Celia Grosble reports: Thousands of Queenstowners’ personal details have been exposed in an “embarrassing” major privacy breach by the district council’s regulatory organisation. Lakes Environmental has inadvertently released, via email, the details of every single complaint it’s received over the past 10 years. Read more on Scene,
Category: Exposure
Glitch on Department of Defense web site exposes retirees’ personal information
Chris Papst reports: A “technical malfunction” is being blamed after some federal retirees had their personal information sent to the wrong people—information like Social Security Numbers and tax statements. Now, some people are terrified their identities could be stolen. […] On Monday morning, the 37-year Department of Defense employee logged into her retirement account, like…
UK: Sensitive personal data exposed in Open Datasets
If at first you don’t succeed, persist. And blog. Jon Baines writes: Imagine, if you will, a public authority which decides to publish as Open Data a spreadsheet of 6000 individual records of adults receiving social services support. Each row tells us an individual service user’s client group (e.g. “dementia” or “learning disability”), age range (18-64, 65-84, 84 and over),…
GA: Brooklet officer fired after security, identity breach
Holli Deal Saxon reports: A former Brooklet police officer fired for sharing information about candidates for the town’s police chief position said he was terminated unfairly and improperly, but the Brooklet city councilman who supervises the police department says the officer was fired for breaking privacy laws. Former police Sgt. Jonathan McGahee was terminated Dec….
‘Burglar’s shopping list’ security flaw fixed
Dave Lee reports: An online service recommended by most of the UK’s police forces has fixed a privacy flaw after being alerted by a security expert. Immobilise allows members of the public to add records to the National Property Register, detailing valuables in their homes. But security consultant Paul Moore discovered a flaw that made it…
Three million Moonpig accounts exposed by flaw
Darren Pauli reports: Custom mugs and tat outfit Moonpig has a signficant flaw that exposes personal records and partial credit card details for some three million customer (sic), almost 18 months after it was reported. The failure, discovered and privately reported by developer Paul Price, meant every account and the names, birth dates, and email and street…