I just read an interesting news piece related to the previous blog entry on the black market sale of personal information in Japan. It seems that Japan’s personal information protection law which went into effect in 2005 created the market, and one group made almost $11 million using employees of numerous companies to provide the…
Category: Non-U.S.
JP: Suspects arrested in data leak probe made 100 million yen selling personal info
The Mainichi reports: A group of eight men under arrest for illegally obtaining and leaking personal information raked in nearly 100 million yen by selling information from family registries they had illegally obtained over the past five years, investigative sources said. But the 100 million yen – U.S. $1,282,780.00 – wasn’t their only profits. According…
AU: Thousands siphoned in bank ID scam
Peter Bodkin reports on an insider breach in the financial sector: Three men who committed a “sophisticated” identity-theft scam siphoned thousands of dollars from the accounts of unsuspecting bank customers using confidential inside information. Jason Urrutia, 36, an IT manager with five years experience at the Commonwealth Bank used his role with the company to…
NZ: IRD says sorry for privacy breach
Inland Revenue has apologised after personal details for just under 30 customers were incorrectly released. Deputy Commissioner Service Delivery Arlene White said a preliminary internal investigation indicated last week’s incident may have been caused by a manual handling error. “We have contacted the recipient of this information and our highest priority is the return…
UK: Crown Prosecution Service grovels after leaking IDs of hundreds arrested during student riots
Jane Fae Ozimek reports: A botched response to a Freedom Of Information Act request could be about to cost the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) dear. Prosecutors have issued grovelling apologies after revealing the identities of over a hundred people who were arrested during the tuition-fee riots but subsequently released without charge. […] The CPS provided…
Breach disclosure ‘inevitable’ for Singapore data protection law
Ellyne Phneah reports: Public disclosure and notification of companies’ security breaches will “inevitably” be part of discussions in future amendments to Singapore’s upcoming Data Protection Act, as the country looks to keep in line with more mature jurisdictions. Read more on ZDNet.