Drew Hansen reports: As we reported, the Office of Personnel Management’s decision not to renew two contracts with Falls Chuch-based US Investigations Services LLC led to the loss of 2,500 jobs. But it might also have set a precedent for how government handles contractor breaches. As a reminder, in July, the background checks division at USIS was…
Category: Government Sector
UK: Swale council blames human error for data protection breach
Hayley Robinson reports: Swale council has been forced to apologise and may face investigation after the email addresses of about 2,500 residents were sent out to the public. A blunder meant they were inadvertently shared on a message promoting an e-billing system. The emails were sent out in batches of 10, containing about 250 contact…
IE: Credit Union private detectives fined €10,500 over data breach
More on the case noted earlier today on this blog, from Independent.ie: The directors of a private detective agency have been fined more than €10,000 for using “subterfuge” to illegally obtain the addresses of credit union clients in arrears. Private detectives posed as a VEC and hospital worker in order to obtain PPS numbers and…
Investigators accessed social welfare information and disclosed to credit unions
From RTÉ: Two directors of a private investigation company have admitted accessing social welfare information and disclosing it to a credit union. Margaret Stuart and Wendy Martin, both directors of MCK Rentals Ltd of Trafalgar Road in Greystones pleaded guilty at Bray District Court today to consenting, conniving or neglecting to stop alleged breaches of…
Major security breach at Dominica Registry
The Dominican reports: Police in Dominica are reporting a major security breach at Dominica’s Central Registry Office with the disappearance of the keys to the institution’s offices. The keys disappeared seemingly into thin air from the Headquarters of the Police Force where it was been held for safe keeping. Chief Registrar Ossie Walsh told the local…
DHS no longer needs permission slips to monitor other agencies’ networks for vulnerabilities
Aliya Sternstein reports: The Department of Homeland Security has spelled out its intentions to proactively monitor civilian agency networks for signs of threats, after agencies arguably dropped the ball this spring in detecting federal websites potentially harboring the Heartbleed superbug. Annual rules for complying with the 2002 Federal Information Security Management Act released Friday require…