John Leyden writes: Luxury cosmetics firm Lush has ditched its UK website in response to a sustained hacking attack which left users vulnerable to credit card fraud. The firm warns that credit card details submitted to the Lush.co.uk site between 4 October and 20 January may have been compromised by the assault by unknown hackers….
Category: Non-U.S.
Sydney Festival in privacy glitch
Luke Hopewell reports: Organisers behind the annual Sydney Festival have inadvertently committed a privacy breach by sending an email to users that displayed the contents of its mailing list. The email contains the email addresses of around 130 people who registered for a festival mailing list, some from government departments, Sony Music, JP Morgan and…
NSW Privacy Commissioner investigates University of Sydney data breach
Ben Grubb reports: NSW acting privacy commissioner John McAteer today said that his office was “examining” a data breach through which the detailed records of thousands of University of Sydney students past and present were leaked. The records were being stored online where they could be downloaded easily and read via an internet connection. It…
Swiss banker who gave WikiLeaks tax evader files escapes jail time for breaking bank secrecy laws
Frank Jordans of Associated Press reports: A Swiss banker who claims to have handed WikiLeaks details of rich tax evaders has been found guilty of coercion and breaking Switzerland’s strict banking secrecy laws. A judge at Zurich’s Regional Court has sentenced Rudolf Elmer to a fine of over 6,000 Swiss francs ($6,000). Elmer claimed at…
UK: Wandsworth Council apologises after residents’ personal details published online
Ian Mason reports: Red-faced town hall bosses have issued a public apology after residents’ personal details were accidentally published online. Wandsworth Council blamed the blunder on a “temporary glitch” in an automated electoral roll registration system which resulted in an undisclosed number of personal details being sold to a third-party company. The information leak was…
AU: ‘Malicious hacker’ breaches University of Sydney website
Ben Grubb reports that the university got a very public demonstration of the need to harden their security. Although no personal information was reportedly accessed or acquired, the university got the message: A hacker who claims not to be qualified has breached Sydney University’s computer security in an apparent bid to embarrass administrators. But, as…