The University of North Florida has issued this statement on its website: Impacted individuals being notified Between September 24, 2010 and September 29, 2010, a UNF file containing the personal information of high school and college students (and others interested in UNF) may have been accessed by unauthorized persons outside the United States. While immediate steps…
Category: Of Note
Data breaches plummet: Microsoft
Darren Pauli reports: Security breaches resulting in the loss of personal data have almost halved this year compared with 2009 figures, according to Microsoft. While theft, loss of equipment and reckless data disposal still account for the lion’s share of data breaches, total incidents have fallen by some 46 percent in the first half of 2010 compared…
Data breach in 2005 fueled a long-running massive Medicare fraud scheme
An indictment unveiled in New York today concerning a huge Medicare fraud scheme reveals how both medical professionals and patients may have their identities stolen in furtherance of fraud. And in this case, a data breach years ago provided much of the identity information needed. William K. Rashbaum and Michael Wilson report: An Armenian-American crime…
Cancer researcher fights UNC demotion over data breach (updated)
Gregory Childress reports that a data breach had significant consequences for a researcher. Because I don’t recall ever seeing such consequences before, I think this is pretty newsworthy: A UNC cancer researcher is fighting a demotion and pay cut she received after a security breach in the medical study she directs. Bonnie Yankaskas, a professor in…
Former Employee of Fannie Mae Contractor Convicted of Attempting to Destroy Fannie Mae Computer Data
Ah, the risks of disgruntled terminated employees. A federal jury convicted computer programmer Rajendrasinh Babubhai Makwana, age 36, of Montgomery County, Maryland, yesterday of computer intrusion arising from the transmission of malicious script to Fannie Mae’s computer servers. The verdict was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein and…
Canadian Privacy Commissioner troubled by poor computer disposal practices and lack of controls for wireless devices in government
The federal government’s use of handheld communications devices and its practices for disposing of unneeded paper documents and surplus computers could expose the personal information of Canadians to unauthorized disclosure, Privacy Commissioner of Canada Jennifer Stoddart has warned. The findings, stemming from two separate privacy audits conducted by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of…