Suncoast News reports that “reams” of personal information, including employment applications, Social Security numbers, and driver’s license numbers, have been found carelessly dumped in a Sarasota dumpster by someone from Westaff Employment, a company that appears to be closed. I expect we will see even more of such reports as small businesses (or large ones) go…
Category: Exposure
TX: Loan documents found in trash
Deborah Wingley of ABC News reports that boxes filled with loan documents containing personal information, including names and Social Security numbers, were found in the trash. The loan applications were taken by Royce Homes. The state is investigating.
LifeWatch notifies patients of exposed data
LifeWatch Corp., a company specializing in ambulatory health monitoring, has notified (pdf) the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office that due to a configuration error, some patient files were available on public areas of their web site for about three weeks last month. Personal information in the exposed files included the patients’ names, dates of birth,…
UK: ICO takes action against Camden PCT for data blunder
From the Information Commissioner’s Office: The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has taken enforcement action against Camden Primary Care Trust (PCT) following a breach of the Data Protection Act. Computers containing 2,500 individuals’ names, addresses and medical diagnoses were left beside a skip inside the grounds of St. Pancras Hospital in August 2008. The computers, which…
Ca: Retailer resells computer drive full of personal files
Sarah Schmidt of Canwest News Service reports that a Staples Business Depot store in Ottawa sold a returned computer hard-drive on clearance that contained hundreds of personal files on it. Although businesses have responsibility to protect information under PIPEDA, Staples has a warning on all of its receipts that says, “Customers are responsible for the…
CA: Security breach at SCC inspires shredding changes
Sarah Rohrs reports that a computer printout containing the names, addresses and Social Security numbers of students in the 2008 graduating class of Solano Community College accidentally got mixed in with scrap paper used in a mathematics lab. The college believes it recovered all of the pages.