, and at least 1,200 gangs selling and buying personal information illegally have been destroyed. More than 200 suspects have been punished for providing, selling and obtaining personal information illegally, and the rest face punishment. That’s impressive. I wish I could find the article on People’s Daily, but haven’t been able to track it down yet.
FTC Fires Back In Lawsuit Against Wyndham
Brent Kendall reports: The Federal Trade Commission is offering a strong defense of its powers to police cybersecurity practices against a challenge by Wyndham Worldwide Corp. We wrote about Wyndham’s challenge earlier this month in a case involving attacks by hackers on the hotel chain’s computer systems between 2008 and 2010. The FTC sued Wyndham last year…
Are TerraCom and YourTel the poster children for how NOT to respond to a breach?
Isaac Wolf reports: A month ago, two phone carriers participating in a federal benefit program were alerted that sensitive customer records, including Social Security numbers and bank-account records, were freely posted online. Now, Oklahoma-based TerraCom Inc. and affiliate YourTel America Inc. — the companies that collected the records — say they don’t plan to notify…