Data breach leads to loss of details of over 8,300 P.K. Yonge employees, students
A laptop computer stolen last month endangered the personal information of over 8,300 current and former students and employees of P.K. Yonge Development Research School, a kindergarten-through-grade-12 laboratory school affiliated with University of Florida’s College of Education.
The files stored on the stolen laptop contained employee payroll, employee parking permit and student information dating back to 2000, along with names, Social Security numbers and, in some cases, Florida driver’s license numbers. PK Yonge officials have confirmed that no student academic or medical records, nor any credit card details, were on the computer. Read more
Montefiore Medical Center: two computer thefts expose well over 23,000 private records
Two recent thefts of desktop computers belonging to the Montefiore Medical Center lead to the exposure of sestive information on patients and students stored by Montefiore’s Finance Department and School Health Program Administrative Offices.
The first incident happened in late May when two desktop computers were stolen from Montefiore’s Finance Department. The theft was discovered a couple of days later. Montefiore assessed the incident and concluded patient information had been stored on the computers, including patient names and medical record numbers. For some patients, the data stored also included social security numbers, dates of birth, hospital admission dates and/or insurer information.
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Sensitive BP info revealed in hacking contest
If you think BP have their hands full with the oil spill and the whole environmental mess they’ve caused in the Gulf of Mexico, think again. It seems they lack all kinds of security – not only can’t they drill for oil in a safe environment, their data security is also poor.
The Defcon hacker contest organized in Las Vegas is a hacking competition that has its contestants trick employees of large companies into spilling out potentially sensitive information. The purpose is – and targeted companies should thank the organizers for that matter – to show how gullible people can be and how this becomes a major security vulnerability. Read more
Lost thumb drive leads to potential data breach
A thumb drive containing personal data of current and past graduate medical education residents and fellows at Cooper University Hospital has recently gone missing. Lost around July 8th, the incident has been reported to the proper authorites a few days later who are now looking into the potential security breach only two weeks later.
According to hospital sources, the lost data includes Social Security numbers, addresses, and phone numbers. As it always happens in such cases, the data was not in anyway encrypted or protected.
The University later released the following statement:
The real cost of a security breach: 1 to 53 million USD per year
If you had any doubt that security breaches cost companies a lot, it is all clear now – the damages companies have to deal with after one breach are overwhelming! According to recent reports by te Ponemon Institute, organizations get hit by at least one successful attack per week, and the annualized cost to their bottom lines from the attacks ranges from1 million to 53 million USD per year. The reports were based on the analysis of 45 U.S. organizations hit by data breaches.
Ponemon Institute’s released two separate reports, ”The First Annual Cost of Cyber Crime Study” (PDF), which was sponsored by ArcSight, “The Leaking Vault” (PDF) released today by the Digital Forensics Association, both showing troubling findings for companies’ finances: Read more
