Fragile Technology

Hackers breach UC-Berkeley database; info for 160,000 students, alums at risk

"Hackers, possibly from Asia, have stolen about a decade's worth of personal information on current and former UC-Berkeley students, the university announced Friday. The breaches involved records dating to 1999 at the school's health center that included Social Security numbers, health insurance information, immunization history and the names of treating physicians."

That's 160,000 worried alumns.

Japanese brokerage firm loses clients after employee sells 50,000 personal records

Japanese brokerage firm Mitsubishi Security says it has lost clients after one of its employees sold personal date on 50,000 clients.

Police were called in to investigate the data theft by a 44-year-old male employee, who has been fired. The man sold information on 49,159 clients, including names, addresses, employer and salary

Man deposits empty envelopes to bank and walks with real money

I'm still trying to get my head around this one. A man in Texas deposited empty envelopes into an ATM. The bank's systems credited his account with the fictitious amounts, he then strolled into the bank and withdraw real cash. He's now been arrested.

I don't know why I didn't think of this one sooner. I just naturally assumed that if I deposit cash at an ATM, a real person subsequently opens the envelope and checks the cash before clearing it into my account. That's how checks work isn't it? Apparently not for hard cash.

Richard Walston, 24, who recently moved to Brewer from Stephenville, Texas, was arrested Monday and charged with felony Class B theft, which means he took in excess of $10,000. The exact amount taken was not released.

Bank staff did finally figure out the fraud and notified police, who arrested Walston the next time he went to the bank to withdraw money.

Hackers steal social security numbers

Hackers have accessed the University of Rochester's computer network and stolen 450 social security numbers belonging to current and former students.

According to the university, the information was taken from a non-academic student database and copied illegally to an off-campus IP address. The breach was discovered by school officials on Wednesday. An investigation is continuing.

The University has notified the students, and relevant authorities.

Disabled youths personal data stolen

A laptop containing files with personal data, including social security numbers, of a group of disabled youths in Oregon has been stolen. A press release from the University of Oregon says the people were participants in the Youth Transition Program, which supports some 1,200 disabled people statewide.

The theft appeared to be random and the computer was password protected. There is no indication that the thief has been able to access any of the computer’s files.

The University has written to all those affected, and says it has changed protocols to avoid a repeat occurrence.

Police can't spell thief

Not really a Fragile Technology item, but this media release from Australia's Victorian state police caught my attention. You would have thought there were some words that police could spell - like 'burglar', 'murder', and 'thief'. They issued a media release asking people to take care about theft from cars over the holiday season - attractive devices like GPS and Sat Nav. The release is headed:

Tell theives to get lost this summer

British government loses thousands of computers

I understand, perhaps, how laptops can be stolen. A burglar breaks into your house or office for example. But I still don't really comprehend how one loses one's laptop. My MacBook is the centre of my working life. It's the primary tool to earn my income. I don't leave it in the car. I guard my laptop bag like its gold (which, in a way, it is).

So how is it that the UK government has such a lackadaisical attitude to computers that thousands have been lost or stolen since 2002?

And of course, being the government, often they're dealing with sensitive data:

The Department of Work and Pensions, which processes details of millions of bank accounts, national insurance contributions and benefit and pension payments, is not far behind. The DWP has had 828 desktops mislaid or stolen - 80 per cent of all those lost to the Government since 2002 - as well as 271 laptops.

Municipal thefts and losses pose threat the residents across the UK

A timely reminder that local government around the world often has access to significant amounts of personal data. Just hope that you don't live either in Plymouth or North Yorkshire. Recent reporting suggests these guys are mastering the art of losing personal data.

COMPUTER security has come under scrutiny at North Yorkshire County Council following the theft or loss of seven laptops in the past 12 months.

Council bosses said five of the devices were fully encrypted, while the other two contained no sensitive or personal data.

Of top of this a couple of Blackberries - issued to senior management - have gone astray, as have an unknown number of USB keys - unknown because the bosses don't know how many they had to start with.

Meanwhile down in Plymouth:

HIGHLY sensitive child protection papers are among scores of documents and computer records lost by Westcountry officials in the past three years. The child protection case minutes – from meetings between social services, healthcare providers and the police – were lost by Devon Primary Care Trust in December last year.

This admission is amongst a bunch unearthed by a local newspaper using Freedom of Information requests. Documents sent in the mail never arrived. Documents sent in the mail were delivered to a document destruction firm instead of their rightful destination. And personal data was stolen:

In May 2007, an inadequately protected laptop computer was stolen from NHS premises in Truro. It contained data of employees of the Royal Cornwall Hospital, Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Primary Care Trust, and Cornwall Partnership Trust. In all, the records of 10,000 staff were exposed including their names, addresses, National Insurance numbers and bank details.

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Personal details of 26,000 confirmed lost in UK

It has been confirmed that the personal details of 26,000 people from Lincolnshire in the UK have been lost. The people were participants in a stop smoking scheme run by the National Health Service in Lincolnshire. The details were on two USB keys that disappeared from an office desk.

Britain's Duchess of York has personal photos stolen

A laptop belonging to the Duchess of York has been stolen from an office, where it had been left for data to be downloaded and archived. The data includes a large number of personal digital photos.

A source close to the Duchess, who is known to be a keen amateur photographer, confirmed that they included images of Prince Andrew and the couple's two daughters Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie.

It's not believed to be a targeted theft, just a coincidence.

It is not known what level of security she used to protect the personal data, but police believe the thieves could simply sell it on without realising it is there.