Vivian Yeo reports on industry responses to a recent research report from the Georgia Tech Research Institute suggesting users should create longer, 12-character, passwords: … Ronnie Ng, Symantec’s systems engineering manager for Singapore, told ZDNet Asia that the username-and-password application is the “first and only layer of defense” for many information systems in organizations today….
FL: Tamarac woman says she stole ID to replace breast implants, furnish condo
Juan Ortega reports on a case of low-tech mail theft used for medical ID theft: A Tamarac woman told a judge she stole someone’s identity and spent nearly $20,000 in ill-gotten funds, largely because she needed to replace defective breast implants and furnish her condo. Shatarka Nuby, 29, offered that explanation to U.S. District Judge…
Ca: Corrections to pay victims of breach of privacy
Robb Tripp reports: More than 360 people who worked at a federal prison in Kingston will get at least $1,000 each after a precedent-setting, six-year legal fight over a breach of their privacy. “This has been a long odyssey,” Christopher Edwards, the Kings -ton lawyer who represented staff in a lawsuit said Wednesday. Correctional Service…
Blagojevich auction boxes contain client files
Serena Dai of the Associated Press reports: Amidst photos and handwritten letters in auction boxes connected to former Gov. Rod Blagojevich are confidential client-attorney papers from his lawyer days and opposition research on his 2006 gubernatorial race rival Judy Baar Topinka, a Northwestern University librarian said Wednesday. Librarian Jeffrey Garrett bought 18 boxes of files,…
UK: Yorkshire Building Society takes action after customers’ details are stolen
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has found Yorkshire Building Society (YBS) in breach of the Data Protection Act after an unencrypted laptop belonging to the former Chelsea Building Society (CBS), which had recently merged with YBS, was stolen from its Cheltenham premises. The laptop contained a substantial part of the CBS customer database. The laptop…
Data breach fines will not stop the rot
Over in the U.K., John E. Dunn discusses some hefty fines that have been levied following data breaches, but comments: The public gets to hear about the punishment but a lot is left behind a curtain of secrecy. This is wrong and possibly dangerous. What the UK lacks is not punishments but a basic data…