The South China Morning Post has a report that Sheung Shui police data containing sensitive information have leaked onto the internet through file-sharing software Foxy. Subscription required to read the whole story, but by now, I suspect most of this site’s readers can pretty much guess what happened.
Lost in the mail? 3,700 NYC employees’ Social Security numbers
Kathleen Lucadamo of the Daily News reports that documents containing the Social Security numbers of 3,700 members of the Office of Staff Analysts union went missing after New York City’s Office of Payroll Administration mailed them to union headquarters. The package, sent “certified, return-receipt mail” – never arrived. There is no indication as to why…
Evicted OK child welfare worker leaves sensitive records behind
In what appears to be yet another breach involving paper records, Jay F. Marks of The Oklahoman reports that the Oklahoma Department of Human Services has opened an investigation into how a child welfare worker’s records ended up in possession of a local news station, KWTV-9. The records, which included names, Social Security numbers, contact…
A bug in Google Docs leads to unintended file sharing
Richard de Vries explains on Slashdot: I work for a small Dutch company that uses Google Apps. This means that we can share documents with users within our domain (www.deondernemers.nl), as well as @gmail.com accounts or other Apps-domains. About three weeks ago, we discovered that some fifteen documents and spreadsheets were unintentionally shared with a…
IN: Hotel discards unshredded customer records in dumpster
Liza Danver of WISH-TV in Indiana reports that the Homestead Studio Suites hotel in Indianapolis dumped unshredded hotel guest records into their dumpster, where they were noticed by a guest who contacted the news team. The records appeared to be several years’ old, and included names, home addresses, phone numbers, e-mail addresses, and yes, complete…
New Mexico Electronic Medical Records Law Ensures Patient Privacy
The New Mexico Senate passed an electronic medical record initiative of Governor Bill Richardson’s today that would protect patients’ privacy. Sen. Peter Wirth sponsored SB 278, the Electronic Medical Records Act that would require security and privacy protections associated with the use of electronic medical records. The bill now heads to House committees. Read more…