When an employee of J.M. Smucker needed assistance on a human resources project, the employee e-mailed the data to a relative who’s a computer programmer for help. Unfortunately, although the programmer’s server is reportedly a secure server, the programmer is not an employee of Smucker’s. Smucker discovered the breach itself through its own monitoring, and…
Category: Exposure
FL: Error Puts Private College Data Online
Until Friday, the names, addresses, Social Security and driver’s license numbers of hundreds of people associated with Edward Waters College were accessible to anyone doing a Google or Yahoo search. In what college officials admit was a mistake, the information in faxes sent to EWC from employees and potential students was available online because the…
Los Angeles Firemen’s CU Has Data Breach
David Morrison reports: The $889 million Los Angeles Firemen’s Credit Union has notified some of its more than 28,000 members that private information may have been compromised. The May 10 letter from CEO Michael Maestro said that “an extremely small percentage” of member files were “not properly moved” when the CU relocated from an old…
VA: Personal info accidentally released by Campbell schools
Jessie Pounds reports: Campbell County Schools inadvertently released “personally identifiable material” as part of a response to a Freedom of Information Act request, Superintendent Robert Johnson said Wednesday. Darryl Whitesell, an attorney and Gladys Elementary School parent, said he received a document that appeared to include school employee names, schools and full Social Security numbers,…
Personal cellphone data ends up for sale at Mexico flea market
Tracy Wilkinson reports: When the government launched a nationwide campaign to register cellphones, millions of Mexicans refused. And thousands of others registered with a familiar name: Felipe Calderon, the country’s president…. Some said they were convinced that the government would use the information to spy on dissidents or anyone else out of favor. Others said…
IRS Divulges Personal Taxpayer Information
The Internal Revenue Service does not always properly authenticate the identity of taxpayers calling its toll-free assistance lines before providing them with confidential tax account information, according to a new government report. The report, by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, found that taxpayers who call the IRS-toll-free lines are at risk of having…