Back in 1970, Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross wrote On Death and Dying, a now-classic book that identified five stages of grieving and emotions that terminally ill patients go through. Adam Frucci has adapted that to the five stages of data loss grief: So your hard drive just died, and you didn’t back it up. I’m so,…
Category: Commentaries and Analyses
IRS security faults leave taxpayer information at risk
Michael Cooney reports: In this the heavy tax season where billions of dollars and tons of personal information is relayed to and from the government, it’s more disconcerting to hear that the Internal Revenue Service is still struggling to keep private information secure. A report out today from watchdogs at the Government Accountability Office says…
20 Banking Breaches So Far in 2010
Linda McGlasson of bankinfosecurity.com reports: There have been 171 reported data breaches so far in 2010, and 20 of these involve financial services companies. This means that in less than one quarter of the year, we already have seen nearly one-third of the 62 banking-related breaches reported in all of 2009. The rest of the…
Aronberg expresses concern over security of state employee data
Bill Cotterell reports from Florida: A lawmaker Thursday demanded to know how a $248-million personnel contract got renewed with a Convergys operation recently sold to a British firm. The Department of Management Services assured Sen. David Aronberg that security of state employee data, and operation of Tallahassee and Jacksonville service centers, will continue unchanged. Aronberg,…
Audit: Some sensitive data at ISU not adequately secured
Kurt Erickson reports: State auditors say lax security at Illinois State University could have allowed university credit card accounts, personal health information and employee Social Security numbers to get into the wrong hands. In a report on the university’s financial practices for the year ending in June 2009, Illinois Auditor General Bill Holland said auditors…
Wickenburg Unified School District struggles to secure sensitive student data
Pat Kossan reports that data security in the Wickenburg Unified School District was found seriously lacking in a state audit: Wickenburg Unified School District has not secured its computer system containing sensitive student data, including student addresses, birth dates and Social Security numbers, state auditors found. Staffers from the Arizona Office of the Auditor General…