Kate Connolly reports: A 20-year-old man has admitted to police he was behind one of the country’s biggest data breaches in which the private details of almost 1,000 public figures were leaked. The man, who lives with his parents in the central German state of Hesse and is still in the education system, told police…
Category: Government Sector
A former NSA contractor accused of stealing a treasure trove of data offers to plead guilty to data theft
Scott Shane has an update on the case of former NSA contractor Harold T. Martin, who is potentially facing more than 100 years in prison when you start adding up all the felony counts: A veteran cybersecurity specialist for the National Security Agency and other intelligence organizations, accused of taking thousands of secret documents home…
Detroit Fire Department personal information compromised after fire at former training school
Jason Colthorp reports: Firefighters are upset over what they claim they found at a place where many of them learned their trade. In this age of identity theft, no one wants to find their own personal information sitting out in the open, but that’s what some of Detroit’s bravest said turned up after a fire at the former…
Ca: RMOW says municipal website subject to security breach
Brandon Barrett reports: The Resort Municipality of Whistler (RMOW) is reporting that its municipal website, whistler.ca, has been breached—but it assured the public that the situation has been resolved. In a release sent Friday afternoon, the RMOW said that the breach, which was first discovered Dec. 28, appears to be an attempt to redirect web…
California Department of Insurance Vulnerability Potentially Exposed Thousands of SSN and Other Personal Information
DataBreaches.net was recently contacted by an Indian cybersecurity firm, Banbreach, about a vulnerability involving the California Department of Insurance site. According to Banbreach, they notified the California Department of Insurance (CDI) that interactive.web.insurance.ca.gov was hosting an oracle reporting server that had generated more than 24,450 reports in the prior 24 hours. Most of the reports…
German politicians’ data published online in massive breach
Hans-Edzard Busemann and Tassilo Hummel report: Personal data and documents from hundreds of German politicians and public figures have been published online, in what appears one of the most far-reaching cyber attacks in a country that has become a target of choice for hackers. It was unclear if the breach, which triggered an emergency meeting of…