Sunday, August 24, 2008

British Memory Stick Loss had Inmate Data British Inmates[base '] Private Data Is Lost in Latest Government Security Breach. A private consulting company working for Britain[base ']s Home Office has lost a memory stick containing personal details on all of the 84,000 prisoners serving time in England and Wales.[NYT > Technology] In the continuing saga of government data being hard to keep secret and inside government, I wonder how many cases involve contractors such as this one probably did. I recall reading that in a later update. 9:39:15 PM    comment []

Sunday, August 3, 2008

US Lawmakers Inquire about Online Tracking by 30+ Internet Companies Lawmakers Demand Information on Web Tracking Practices. A Congressional committee sent letters to more than 30 Internet companies demanding to know whether they track where their users go online and use that information to deliver personalized advertising. [NYT > Technology] They are only asking. I wouldn't be surprised if 28+ out of 30 Internet companies track where users go.  Have they looked at the evidence of tracking? In the past when I did research for another person, I would be amused how much my online ad displays would radically change. 3:28:59 PM    comment []

Thursday, May 1, 2008

California Court Publishes Personal Identifiable Information California court posting SSNs and other personal data, privacy advocates charge. A court in California's Riverside County is openly posting sensitive personal data on its Web site, according to privacy watchdogs. But the court's IT director compared searching for that information to "finding a needle in a haystack."[Latest from Computerworld] 9:04:40 PM    comment []

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Recent Web Site Attacks Microsoft: Massive site attacks not our fault. Microsoft late Friday responded to news reports that hackers have leveraged weaknesses in the company's Web and SQL software to attack hundreds of thousands of Web pages. [Latest from Computerworld] Bill Sisk, Communication Manager at Microsoft Security Response Center, said the post was in response to reports that over half a million pages, including some belonging to the United Nations, have been compromised by SQL injection attacks. Once hacked, those sites were modified to download malware to visitors' PCs. Is it my reading, or has security become worse recently--Not much place to be secure any more. 4:07:24 PM    comment []

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Gladwell at RSA 2008 Malcolm Gladwell tells security folks: Don't think too much. Author of Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, warns security professionals at RSA 2008 not to let too much data cloud their judgment. [CNET News.com] Al Gore is speaking on Friday. 9:56:47 PM    comment []

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Canadian Privacy Blog The Privacy Commissioner of Canada has a blog. This is an "official" blog covering issues of privacy issues and legislation in Canada. Their welcome note includes: ...With this tool, we hope to make the activities of the Office of the Privacy Commissioner more accessible to Canadians and to increase contact between the Office and Canadians interested about privacy issues and legislation. As an Officer of Parliament, the Privacy Commissioner has a mandate to protect the privacy rights of individuals and promote the privacy protections available to Canadians. Interestingly, any complaints tp the Privacy Commissioner need to made in writing and send by mail, not via email. 12:23:19 PM    comment []

Saturday, December 8, 2007

Social Security Numbers Part of Minnesota Laptop Theft Stolen laptop had IDs on 268,000 Minnesota blood donors. Following a laptop theft, Memorial Blood Centers in Minnesota is notifying 268,000 blood donors that their Social Security numbers may have been stolen. [Computerworld Breaking News] Not the government's loss but a similar large-scale notification required. Have people consider not using social security numbers in so many different ways? Recently I bought a used book that contained someone else's insurance paper with a social security number on it. I shredded it earlier today, but this paper has been handled by at least a used book dealer before me. Maybe several other people had it before that. A social security number should not have been on it. 10:45:09 PM    comment []

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