John Johnson reports: At Beau Chene High School in Louisiana this year, you could study diligently to raise your grades—or else just know a hacker described by a classmate as “a cool dude.” The cool dude, an unidentified senior, managed to get into the school’s computer system to change dozens of grades, reports the Daily World….
NM data breach bill dies in committee
Sorry, New Mexico residents. Your state legislature has failed to ensure you the same protections other states’ residents already have when it comes to data breach notification. Sal Crist reports: The Data Breach Notification Act — otherwise known as HB 217 — failed to make it beyond the New Mexico Senate last week, ultimately getting tabled by the judiciary…
Identity theft allegedly occurs at hospital
Another case of medical identity theft, it seems. Seen on Salina.com: A 45-year-old California woman reported that when she tried to purchase a house in Hemet, Calif., she was denied the loan because of a $10,000 debt she allegedly owed to Salina Regional Health Center that showed up on her credit report. Manuela Chavez said…
Marco Rubio, Ted Yoho Introduce Legislation To Combat Electronic I.D. Theft
Rejoice Magazine reports: With Tax Day approaching, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Congressman Ted Yoho (R-FL) today introduced legislation requiring the Secretary of the Treasury to implement tougher security measures in the electronic tax return filing process in order to prevent tax refund fraud. This would include but not be limited to the use…
Data breach bill moves forward in the House
Elise Viebeck reports: Legislation to create a national data security and breach notification standard moved forward Wednesday over objections from Democratic lawmakers. The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Trade approved the bill by voice vote after a markup that saw five Democratic amendments rejected along party lines. The bill from Reps. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.)…
Dangerous ‘Vawtrak Banking Trojan’ Harvesting Passwords Worldwide
Mohit Kumar writes: Security researcher has discovered some new features in the most dangerous Vawtrak, aka Neverquest, malware that allow it to send and receive data through encrypted favicons distributed over the secured Tor network. The researcher, Jakub Kroustek from AVG anti-virus firm, has provided an in-depth analysis (PDF) on the new and complex set of features of the malware…