Welcome to the Future!
Tax returns for 104,000 households were hacked.
The hackers used hacked personal information to re-hack into the IRS to view past tax returns.
This allows the hackers to build fuller identiy profiles and to file tax returns with the fradululently obtained information.
Retailers scuttled the $19 million settlement with mastercard issuers over the Target data breach. This keeps Mastercard in the class action lawsuit.
Data collectors and analyzers, IBM and Ponemon Institute, released the 2015 Cost of Data Breach Study: Globa…
Radion Shack filed for bankruptcy protections. In that process, it has valuable consumer marketing information that it would like to sell. The FTC is entering the fray, in its newly amped role as data protector.
U.S. Senators Hatch & Markey this month filed a measure to protect student data. Following suit is Senator Vitter.
Hatch & Markey focus on amending FERPA. Yes, that FERPA at issue in the UT System/Wallace Hall debacle. The Senators’ Protecting Student Privacy Act seeks to:
A class action lawsuit was certified this week against yahoo, which has a process to intercept, scan and store incomiong, non-yahoo emails of its users for advertising purposes.
Something to think about when you’re sending confidential or privileged information via email.
Posted indata privacy
Chicago Public Schools accidentally released personal information on 4,000 students to 5 potential vendors. Chicago Public Schools assures the public that social security numbers were not released by the inadvertant data breach. Within the last few years, the FTC has increased its data security enforcement. Including issuing record breaking fines against companies from big banks to major telecommunications providers. An FTC Posting touts the favorable treatment for companies that self report data breaches to the FTC. The Hill
Posted inlegislative trend
A school district in Ohio suffered a data breach that exposed the names, addresses and social security numbers of students. The hacker? a student, who shared the information. Young adult data is very valuable on the black market, because the identity is freely adaptable. News-Herald
Posted indata privacy, student data privacy
California Attorney General Kamala Harris, front runner to succeed U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer, is urging Congress to allow states to have stonger data security bills. Her concerns about the federal bill are many, including:Chicago Schools: Ooops. 4,000 student files breached
Want FTC favor? Self Report Data Breaches.
Student Data Breach: Names, Addresses & Social Security Numbers
State Attorney Generals to Congress: Drop Preemption from Data Security Bill