January 25, 2015
The Economist in Your money or your data highlights the increasing use of ransomware which compounds a data breach. The unauthorised access of personal/business information is bad enough but Read the rest of this entry »
January 24, 2015
In Think of a number and double it the Economist, in its usual precise and concise fashion, highlights the major public policy challenge of increased data breaches by hacking, a lack of information as to the size of the problem and inadequate regulation in the form of comprehensive and coherent mandatory data breach notification laws. Data breaches and the use of ransomware are on the rise. The problem is Read the rest of this entry »
January 21, 2015
The Executive branch of the US Government, usually called the President, previously mooted the need for improved data breach notification laws at the Federal level in the wake of the Sony hack.
In today’s State of the Union the President provided Read the rest of this entry »
The UK information Commissioner’s Office has entered into an undertaking with the shoe retailer Office as a result of a data breach through a hacking attack of Officer’s website. This resulted in data of over a million customers being exposed. The breach exposed poor data security practices including unencrypted data base, a patchy record of penetration testing, a deficient privacy policy and poor staff training. As is common with data breaches investigated by UK and US authorities an investigation of Read the rest of this entry »
January 15, 2015
Today’s PM program in Private details leaked after travel insurance company hacked reports on both a significant data breach involving the disclosure of personal information from Aussie Travel Cover and its terrible handling of the data breach, starting with failing to notify its customers that their personal information had been compromised, sometimes posted on line. It is also Read the rest of this entry »
January 14, 2015
In the article Wearable Fitness Trackers Increase in Popularity and Raise Gathered Data’s Questions raises again the issue of data collection by the growing suit of fitness trackers, such as Fit Bit. The collection of data of fitness trackers extends across the spectrum of personal information, from geo location to sensitive health information. Connecting that data to an app on the phone opens up other Read the rest of this entry »
January 2, 2015
It is still the season to be reviewing the year that was. And Wired’s assessment The Year’s Biggest Winners and Losers in Privacy and Security is both positive and negative from a privacy perspective, in America of course. It has been a mixed bag as far as Read the rest of this entry »
Over the last year the Federal Trade Commission (the “FTC”) has been taking stronger action to deal with privacy intrusive behaviour both in terms of undertakings and fines. It has also Read the rest of this entry »
December 31, 2014
From the land of the CCTV, the United Kingdom, comes a story that highlights how technology once thought of the province of government agencies and large organisations are readily available for use by the average citizen. Sometimes the below average citizen. In Neighbourhood watch: how domestic CCTV is sweeping the UK the Guardian highlights the complexities and privacy intrusive behaviour associated with the misuse of CCTVs. The UK is quite far advanced in having some legal means of dealing with privacy intrusive behaviours thought as the story makes clear it is far from a perfect solution. CCTVs are often not the solution to an underlying problem, as highlighted in CCTV increases people’s sense of anxiety
At least the UK has a surveillance camera commissioner. In Australia Read the rest of this entry »
December 29, 2014
‘Tis the season for lists. In that vein the Wired article on The Year’s Worst Hacks, From Sony to Celebrity Nude Pics is a good coverage on the highlights of 2014’s hacks. And it has been a Read the rest of this entry »