In the news
Recent data loss headlines
May 2010 - AT&T
Files containing AT&T wireless contracts, customer names, addresses, and credit card details was found in a recycling bin.
http://www.news4jax.com/news/23673377/detail.html
April 2010 - Providence Hospital
A hardrive containing back up data on patient medical records has gone missing.
http://www.clickondetroit.com/health/23070110/detail.html
March 2010 - Educational Credit Management Corportation
Personal data of 3.3million names, addresses, dates of birth and Social Security numbers have been exposed on stolen portable media device.
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ecmc-notifying-borrowers-of-data-loss-89299342.html
February 2010 - AvMed Healthplan
The theft of two company laptops exposed the personal data of almost 1.2 million people.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/06/03/1661821/florida-avmed-customers-personal.html
January 2010 - Ladbrokes
The confidential records of millions of British gamblers who bet with UK bookmaker Ladbrokes were offered for sale to a British Newspaper.
December 2009 - US Army
A laptop containing personal information of over 42,000 of US Army soldiers and family members was stolen.
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/US/12/17/theft.security.breach/
6th November 2009 - Chaminade University:
Chaminade University in Hawaii inadvertently posted confidential information, including Social Security numbers, of thousands of students on its Web site.
http://www.starbulletin.com/news/breaking/69438757.html
10th October 2009 - Rural Payments Agency:
Thousands of farmers' bank account details were lost by the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) in the UK after the Government body lost two back-up tapes of confidential data.
18th September 2009 - Akron's Children's Hospital:
Spyware exposed patients names and confidential medical and financial information in a US Children's hospital.
http://www.cio.com.au/article/319073/misdirected_spyware_infects_ohio_hospital
8th September 2009 - Dutch Ministry of Justice:
The Dutch Ministry of Internal Affairs accidentally published the credit card information (numbers and expiration dates) for both the Minister of Health and the Minister of Justice.
http://securityandthe.net/2009/09/12/dutch-ministry-accidentally-publishes-credit-card-info/
7th August 2009 - Heartland Payment Systems:
Three men charged with hacking into the IT networks of Heartland Payment Systems in the U.S., compromising more than 100 million credit and debit card details. This major credit card payment firm processes millions of transactions a month for 175,000 retail merchants, making it probably the largest data breach in U.S. history.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/21/technology/21breach.html
4th August 2009 - Swedish Police Force:
Supposedly secret police lists containing details about Sweden's most dangerous criminals are up for sale across the country among members of the Swedish underworld.
http://www.thelocal.se/21088/20090804/
29th July 2009 - Canada Post office Post Office:
Employee has admitted to stealing nearly $500,000 over a period of seven years.
28th July 2009 - UK's National Health Service:
An email sent by the NHS advice service mistakenly disclosed personal information about patients, although it did not leave the health service. The organisation's annual report for 2008-09 reveals that the information, including the names, addresses, NHS numbers, dates of birth and clinical data of about 100 patients, was disclosed without authorisation in October last year.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/07/28/nhs_direct_email_data/
8th July 2009 - AT&T:
A temporary employee for AT&T was arrested on charges she stole personal information on 2,100 co-workers and then pocketed more than $70,000 by taking out short-term payday loans in the names of 130 of them.