Elinor Mills reports: Hackers have released consumer data stolen from an online loan provider, after the company refused to pay an extortion fee. “On June 12, AmeriCash Advance received a fax, telling us that part of our Web site had been hacked. The letter went on to demand initial payment of $15,000 from us,” AmeriCash Advance, an…
Category: Other
IN: Fire in Pathankot bank, data destroyed
Hope they had an off-site backup: Pathankot: A fire broke out in a branch of State Bank of Patiala here, destroying a large amount of data, police said today. According to preliminary inquiry, the fire was caused by short circuit in the computer room last night and was controlled after two hours of fire fighting…
Commentary: ACC caught out in another privacy breach
It just goes from bad to worse at ACC (the Accident Compensation Corporation), it seems. I had previously noted reports of a serious breach involving thousands of individuals’ claims. Since the initial reports, more details have emerged that have made waves, but this newest report will have some just wanting to shut ACC down altogether….
Breach Leaves Thousands Of Kaiser Permanente Employees Checking Their Credit Report (update)
KXL FM reports that Kaiser Permanente has sent notifications to some current and former employees after their data were found on an external hard drive purchased in a second-hand store in September 2011: Maryann Schwab with Kaiser Permanente says names, phone numbers, social security numbers and other personal information was found on a non-Kaiser external…
Court says France cannot use stolen bank data for searches
AFP reports: France’s highest appeals court has ruled that authorities may not use a list of 3,000 people suspected of tax evasion as a basis to conduct searches due to its illicit origin. French authorities in January 2009 acted on a Swiss warrant and seized data about global banking giant HSBC’s customers from former computer…
AU: Railcorp blunder as personal details offered in rail sale (updated)
Finders, keepers? Can you just auction off lost USB drives left on trains without regard to whether they contain sensitive information? Maureen Shelley reports: A bunch of USB memory sticks, which hold private photos and data, left by passengers on Sydney trains were sold by Railcorp at a lost property auction. Computer security company Sophos,…