Information broker LexisNexis has warned more than 13,000 consumers, saying that a Florida man who is facing charges in an alleged mafia racketeering conspiracy may have accessed some of the same sensitive consumer databases that were once used to track terrorists. Lee Klein, 39, of Boynton Beach, Florida, was charged by the U.S. Department of…
Category: Of Note
CVS, Walgreens settle with Indiana AG
Settlements have been reached between the Indiana Attorney General’s office and two pharmacy chains – CVS and Walgreens – to resolve data-breach complaints that customers’ medical information was improperly discarded in trash bins outside pharmacy stores. The agreement comes as the Attorney General begins a new concerted effort geared to address the growing problem of…
UK data breach incidents on the rise
Seven in ten UK organisations experienced a data breach incident over the last year, up from 60 per cent in the previous year. The third edition of an annual survey by the Ponemon Institute, sponsored by PGP, also found that 12 per cent of 615 public and private sector organisations probed were hit by five…
State Dept lost track of its laptops
The State Department does not have an accurate accounting of its laptop computers, including ones meant for classified use, and has failed to encrypt machines as it is supposed to do to protect sensitive information, according to a new report by the department’s inspector general. Inspectors found that 27 laptops, worth $55,000 were missing out…
Alberta Health records hit by virus
The Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner has been notified by Alberta Health Services that a virus was present on the Alberta Health Services network in Edmonton. The virus impacted the network and Netcare, Alberta’s electronic health record, before it was discovered and removed. The virus is a new variant of a Trojan horse…
SSN Relatively Easy to Predict
Over on PogoWasRight.org, I’ve posted about a study released by researchers Alessandro Acquisti and Ralph Gross of Carnegie Mellon University. The study has significant implications for the use of SSN and for protecting against identity theft, even though a government spokesperson responded by seemingly downplaying the findings and their implications. If you would like to…