Andrew Tilghman reports: U.S. troops may be among the most vulnerable Americans to identity theft. That’s because the U.S. military is overusing Social Security numbers and putting at risk troops’ most basic personal information, according to a recent report from several professors at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. It’s been a problem…
Category: Commentaries and Analyses
As 2010 draws to a close, data breach version
A breach involving paper records just became my last breach post for 2010. It seems somehow appropriate, as breaches involving paper records constitute over 20% of breaches I find out about but they’re often not taken as seriously, it seems, as breaches involving large electronic databases. Yet these types of breaches, which often go unreported,…
A tale of two breach responses
Over on The Examiner, Joe Campana compares the way in which two recent breaches involving Wisconsin residents were handled by the respective entities – the Dean and St. Mary’s Hospital breach and a University of Wisconsin breach. For the most part, I agree with Joe’s points, and I think it’s important to emphasize that much…
Army opens probe of its role in WikiLeaks security breach
Nancy A. Youssef reports: The U.S. Army has launched a wide-ranging investigation into how a private allegedly downloaded hundreds of thousands of secret reports and diplomatic cables and handed them to WikiLeaks, McClatchy has learned. The probe could result in a recommendation that other soldiers should face criminal charges in the case. […] The report…
New study shows ID theft exaggerated
Jeff Blyskal writes: If you worry that your identity is at risk of being stolen, a new study by the U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics should set your mind at ease. It confirms that the identity-theft “crisis” has been wildly overblown, as we’ve previously reported. For example, credit- and debit-card fraud accounts…
Ninth Circuit Issues Decision on Article III Standing (Starbucks lawsuit)
Andy Serwin provides background and analysis of yesterday’s Ninth Circuit decision that plaintiffs had Article III standing in a lawsuit stemming from a stolen Starbucks laptop: Standing is a key issue in privacy litigation, and it is an issue related to damages, though courts at times reach conclusions regarding standing that are inconsistent with their findings…