Akiko Fujita reports: You may want to think twice the next time you skip over those privacy settings online. Government ministries in Japan are playing damage control after accidentally leaking internal emails on Google Groups, unaware that the site’s default settings would make their private conversations public. A spokesman with the Ministry of Environment tells…
Category: Exposure
NC: Page High School employee mistakenly releases 456 students’ information to a parent
Meanwhile, in North Carolina: Personal information, such as grades, phone numbers and home addresses, was mistakenly released for about 456 rising Page High seniors. On Tuesday, a school employee authorized to access the information accidentally released it to a student’s guardian, according to a news release from Guilford County Schools. The employee was answering an…
Statement of Public.Resource.Org on IRS web exposure of tens of thousands of SSNs
From their web site: Public.Resource.Org has discovered that the Internal Revenue Service has posted the Social Security Numbers of tens of thousands of Americans on government web sites. The database in question contains the filings of Section 527 political organizations such as campaign committees. This Section 527 database is an essential tool used by journalists, watchdog groups, congressional staffers,…
UK: Fury as confidential documents found blowing in the wind in Hatfield
Paul Christian reports additional details on a breach mentioned previously on this blog: Confidential documents were found blowing in the wind in Hatfield in “an alarming discovery” by a councillor. The papers, believed to have come from the former county supplies depot in Mount Pleasant Lane, included an employee appraisal form which featured a worker’s…
Confidential Hertfordshire County Council papers ‘found in street’
From BBC: A council has apologised after papers holding personal staff details were found discarded in a street. Liberal Democrat councillor Paul Zukowskyj said he saw Hertfordshire County Council documents outside a former adult care office in Hatfield. Derrick Ashley, cabinet member for resources, said the council apologised and would investigate how it happened. Mr…
Contractor’s “coding loophole” exposed Boston Teachers Union Health & Welfare Fund members’ SSN
A “coding loophole” by its contractor Classic Administrative Services reportedly exposed the names and Social Security numbers of 506 members of the Boston Teachers Union Health & Welfare Fund. The breach was discovered by a member doing a Google Search on April 4, and the notification to those affected does not indicate for how long their data…