The Irish Independent reports: Incidents of data breaches tripled last year, with more than 400 instances reported, according to the Office of the Data Protection Commission. A number of probes have been launched into civil servants suspected of accessing information about individuals out of curiosity, or for profit. But some data leaks out through human…
Category: Non-U.S.
UK: Wiltshire Council documents found in wheelie bin
An investigation has been launched after a bag full of birth registrations and internal council emails was found in a household bin in Wiltshire. A couple from Westbury found the Wiltshire Council documents in their wheelie bin soon after it had been emptied. The documents were traced back to Trowbridge. A council spokesman apologised and…
2011: The Year of Epic Hacking
Darlene Storm has an interesting recap of some breaches in the first month of 2011 that includes a breach this blog didn’t even know about. Specifically: In India, Domino’s Pizza database of online ordering customers was hacked. It sent a letter to customers, alerting them of the breach, yet the company sort of blew it off…
NZ: Telecom’s customer data open to ex staff
Susie Nordqvist and Hamish Fletcher report: Former employees have questioned Telecom’s security policies and one can still look up customer details despite having left his job two months ago. Andrew Rozen, who worked in a customer service role from March to November last year, checked if he could access Telecom’s Wireline database after accusations of…
AU: Vodafone dealer shuts down after expose
Asher Moses reports: Vodafone has terminated its dealer agreement with Communications Direct after this website on Friday revealed allegations that staff at the dealer were misusing customer information and forwarding detailed call records outside the company. Staff at the dealer were called in for a meeting this morning and told they would all be losing…
UK: Somerset schools’ website security ‘breached’ by Southwest One
Rory McKeown reports: Claims have been made that Southwest One published security passwords for every school website in the county online. An unnamed source contacted this website claiming someone from the venture allegedly performed the “massive security breach” while updating the website itsc.co. uk. They allege security passwords for every school in Somerset and other…