Over the years, this site has noted reports of misuse of law enforcement databases by police employees. Here’s a report from Australia. Greg Miskelly and Peta Doherty report: An ABC investigation has exposed privacy breaches of the central police records database that holds files on millions of Australians. The Computerised Operational Policing System (COPS) database…
Category: Insider
High school student charged with computer hack to change attendance records: police
Ron Zeitlinger reports: A 17-year-old student at Ferris High School in Jersey City has been charged with computer-related offenses after school district officials found that a number of students’ attendance records had been altered. The Jersey Journal reported last week that at least one Ferris High School student gained access to the system and reduced…
Desjardins hit with two class action suits after security breach
The Canadian Press reports: One day after announcing personal information on 2.9 million of its members had been illegally transferred to a third party, Mouvement Desjardins is being targeted by two class action suits. Filed Friday in Superior Court, one of the suits, filed by the law firm of Siskinds Desmeules on behalf of a…
Ex-Senate aide sentenced to 4 years in prison for data leak
Matthew Daly of AP reports: A former congressional staffer was sentenced to four years in prison Wednesday after pleading guilty to illegally posting online the home addresses and telephone numbers of five Republican senators who backed Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination. Jackson A. Cosko, a former computer systems administrator in the office of Sen. Maggie…
Desjardins: Rogue employee caused data breach for 2.9 million members
Frédéric Tomesco reports: More than 2.9 million Desjardins Group members have had their personal information compromised in a data breach targeting Canada’s biggest credit union. The incident stems from “unauthorized and illegal use of internal data” by an employee who has since been fired, Desjardins said Thursday in a statement. Computer systems were not breached,…
Jury awards patient $300k after hospital employee improperly accessed and shared her records
This is the kind of insider breach that makes patients lose confidence in hospitals. I am not surprised that the jury came down hard on the hospital. Of the $300,000 award, $295,000 is punitive damages against the hospital for not doing anything against the doctor when they were made aware of the problem. A Coffee…