Williams College in Williamstown reports a recent laptop theft. The laptop, which was stolen when an employee left it in a parked car in Boston on October 3, contained the names and Social Security numbers of 750 individuals from 39 states and several foreign countries. The college notified the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office and…
Category: U.S.
Men allegedly broke into computers of former employer
Dan Goodin reports on a case where former employees were allegedly able to continue to access databases, despite the company terminating old passwords: Scott R. Burgess, 45, of Jasper, Indiana, and Walter D. Puckett, 39, of Williamstown, Kentucky, both worked as managers for Indiana-based Stens Corporation until taking jobs with a competing company in Ohio,…
Judge spanks lawyer for leaking personal details in brief
Dan Goodin reports: A judge has chastised a lawyer for including the social security numbers and birthdays of 179 individuals in an electronic court brief, ordering him to pay a $5,000 sanction and provide credit monitoring. US District Judge Michael J. Davis said he was meting out the penalty under his “inherent power,” meaning no…
CT man pleads guilty to using stolen “convenience checks” to defraud banks
Justin Edwards, 27, of Coventry, Connecticut pleaded guilty today before United States District Judge Stefan R. Underhill in Bridgeport to four counts of bank fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud. According to court documents and statements made in court, between July 2007 and March 2008, Edwards and a co-defendant stole balance…
KS: State Investigating Care Facility’s Disposal Of Records
The Department on Aging is investigating allegations a Topeka care facility put documents with personal information in a public recycling dumpster. The agency says Briarcliff Care Center, 3224 SW 29th St., reported the incident to them Friday morning. A person reported finding the documents Thursday night in a recycling dumpster at SE 29th and Adams….
Military lags in safeguarding officers’ identities
Charlie Reed of Stars and Stripes reports on the military’s progress – or lack thereof – in addressing an August 2008 report by PublicResources.org that revealed that hundreds of thousands military officers’ Social Security numbers were publicly available in government and commercial databases, including the Congressional Record, W.S. Hein, LexisNexis, and Westlaw. It seems that…