As noted here and elsewhere, the number of breaches reported in the media and other sources declined in 2009 relative to 2008, but newly obtained data suggests that once again, there was much that we did not know. During the period September 1 – December 31, 2009, 141 breach reports were received by the…
Category: Government Sector
(follow-up) St Albans laptop theft suspect released
Alex Lewis reports: The man arrested for stealing a laptop computer containing the addresses of thousands of people in St Albans has been released by police without charge. The 35-year-old Stevenage man, employed by a contractor providing computer services to the authority, was arrested in October after it emerged that a computer with the personal…
VA cops investigated for privacy violation
William R. Levesque reports: The door was supposed to be locked. It wasn’t. Two officers patrolling the Bay Pines VA Medical Center stepped inside. They found a stack of papers that should have been locked away. Some contained private patient information — Social Security numbers, treatment information, patient addresses. To figure out who could be…
More than 200 FFD workers warned personal info may be compromised
Minna Sugimoto reports: More than 200 Federal Fire Department workers are being advised to look for unusual activity on their bank accounts, after allegations that an employee wrongfully accessed their personal information. Navy officials in Hawaii launched an investigation after receiving an anonymous complaint that personal data was being compromised. Top brass at the Federal…
(follow-up) Leak of Atlanta firefighter data due to filesharing
Some additional information on a leak involving personal information on some Atlanta firefighters suggests that the files wound up on the Internet due to a filesharing program. As interesting, some city officials first found out about the leak during a security workshop where a presenter used the data as an example of what you can…
No Child Left Inside Site Shut Down; Investigation Pending
Amanda Falcone reports from Connecticut: The state Department of Environmental Protection has ordered its contractor to shut down nochildleftinside.org because someone hacked into the web site. The web site is associated with the state’s No Child Left Inside initiative, which was established to encourage families to enjoy the outdoors, and it is a place where…