Kristina Wong reports: News and social media websites have been blocked on some Pentagon workstations Friday to prevent employees and contractors from accessing classified information that was leaked Thursday about a federal program that gathers Internet users’ personal data from the computer servers of Web service providers. U.S. Cyber Command recommended the blocking, which began about 11:30 a.m….
Category: Government Sector
NYS DMV clerk charged with illegal search of DMV records
New York State Inspector General Catherine Leahy Scott announced today that a Seneca County clerk has been charged with illegally accessing the computer records of a local motorist. Patricia I. Bourne, a 56-year-old License Clerk from Waterloo, was charged with 11 felony counts of Computer Trespass and one misdemeanor count of Official Misconduct for repeatedly…
California agencies’ clients vulnerable to ID theft
Shoshana Walter of The Center for Investigative Reporting has a piece on state agency data breaches, here.
Utah DMV reveals data breach discovered in March
Michael McFall reports: A Utah Division of Motor Vehicles employee was fired in March after the agency discovered she allegedly gave out people’s personal information. In response to a Salt Lake Tribune inquiry, DMV spokesman Charlie Roberts confirmed that the agency first learned from the Salt Lake City Fire Department in mid-March that the employee, who was…
Stockton Police Chief Arrested for Identity Theft Stemming from Love Triangle
Another case where someone in law enforcement hacked and misused a law enforcement database for personal reasons? The chief of police is the last person you expect to be arrested, but on Tuesday deputies from the Jo Daviess Sheriff’s Department took Stockton Police Chief Robert Beeter into custody. Beeter’s charges of 16 counts of identity theft…
Data breach puts DHS employees at risk of identity theft
Jason Miller reports: Tens of thousands of current and former Homeland Security Department employees are at risk of identity theft after officials discovered a vulnerability in the vendor’s system for processing background investigations. All DHS employees working in the headquarters office, for the Customs and Border Protection and for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement components…