John Oates reports: ACS:Law has been fined by the Information Commissioner’s Office for failing to follow data protection law. The one-man law firm, which has since ceased trading, won infamy for using IP numbers to accuse people of illegal file-sharing. Victims received a letter offering to settle the claims rather than go to court. But…
Category: Miscellaneous
Laptop stolen from contractor’s car affects 1,700 who sought to adopt children through Catholic Social Services
A stolen laptop containing personal and protected health information of 1,700 clients of Catholic Social Services in Anchorage has resulted in a notification to the U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services and affected clients. According to a notice on the CSS’s web site dated March 30: on February 2nd, CSS learned of a theft that had…
Law enforcement organization hit by hackers
Computer hackers have stolen names, addresses, Social Security numbers and credit card information of about 2,000 retired public safety officers belonging to the Peace Officers Research Association of California, according to a email sent to them on Thursday night. PORAC informed its members that its data server was breached earlier this month. The hackers stole…
IRS Hit With Massive Theft Of Nonprofits’ Identities
William P. Barrett writes: Someone has hijacked the tax identity of more than 2,300 tiny or defunct nonprofits, apparently taking advantage of a hole in a new electronic Internal Revenue Service filing system to list the same person as a charitable official at the same mail box drop in Las Vegas. The charities, most of…
IN: Sensitive information stolen from little league players
Heather MacWilliams reports: Columbus, Ind.— Employees of the Columbus Parks and Recreation Department worked late into the night Wednesday calling the parents of nearly 100 kids who’s most personal information is now in the hands of a complete stranger. It happened after little league manager Jeremy Hurd’s car was broken into while he was shopping…
A few ICO undertakings that flew under the radar
I thought that whenever the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) had an entity sign an undertaking to improve data security or privacy protective practices, the office issued a press release. But thanks to Stewart Room, I’ve learned that that’s not necessarily the case. Stewart alerted us all to a recently signed undertaking that involved a…