Grant Gross of IDG News Service reports: Hacker Albert Gonzalez, accused of masterminding the massive data thefts at BJ’s Wholesale Club, TJX and several other retailers, has pleaded guilty to 19 charges related to computer hacking and credit card fraud, the U.S. Department of Justice said. Gonzalez, 28, of Miami, was a member of a…
Lax security left Georgia employees’ data vulnerable
Aaron Gould Sheinin reports: An audit of state government’s accounting office found lax computer security that left thousands of state employees’ personal information vulnerable to theft by hackers. No evidence was found that personal and financial information was stolen, according to the audit, released last week. But the report noted that weaknesses in the system…
CA notification bill heads to governor’s desk
The State Legislature approved State Senator Joe Simitian´s (D-Palo Alto) SB 20, a bill to strengthen and update California´s landmark privacy protection law. The bill now goes to the Governor, who has until October 11th to sign or veto the legislation. SB 20 builds on previous legislation authored by Simitian, AB 700 (2002), which required…
Employees: Sensitive info stolen during break-in; clients not being told
Mike Bowersock of NBC4i reports that although a burglary at NCO Financial Systems, a collection agency in Dublin Ohio, was reported to the police, what was not reported was that client data, including Social Security numbers, was stolen. The allegation comes from two employees who reportedly told the news reporter that they do not want…
Judge considers giving final approval to TD Ameritrade settlement
Josh Funk of Associated Press reports: The settlement over contact information stolen from online brokerage TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. is nearing approval, but the more than 6 million current and former customers affected will have to wait a little while longer. A hearing on the settlement was held Thursday, but U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker…
Unlearned Lessons of ChoicePoint, Four Years Later
Bill Brenner writes: It’s been four years since data broker ChoicePoint acknowledged the data security breach that put it in the middle of a media firestorm and pushed data protection to the top of the infosecurity community’s priority list. Since then, the business world has made plenty of progress hardening its data defenses — thanks…