Radio New Zealand reports what appears to be a data leak that may have started two years ago: Information about children in the care of Child Youth Family, beneficiaries and contractors employed by the Ministry of Social Development has been freely accessible through public computer kiosks at Work Income offices. Freelance journalist and blogger Keith Ng…
Category: Non-U.S.
UK: Essex County Council ‘sensitive’ data found in building
BBC reports: An investigation is under way into how “sensitive” information belonging to Essex County Council ended up in a disused building. The security breach was one of three “recent” episodes at the Conservative-run council. The Information Commissioner’s Office has confirmed it is investigating the breaches. According to BBC, two of the breaches were “committed…
Ca: Bar and lounge workers warned of potential privacy breach (update1)
Jana G. Pruden reports: Hundreds of employees of the Oil City Hospitality Group are being warned that personal information such as social insurance numbers and birth dates has been “accessed and possibly compromised” after a break-in at the company’s head office this summer. The group owns a number of popular bars and lounges in Edmonton,…
AU: 23,000 Australians had their tax file numbers compromised last year
For perspective, given the massive tax refund fraud/ID theft in the U.S. Isabelle Oderberg reports: Over 23,300 Australians had their tax file number compromised in the 2012 financial year, according to data from the Australian Taxation Office, up from 22,000 last year. “Certainly, the delay in many tax refunds is because they have to go…
UK: ‘Entirely avoidable’ loss of sensitive children’s records leads to penalty for London charity
A social care charity has been served a monetary penalty of £70,000 after highly sensitive information about the care of four young children was lost after being left outside a London home, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) announced today. A social worker, who worked for Norwood Ravenswood Ltd, left the detailed reports at the side of the…
Android app releases 760,000 users’s personal data, contacts online
Adam Westlake reports: A Japanese smartphone app for Android-powered devices has reportedly leaked the personal data of some 760,000 users on the internet. The address book application, Zenkoku Denwacho (“Nationwide Address Book”), was reported to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department on Saturday by NetAgent Co., an information security company, for the breach of user privacy. The application’s developer…