People in the U.K. may wish to make excuses for councils having breaches – e.g., “It’s just a few retired folks who mean well,” but I am fed up with the breaches of sensitive information that councils are responsible for. Consider this report today from the BBC: Hundreds of sensitive documents have been found in…
Category: Government Sector
Ola employee accused of data theft from Aadhaar website
The Business Standard reports: The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has registered a case with the Bengaluru Police against Abhinav Srivastava and Qarth Technologies Pvt Ltd for misusing Aadhaar data obtained from its website without any authentication. Chennai-based Qarth Technologies was acquired by India’s largest taxi aggregator Ola in March last year, to help…
D.C. Mistakenly Disclosed Confidential Information Of Homeless Residents To Advocacy Group
Martin Austermuhle reports: The D.C. Department of Human Services says it mistakenly disclosed confidential information of close to 1,500 households receiving housing assistance to a homeless advocacy group, which then used the information to contact those people directly — a move that the city agency says was unethical, but that the group defends as being in the…
2 ministers leave Swedish Cabinet in wake of security breach
The Associated Press reports: In a bid to avert a government crisis, Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven on Thursday reshuffled his minority Cabinet, replacing two members, after opposition parties demanded the ouster of three government ministers over one of the largest security breaches in the country’s history. Lofven says the heads of the interior and…
Huge Swedish Data Leak Punished With (Only?) Half a Month’s Paycheck
Catalin Cimpanu reports: The Swedish government has exposed sensitive details on millions of citizens in one of the biggest government screw-ups ever, and the official responsible for the whole fiasco was fined only half of her’s monthly salary, which is 70,000 Swedish krona — or around $8,500. The leak happened in September 2015, when the…
Alabama Man Indicted in Alleged $19 Million Stolen Identity Refund Fraud Scheme
A federal grand jury sitting in Montgomery, Alabama returned an indictment, which was unsealed, charging a Phenix City, Alabama resident with conspiring to file fraudulent refund claims, mail fraud, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, announced Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and Acting U.S. Attorney A….