AvMed: Data of 208,000 at risk after Gainesville theft
The Gainesville Sun reports that AvMed Health Plans announced that personal information of some current and former subscribers may have been compromised by the theft of two company laptops from its corporate offices in Gainesville on Dec. 11. The information includes names, addresses, phone numbers, Social Security numbers and protected health information, according to an AvMed news release. "The theft was immediately reported to local authorities but attempts to locate the laptops have been unsuccessful," according to the news release. "On December 23, 2009, AvMed determined that the data on one of the laptops may not have been protected properly, and ...
Liechtenstein bank owes tax dodger damages, court rules
A German tax dodger has won millions in damages in a suit against his Liechtenstein bank for failing to reveal that his information was stolen along with hundreds of other account holders and sold to Berlin for a criminal investigation. The case against LGT Treuhand, a former subsidiary of the LGT Group, was decided in January, according to a report in daily Süddeutsche Zeitung on Monday. The Bad Homberg real estate developer, who was exposed for tax evasion when a bank employee sold the data to the German intelligence service for €4.5 million two years ago, has been awarded €7.3 million ...
AU: Extorted companies silent on stolen data
Darren Pauli reports: Desperate companies are buying off data thieves and extortionists to recover stolen data, according to experts. They claim it is “common” for some businesses operating in Australia to pay ransoms to hackers and disgruntled employees to re-secure sensitive information or prevent illicit corporate activities from becoming public. Law firm MMLC Group managing director, Matthew Murphy, said instances of companies buying back stolen data “happens quite a lot, but doesn’t hit the headlines” in Australia. [...] [Surete Group managing partner and former director of the Australian High Tech Crime Centre, Alastair] MacGibbon said the most vulnerable organisations are small-to-medium enterprises which typically ...
Shell employee contact data breach affects over 100,000
The following was posted by John Donavan and attributed to Royal Dutch Shell ("Shell") Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer Richard Wiseman: Colleagues, I am writing to inform you of an incident involving misuse of company data. It has become clear recently that the Global Address List, containing contact information of everyone in Shell and some contractors, joint ventures and other third parties, has been downloaded without authorisation and distributed to some external parties. We do not know who did this. We are investigating and are raising this theft of information with the relevant data protection ...
Recent News of Note
AvMed: Data of 208,000 at risk after Gainesville theft
The Gainesville Sun reports that AvMed Health Plans announced that personal information of some current and former subscribers may have been compromised by the theft of two company laptops from its corporate offices in Gainesville...
Read more of this articleLiechtenstein bank owes tax dodger damages, court rules
A German tax dodger has won millions in damages in a suit against his Liechtenstein bank for failing to reveal that his information was stolen along with hundreds of other account holders and sold to Berlin for a criminal investigation. The...
Read more of this articleAU: Extorted companies silent on stolen data
Darren Pauli reports: Desperate companies are buying off data thieves and extortionists to recover stolen data, according to experts. They claim it is “common” for some businesses operating in Australia to pay ransoms to hackers...
Read more of this articleShell employee contact data breach affects over 100,000
The following was posted by John Donavan and attributed to Royal Dutch Shell (”Shell”) Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer Richard Wiseman: Colleagues, I am writing to inform you of an incident involving misuse...
Read more of this article(update) Ceridian computer glitch may have helped hacker
Steve Alexander reports: The hacker who stole information about 27,000 people from payroll processor Ceridian Corp. apparently had some inadvertent help from the company. According to one hacking victim, a Ceridian employee told...
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