Ben O. de Vera reports: The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) is looking into an alleged leak of confidential information obtained from tax tipsters. In Revenue Memorandum Circular No. 50-2016 issued last April 22, BIR Commissioner Kim S. Jacinto-Henares said the leak was allegedly perpetrated by the bureau’s own officers and employees. Henares said the…
Norway Starts Requiring Data Breach Notification
Marcus Hoy reports: The Norwegian Data Protection Authority recently said it will require companies to notify individuals whose personal data has been disclosed without their consent. DPA Senior Adviser Eirin Oda Lauvset told Bloomberg BNA April 18 that Norwegian laws don’t specify a general right for data subjects to be informed of breaches. According to the DPA,…
GoldCorp hacked, data dumped
Yesterday I was contacted by hackers who claimed that GoldCorp, a gold-mining firm with headquarters in Vancouver, British Columbia (TSX:G NYSE: GG), had been “badly hacked” and its data dumped. I’ve written up the details we’ve found so far, and you can read all about it on The Daily Dot, where I’ll be contributing occasionally. And if you’re the hacker(s) who…
IE: Details of more than 100 Cork households stolen from census enumerator’s car
Joe Leogue reports that the Central Statistics Office has notified the affected households, but says it is unlikely the information stolen would be of interest “to anyone other than census staff”. A spokesperson for the CSO said the information was contained in an Enumerator Record Book (ERB) which was stolen from a car at the Red…
Retailers battle financial sector over lame data breach legislation that they think is too strong?
Cory Bennett reports: Retailers on Tuesday doubled down on their opposition to a data breach notification bill favored by financial firms. The Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA), one of the sector’s largest trade groups, argued in a letter to House leadership that the measure would be unfair to large swaths of the economy. The bill,…
Verizon’s 2016 Data Breach Investigations Report finds criminals continue to exploit human nature
Cybercriminals are continuing to exploit human nature as they rely on familiar attack patterns such as phishing, and increase their reliance on ransomware, where data is encrypted and a ransom is demanded, finds the Verizon 2016 Data Breach Investigations Report. This year’s report highlights repeating themes from prior year’s findings and storylines that continue to…