Una McCaffrey reports: Phoenix Ireland, a life and pensions company, has admitted it may have lost the personal details of about 50,000 current and former customers. The possible data loss also affects a small number of people who contacted the company, formerly Scottish Provident Ireland, but did not take out a policy. In letters sent…
Category: Non-U.S.
Gaffe reveals civil servants’ exit plans
Ian Swanson reports: The Scottish Government has issued an apology after it inadvertently revealed the identities of more than 100 civil servants negotiating severance packages for themselves. An e-mail sent to employees to update them on the government’s early retirement and voluntary severance process displayed the e-mail addresses of all their colleagues who were receiving…
AU: Govt loses credit card details in attack
Darren Pauli reports: More than 600 corporate credit cards owned by top Federal Government agencies from the Department of Defence to the Australian Federal Police have been exposed in a suspected espionage attack on a Sydney firm. ZDNet Australia has obtained an document that contains 629 valid credit card numbers along with expiry dates, organisation…
UK: Godalming College email gaffe exposes students medical details
A Surrey college has apologised after accidentally e-mailing the private medical details of more than 300 students to an entire year group. The list, meant for Godalming College teachers, names one student with a brain tumour and another with anorexia. Staff tried to recall the message and then asked its lower sixth year group to…
UK: Council printer mix up breached data protection laws
Probably everyone has accidentally left some papers in a shared printer at one time or another. But when papers containing sensitive personal data get scooped and included in a mailing to an uninvolved their party, you may wind up violating the Data Protection Act. According to the Information Commissioner’s Office, that’s pretty much what happened…
UK: Lancashire Police officers dismissed for breaching data laws
The residents of Lancashire, like most people in Britain, hope that the police are there to protect them. So they will be shocked and disappointed today to find out that dozens of police have been using police equipment to spy on their partners and neighbours for the last three years. There were a total of…