As noted here and elsewhere, the number of breaches reported in the media and other sources declined in 2009 relative to 2008, but newly obtained data suggests that once again, there was much that we did not know. During the period September 1 – December 31, 2009, 141 breach reports were received by the…
Category: U.S.
NY’s Higher Education Services Corp had its own breach last year
In discussing the huge Educational Credit Management Corp data breach previously covered on this site, Rick Karlin of the Times Union mentions a second and unrelated breach, this one by New York’s Higher Education Services Corp: [The breach] happened back in December when 1,433 e-mails from HESC ran into a “process error” by which the…
Boy, 9, accused of hacking into Fairfax schools’ computer system
Tom Jackman reports: Are you smarter than a third-grader? Because the online education system used by the Fairfax County public schools apparently is not. Police say a 9-year-old McLean boy hacked into the Blackboard Learning System used by the county school system to change teachers’ and staff members’ passwords, change or delete course content, and…
Missing Woodbury Financial USB contained client data
Woodbury Financial Services, an affiliate of The Hartford, is a broker-dealer using independent registered agents. On or about March 16, one of the agents gave WFS an unencrypted USB drive containing client data. The USB was subsequently found to be missing, and a search of the premises was unsuccessful. Woodbury Financial notified the New Hampshire…
Strategic Workforce Solutions notifies employees of data breach
If we want to improve data protection and security, maybe instead of requiring encryption, we should just outlaw cars? A portable storage device stolen from the vehicle of an employee of the Tatum division of SFN Professional Services (Strategic Workforce Solutions) has resulted in the firm notifying its employees that their names, addresses, and Social…
Monoprice confirms data breach, notifies customers
On March 9, Brian Krebs broke the news that Monoprice had shut down its web site while it was investigating the possible compromise of customer credit and debit card information. On April 2, Monoprice’s President and CEO Jong S. Lee notified the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office that on March 29, it determined that its…