Getting Fired Because Of A Data Breach

Organizations are getting very serious about how they react to a data breach of confidential information. On January 10, 2013, an employee of a contractor who processes Medicaid prescription transactions lost a USB drive with about 6000 patients’ names, Medicaid identification number, age and recent prescription drug use history. Less than a week later, she was fired. The organization affected was the Utah Department of Health. It uses Goold Health Systems to process pharmacy...

Organizations are getting very serious about how they react to a data breach of confidential information. On January 10, 2013, an employee of a...

Most of the data breaches in the news are from large companies like Sony and Zappos, who collectively had almost 150 million records compromised in 2011 and 2012. Most of the actual data breaches are from smaller companies or compromise fewer records. Unfortunately like all statistics, if you or your company are affected, it doesn’t matter the size of the breach of company. You are at risk. Two smaller but significant events occurred recently...

Most of the data breaches in the news are from large companies like Sony and Zappos, who collectively had almost 150 million records compromised...

It’s the start of a new year and time to review all the passwords you use. I was prompted to do this by an incident where I think an account of mine was hacked. Unfortunately we all have to use passwords to get into our computers, smartphones, tablets and websites we use. Security experts are working on better authentication systems using biometrics, open authentication systems like OAuth, OpenID and others, but widespread adoption is...

It’s the start of a new year and time to review all the passwords you use. I was prompted to do this by an...

As the holidays wind down for 2012 and we spend time with our families, many of us will use our mobile phones and tablets for everything. According to recent research by Gartner, businesses and consumers will buy about 1.2 billion smartphones and tablets in 2013 to add to what’s already out there. We all use mobile devices because they are convenient and provide fast access to information. They are convenient for accessing documents, searching...

As the holidays wind down for 2012 and we spend time with our families, many of us will use our mobile phones and tablets...

It must be the holiday season because the spam in my Inbox has gone up tenfold. Every spammer on earth (and maybe some from elsewhere, who knows) is getting into the act. There are the usual deals on Viagra and weight loss, but the ones that sound like legitimate bargains are the ones to worry about. Just today I got one from zBiddy-Deals. I opened it and it looks like some great deals on...

It must be the holiday season because the spam in my Inbox has gone up tenfold. Every spammer on earth (and maybe some from...

You would think that all important company information must be in databases, given how many of them are in the world. CRM systems, ERP, finance applications, HR systems and millions of websites all use databases to store their data. Yet the largest majority of important information is still inside documents. A lot of companies use content management systems (CMS) to store these documents and get some control over them. Many of us store them...

You would think that all important company information must be in databases, given how many of them are in the world. CRM systems, ERP,...

Just when you’ve thought you’ve heard it all we read about the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade confetti containing confidential information from the Nassau County Police Department. Not only did the confetti contain social security numbers and arrest records but partial information on President Obama’s and Mitt Romney’s recent motorcade through Manhattan. Such a lack of control of confidential paper documents should not shock anyone these days. Case in point is an article published in...

Just when you’ve thought you’ve heard it all we read about the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade confetti containing confidential information from the Nassau County...

For those of you who prefer clicking for bargains rather than standing in line and fighting the crowds on Black Friday, this is for you. Thanksgiving is probably a happy memory and a few football games are lingering in your mind, but now it’s time to turn your attention to holiday shopping. Today is Cyber Monday and I think it’s a little easier on the feet and constitution than Black Friday. I would rather...

For those of you who prefer clicking for bargains rather than standing in line and fighting the crowds on Black Friday, this is for...

We write frequently on this blog about the risk of loss of confidential information from internal trusted sources. The loss of sensitive information can be due to individuals wishing to do harm to an organization, for financial gain or because of “carelessness”. Nothing could illustrate this better than what is playing out this week in Washington D.C. with General Petraeus at the CIA. If anyone should have known about the impact of divulging confidential...

We write frequently on this blog about the risk of loss of confidential information from internal trusted sources. The loss of sensitive information can...

According to recent research by Gartner, people around the world will buy about 1.2 billion smartphones and tablets in 2013. That will account for around 70% of all devices sold. This accounts for businesses and all of us using personal smart devices in our daily lives. Just to give you an idea of how ubiquitous this is becoming, this morning I was at my local garage getting my car inspected and a very elderly...

According to recent research by Gartner, people around the world will buy about 1.2 billion smartphones and tablets in 2013. That will account for...

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