Nicole Hasham reports: Former immigration minister Scott Morrison presided over an “unfair” investigation that ensured asylum seekers were unsuccessful in showing a serious data bungle made it more dangerous to return home, the Federal Court has found. The privacy breach, when the Immigration Department published online the confidential details of almost 10,000 asylum seekers, raised the prospect that…
Category: Government Sector
Iron Tiger Campaign Stolen ‘Terabytes’ of Data in APAC and US
Phil Muncaster reports: Security researchers have discovered another advanced China-based targeted attack campaign which shifted its focus from APAC targets in 2013 to steal up to terabytes of data from hi-tech US government contractors. “Emissary Panda” or “Threat Group-3390 (TG-3390)” launched its Iron Tiger campaign in 2010, spying on political targets and government agencies in…
UK: Essex police officer dismissed for gross misconduct
SFP reports: A panel chaired by Assistant Chief Constable Maurice Mason found that Dc Lee Pollard, who was based in the Child Abuse Investigation Team, had breached standards of behaviour in relation to honesty and integrity and confidentiality. In October 2013, he accessed, copied and disclosed another officer’s computerised application for a job promotion without…
Veterans Administration reports fewer HIPAA breaches in August
Wow. The August, 2015 report by the Veterans Administration to Congress is probably the best I’ve ever seen from them. Although they reported some incidents involving accidental disclosure from mis-mailings, etc., I don’t see even one incident affecting multiple individuals. Well done, VA!
Kremlin Website Hit By ‘Powerful’ Hack During Elections
RFERL reports: Hackers made a “very powerful” attack on the Kremlin website on September 13, the Russian government said on September 14. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov linked the attack to regional elections in Russia over the weekend in which the opposition sought to challenge government-allied politicians in Kostroma Oblast, the one region it was allowed…
Former Tampa PD employee indicted on fraud charges, misuse of police database
Elaine Silvestrini reports that Tonia Bright, a former Tampa Police civilian employee, has been indicted on charges that involve her misusing police databases to support a fraud scheme. Bright had retired last year. A search warrant affidavit filed last month said detectives were told that Bright’s friend, Rita Girven, drove around Tampa looking for older…