From the Canadian Press: Authorities say a Canada Post employee was arrested after 75 filled-out passport applications collected by Human Resources Minister Diane Finley’s office were allegedly stolen. A 28-year-old man from the Gatineau, Que., area was arrested Nov. 6 and released, Const. Isabelle Poirier said Thursday. Police recovered passport applications from Ontario and some…
Category: Government Sector
Many More Government Records Compromised in 2009 than Year Ago, Report Claims
Hilton Collins reports: If you’re bummed about the data in your department that just got breached, you have some cold comfort. Although the combined number of reported data breaches in the government and the military has dropped in 2009 compared to last year, many more records were compromised in those breaches, according to recent figures…
UK: Navy to investigate security breach
Henry McDonald reports: Royal Navy investigators flew to Belfast last week after a memory stick containing “restricted” information on naval manoeuvres and personnel around the UK was reported missing. The Observer has learnt that two senior detectives from the Royal Navy Police’s Special Investigation Branch met members of the Police Service of Northern Ireland to…
UK: Laptop Theft Debated by Councillors
A four-day lapse between council staff realising a laptop containing nearly 15,000 postal voter details was missing and reporting it to police was called into question last week. A preliminary report containing the chronology of events surrounding the theft of the laptop – which contained names, addresses, dates of birth and signatures – was put…
Navy Finds Lessons In Stolen Laptops, Storage Drives
J. Nicholas Hoover reports: The Navy received a report earlier this year of what appeared to be a serious cyber attack. The breach turned out to be less damaging than feared, but the incident served as a reminder that external storage drives shouldn’t be overlooked as a security risk, even though USB thumb devices got…
OR: State mistake puts personal data at risk
Alan Gustafson reports: Sloppy handling of confidential records by a state agency in Salem left people’s names, Social Security numbers, ages and addresses exposed in an open recycling bin outdoors. The blunder by the Housing and Community Services agency put low-income, elderly and disabled residents at risk of becoming targets of identity theft or other…