The Associated Press reports that a New Hampshire State Prison inmate was found in possession of a list containing details — including social security numbers — of Corrections Department workers. Officials believe that the inmate might have obtained the list when he worked at a warehouse, where a copy of the list was waiting to…
Category: Exposure
Security lapse makes GPAs visible
Some may not consider this a breach, and it involves no financial data. The university pointed out that the exposed data could not be used for ID theft, and they’re probably quite correct in that, but what about FERPA and the privacy of education records? The University [of Oregon] has fixed a security breach in…
Personal data mishandled at Commerce Dept.
The names and Social Security numbers of at least 27,000 Commerce Department employees were exposed to a risk of identity theft following an inappropriate transfer of the personal information in mid-July, according to a letter sent to department employees last week. An employee with the National Finance Center mistakenly sent an Excel spreadsheet containing the…
Medical records found in nurse’s yard
Hundreds of highly confidential medical documents including a parents’ plea for help for her mentally ill daughter have been found dumped in a nurse’s backyard. The documents, found in see-through recycle bags in easy reach of passers-by, contained sensitive information about patients from across South London including names, addresses and whether they had arthritis, bunions,…
Police files found in dumpster
Hundreds, perhaps thousands of personal files from the Scranton Police Department were found unshredded in a dumpster, according to a news story on WNEP. “One or more files that should have been shred were thrown into the dumpster,” said Scranton Director of Public Safety Ray Hayes. He admitted that a mistake was made. Newswatch 16…
Tax-preparation docs found in dumpster
WOIA in Texas reports that San Antonio police are investigating how boxes full of unredacted personal information including Social Security numbers and financial information were sitting in the in the open in a dumpster. All of the paperwork was labeled “Century Income Tax.” WOAI reports that the owner of the firm has not returned any…