Elaine Edwards reports: Three large insurance companies have pleaded guilty to illegally using social welfare information on individuals which they obtained through a private investigator. FBD, Zurich and Travelers Insurance all pleaded guilty to 10 sample charges each after they were prosecuted for breaches of the Data Protection Act. The prosecutions followed a complaint from…
Category: Government Sector
Update: Texas pays for data breach
Kelley Shannon provides an update on one of the biggest breaches in 2011: The taxpayer tab for individual credit monitoring after a data breach in Comptroller Susan Combs’ office has topped $600,000, and Combs’ campaign is paying extra to resolve routine credit glitches in some cases. Though investigations continue into the data exposure revealed in…
Mobile Hack Update
Here’s a fuller version of the Associated Press report on a breach previously reported on this blog: … Mobile city spokeswoman Barbara Drummond said Utah authorities alerted officials Thursday night that hackers may be targeting the city. She told The Associated Press that the city shut down its computers to avoid the attack and that…
UK: Five councils, a youth charity, and a healthcare provider sign undertakings following data breaches
Five councils breached the Data Protection Act by failing to keep people’s personal information secure, Information Commissioner, Christopher Graham, said today: Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council breached the Data Protection Act on four separate occasions during a two month period last year. The breaches included an incident in May when an individual was mistakenly sent…
Alabama and Texas law enforcement sites fall to hackers (updated)
Hackers who have previously targeted police department or law enforcement-related web sites have struck three more sites in the past few days – one in Texas and two in Alabama: The Alabama Department of Public Safety (dps.alabama.gov) was hacked by @cabincr3w and w0rmer. Seven spreadsheets with information on sex offenders and limited information on the victims…
UK: Contractor breach affected a number of councils’ employees
A leak previously noted on this blog may have affected a number of councils’ employees. Chris Murphy reports that Medway Council is the latest council to reveal its employees’ data have been exposed on the Internet. Council staff and bosses have been left fuming after sensitive personal information was leaked online – sparking a major…