The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) is conducting an audit of Halifax Bank of Scotland's (HBOS) data security procedures after it was revealed that the bank was putting customers' financial documents in ordinary bins.   more »

ISP PlusNet has had its email database stolen and its users' accounts bombarded by spammers, AGAIN!. The attack first surfaced yesterday, when PlusNet punters reported that previously spam-free email addresses were being filled with unsolicited discount pharmacy marketing. Some forum posters report that a few of their webmail contacts have received more spam too. There is also speculation amongst users as to whether the legally required data retention areas of the PlusNet system have been hacked, releasing details of users sent and received emails.   more »

French investment bank BNP Paribas has been fined £350,000 by the UK's Financial Services Authority for systems and control failures at its London-based private banking unit that allowed a senior manager to steal £1.4 million from client accounts. We hope that in the future the FSA will be taking similar actions against Banks, Businesses and Public/Government Institutions for the crime of ‘enabling fraud’ in the same way as the internal fraud cases.   more »

The Guardian today is reporting that all the big banks - except HSBC, which also controls First Direct - are to demand that online customers use "chip and pin at home" devices to identify themselves before moving money out of their accounts, in the biggest change to personal banking since chip and pin replaced signatures at the checkout. It doesn’t matter how many front end systems that the banks put in place, they will never be secure if the back end systems are still open to hackers and thieves.   more »

UPDATED: Some 130 medical staff have signed a letter calling for a police probe into internet security breaches concerning junior doctors' personal details. Some bloggers have identified the operators of the Doctors recruitment website MTAS as part of the Jobsite operation, which was acquired in 2004 by Associated New Media, a division of Associated Newspapers Ltd, the publishers of the Daily Mail. Jobsite was unavailable overnight and this morning (update: came back up at 0815 with a page providing its history, including this: 2003: Won contract to provide a national online recruitment service over the next 5 years for the National Health Service - the nation's biggest employer..Have the Government been harvesting information about all jobseekers from this site?.   more »

About 26,000 staff at Marks and Spencer risk being the victims of identity theft after a laptop was stolen containing their personal details. The laptop was stolen from a printing company and contained the employees’ names, salary details, addresses, national insurance numbers, dates of birth and phone numbers.   more »

A computer previously owned by Southend Borough Council containing case notes on vulnerable children has been purchased on eBay for £1.70. The case notes in around 1,000 files covered children across Essex and detailed fostering and adoption histories. Some files also contained details of sexual abuse.   more »

The problem of data loss and accidental disclosure is being fuelled by a rise in the number of laptops stolen in the UK, silicon.com can reveal. In recent months organisations such as the Nationwide building society, the Metropolitan Police, Worcestershire County Council and Serco are among those left exposed as a result of laptop thefts - and the problem is only getting worse.   more »

Over the past few months, on both sides of the Atlantic there have been multiple revelations of massive security breaches where sensitive and personal data has been stolen or revealed to the public at large, breaches by hackers, banks throwing data in bins, PC’s being stolen, government databases being hacked, insiders selling information or details sold by DVLA.   more »

May 04, 2007 (Computerworld) -- The federal agency responsible for securing the nation's airports said today that it can't find an external hard drive packed with the personal records of about 100,000 current and former employees.

Authorities at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) noticed the drive missing yesterday, but aren't certain where it is. "It is unclear at this stage whether the device is still within headquarters or was stolen," the agency said.

Assuming that the drive was in fact stolen -- it went missing from what was called a "controlled area" at TSA headquarters in Washington D.C. -- officials have asked the FBI and the U.S. Secret Service to investigate.

More….

A computer containing the bank details of thousands of hospital staff has been stolen from an NHS building, it has been revealed. The computer contains bank and personal information about staff at the Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust but does not contain any patient records. The database contained details of around 5,000 employees who work at the trust's three sites.   more »