John Byrne and Hal Dardick report: Chicago election board officials confirmed Tuesday that sensitive personal information for about 1,200 people was exposed online but denied allegations by a computer security firm that the breach was much broader. The firm, Forensicon, announced it uncovered the problem while researching voting patterns. It alleged that personal information of…
Category: Government Sector
Strategizing the lawsuit against South Carolina
While I was offline, the lawsuit(s?) apparently commenced against South Carolina over their monster data breach. According to Meg Kinnard of Associated Press, however, plaintiffs might receive only a matter of pennies, as the state limits/caps how much a state agency can pay out for a breach, and that cap is $600,000. It may…
Salinas Valley State Prison staff notified of intranet breach
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has been notifying employees of a data breach affecting staff at Salinas Valley State Prison. From their letter describing the intranet exposure: We are writing to you because of an information security incident at Salinas Valley State Prison (SVSP) involving your personal information. On September 26, 2012 it was…
Some updates on the South Carolina Dept. of Revenue breach
Some updates while I was offline due to Hurricane Sandy. Well, I’m still without power, and our street is still impassable and yet another storm is due in two days, but thankfully the library is open and I can keep warm here for a bit each day… From the I-was-waiting-for-this dept.: Security experts blew raspberries…
Illinois nursing home residents’ data stolen
Associated Press reports: The personal information of 508 Illinois nursing home residents was inside a stolen briefcase, prompting the state agency overseeing Medicaid to notify the people affected by the breach. The Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services announced the incident Friday. A statement from the department says the briefcase was stolen Aug. 31 from the…
UK: Council guilty of data breach by posting identities online
A council has been accused of putting residents who report litter and graffiti at risk from the perpetrators after the authority breached data protection laws by posting online the identities of those providing the tip-offs. Data protection watchdogs at the Information Commissioner’s Office have deemed that York Council has broken guidelines after it emerged the authority’s online…