In the justice system: Eric Christopher Thorsen was sentenced to five years in prison for a scheme in which he and Amy Ruth Bergquist advertised for sex partners on Craigslist in order to steal their identities. Berquist was previously sentenced to prison for her part. More. Laura Althouse, formerly employed at an Iowa slaughterhouse where…
Category: Other
FINRA Fines Centaurus Financial $175,000 for Failure to Protect Confidential Customer Information
Earlier this week, FINRA fined Centaurus Financial, Inc., as described below in their press release. I’ve been searching, but do not see where the incident described below was ever reported in the media at the time. Interesting…. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has announced today that it has fined Centaurus Financial, Inc. (CFI), of…
Possible Mass Security Breach Involving LexisNexis and Investigative Professionals (Update 3)
Ariel Bashi of CBS News reports: CBS News has learned of another data breach potentially compromising the personal information of thousands of people. Companies Lexis Nexis and Investigative Professionals have sent up to 40,000 letters to customers whose “sensitive and personally identifiable” information may have been viewed by individuals who should not have had access….
IT director pleads guilty to deleting organ donation records (updated)
Not all data losses are created equal. Grant Gross of IDG News Service reports: The former IT director for a nonprofit organ and tissue donation center pleaded guilty to a charge that she broke into the organization’s computer network and deleted organ donation database records, invoice files, and database and accounting software, the U.S. Department…
AU: Online share trader CommSec vulnerable to hackers
Nick Higginbottom and Stephen McMahon of Herald Sun report on how weak passwords just won’t cut it: Security at the nation’s biggest online trader has been exposed as wide open to attack by computer hackers. Security flaws at CommSec potentially endangered accounts containing billions of dollars of mum-and-dad investors’ money. After a Herald Sun investigation,…
UK: Anonymity proves grey area for IDScan
John Ozimek of The Register reports: Security software provider IDScan has been left red-faced after a page of supposedly anonymous details of ID cheats on its website turned out not to have been anonymised after all. […] To protect the anonymity of the individuals depicted, IDScan has helpfully left their photos visible but greyed out…