Noel Towell reports: Federal privacy authorities have been called in after Centrelink left revealing personal and financial details of clients lying around at a suburban railway station last month. Documents containing details of 23 clients’ full financial disclosures, including bank account numbers and details of property holdings, superannuation and investments, were left by an official…
Category: Government Sector
IE: Dirty tricks at centre of credit union snooping
Niall O’Connor reports on a major case of social engineering: Sensitive personal data, including addresses and job details, was handed over by the Department of Social Protection after just one phone call from private investigators pretending to be State officials. The underhand tactics used to extract confidential information from a leading State agency is revealed…
Former Georgia deputy sentenced in identity theft plot
Phil W. Hudson reports: Sean Lydell Street, 39, a former Richmond County, Ga., Deputy Sheriff, was sentenced Aug. 12 to two years in prison for stealing personal identification information to be used as part of a fraudulent tax refund scheme. Street worked for the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office from 2007 through 2012 and during the…
PA: Investigation urged of security breach in Fayette County computer system
Mary Pickels reports: Fayette County Commissioner Angela Zimmerlink said on Tuesday that further investigation is needed into an alleged security breach caused when Commissioner Al Ambrosini directed IT department head Kebin Holbert to increase access to the county computer system for a financial consultant working for the county. Referring to a letter from acting Controller…
Hackers get thousands of government workers’ info from Healthways subcontractor
Andrea Zelinski reports: Personal information on more than 60,000 government employees who participated in Tennessee’s employee health screenings may be at risk for identity theft, according to state officials. An unknown source hacked into Onsite Health Diagnostics’ computer system, according to spokeswoman Lisa MacKenzie. Information like employees’ name, date of birth, address, email address, phone…
SEC failed to guard sensitive information
Kevin Cirilli reports: An internal government report obtained by The Hill says the Securities and Exchange Commission has failed to properly guard sensitive nonpublic information. [READ INSPECTOR GENERAL REPORT.] The report from the SEC’s Inspector General says the agency failed to clear the room during non-public executive session votes of the five-member board. It also…