I posted something on this decision earlier today, but David Navetta has such a helpful analysis of the ruling that I wanted to mention it here. His commentary begins: In a significant development that could materially increase the liability risk associated with payment card security breaches (and personal data security breaches, in general), the U.S. Court…
Category: Commentaries and Analyses
UK: Data breaches ‘up 58%’
Matt Warman reports: Data security breaches have risen by 58 per cent in the last year, the Information Commissioner has revealed. Christopher Graham said that although businesses are taking the protection of their customers’ data more seriously, in fact more breaches were being reported and fewer than half of all individuals believe companies treat personal…
MD: Labor Dept. Did Not Protect Personal Information On Computers, Audit Finds
Megan Poinski reports: Personal information about licenses and unemployment – including names, addresses, birth dates, credit card and Social Security numbers – was left relatively unguarded on computers at the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, and may have been targeted for fraud, according to legislative auditors. The audit of DLLR’s Office of the Secretary,…
SEC guidance about coming clean about data breaches
Emma Woollacott reports: The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has ordered companies to disclose security breaches, following a year in which several organizations have been criticized for revealing details late, if at all. “Cyber incidents may result in losses from asserted and unasserted claims, including those related to warranties, breach of contract, product recall and…
Social Security kept silent about private data breach
Thomas Hargrove writes: The Social Security Administration has failed to inform tens of thousands of Americans that it accidentally released their names, dates of birth and Social Security numbers in an electronic database widely used by U.S. business groups. The federal agency has kept silent about a potentially harmful security breach of the personal data…
Hacker attacks against retailers up 43 percent
Angela Moscaritolo reports: Hacks targeting the retail sector have increased 43 percent since last year, largely due to an increase in SQL injection and the use of exploit toolkits, according to researchers at Dell SecureWorks. During the first nine months of 2011, Dell SecureWorks blocked an average of 91,500 attacks per retailer, compared to 63,651…