Are cases of access in excess of authorization involving federal employees snooping in databases treated too lightly? Levi Pulkkinen reports on a case where some may think that a federal employee who misused access to the IRS database got off too lightly: An IRS worker accused of using the agency’s service database to snoop on her…
Category: Government Sector
UK: Police officer on trial for using files to vet one of his wife’s tenants
A police officer has gone on trial accused of using a police station computer to vet one of his wife’s tenants. Harry To, a constable with Fife Constabulary, is said to have accessed the force’s “Crimefile” computerised recording system without authority on seven occasions. Read more on STV. Long-time readers realize that this is not…
Utah Dept. of Health hacked, over 500,000 700,000 affected and the number’s growing?
Marjorie Cortez provides an update on a breach that started out bad enough last week, and just got a lot worse: Some 280,000 people had their Social Security numbers listed in state health data stolen from a computer server last week, state officials announced Monday, calling the data breach the largest in state history. Another…
KE: Thieves steal computers at Kapsabet law courts
I’ve read a number of news stories recently about burglaries of government offices in various African countries. Here’s one from this week, out of Kenya. Barry Salil reports: Business at the Kapsabet law courts was paralysed for most part of yesterday as police investigated theft of computers and documents at the premises. Thieves are reported…
Sensitive personal information on 800,000 California residents lost between IBM and state office
Steven Harmon reports: In a puzzling breach of security, computer storage devices containing identification information of 800,000 Californians using the state’s child support services have gone missing. The Department of Child Support Service reported on Thursday the data devices were lost March 12 en route to California from the Colorado facilities of IBM, one of…
UK: Data loss by North East councils is revealed
Andrew Glover reports: Widespread personal data loss by North East councils has put thousands of people at risk of identity fraud. Lost laptops, missing memory sticks and bundles of post sent to wrong addresses have put delicate private details in the wrong hands. A Freedom of Information Act request revealed a catalogue of potentially dangerous…