Adam Harris reports: Nearly 100,000 taxpayers may have had their personal information compromised by a security breach of an Internal Revenue Service tool that makes it easier to fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, the Fafsa, according to the IRS commissioner, John Koskinen, who testified on Thursdaybefore the Senate Finance Committee. The tool,…
Category: Of Note
Highly confidential psychotherapy records from Maine center listed on the dark web
Update of April 24: On April 21, BHC reported this incident to HHS as impacting 4,229 patients. Original Post: In what may be the worst breach of 2017 so far in terms of highly sensitive and confidential patient records, a behavioral and mental health center in Maine recently learned that its patients’ records – including…
Developing: Justin Shafer arrested, charging with cyberstalking FBI agent’s family
In what has become an increasingly bizarre case, researcher Justin Shafer was arrested Friday evening, detained in Dallas County Jail over the weekend on a “hold” request from the FBI, and then transferred to federal court today, where he was charged with cyberstalking. For the benefit of those who haven’t followed this story from the beginning: Shafer…
FBI Arrests Hacker Who Hacked No One
Kevin Poulsen reports on the arrest of Taylor Huddleston, whose “crime” is that others have used a tool he developed: Huddleston, though, isn’t a hacker. He’s the author of a remote administration tool, or RAT, called NanoCore that happens to be popular with hackers. NanoCore has been linked to intrusions in at least 10 countries,…
A puzzling private industry notification from the FBI (UPDATED)
Update of March 31: Tonight, Justin Shafer contacted this site to report that the FBI was raiding him again – for the third time – and this time, they had an arrest warrant for him. DataBreaches.net is waiting to get additional details and will post something when we know more. Original post: On March 22,…
Companies Now Face Israel Data Security, Breach Notice Rules
Jenny David reports: Companies doing business in Israel will soon face mandatory data security and data breach notification requirements under regulations recently cleared by lawmakers. The data security and breach notice had been governed by voluntary guidelines issued in 2012 by the country’s privacy regulator, the Israeli Law, Information and Technology Authority (ILITA). Companies that didn’t implement…