The year 2008 was marked by the highest number of the breaches in the history of Mankind. And the situation doesn’t seem to be improving so far. With every passing year, number and volume of the breaches increase. Their economic damage rises as well. Although, if you believe in the saying „The way you meet New Year – the way you spend it”, 2009 is not gonna be that bad. During the holidays break only minor breaches prevailed. Let’s see, if the coming year will be as quiet as first days.
Breaches of the period:
Date Data loss Organization Canal Cause 11.01.2009 450 University of Rochester Internet Intentional 09.01.2009 6360 HMP Preston Flash-drive Accidental 07.01.2009 1000 Indiana Department of Workforce Development Unknown Intentional 31.12.2008 18000 Ohio State University Internet Accidental 26.12.2008 1500 Lakes Region Hospital Paper materials Accidental Sum 27310New Hampshire hospital lost data on 1500 patients
On December 26, Fox44 told about the breach at the Lakes Region hospital (New Hampshire, USA). A package containing personnel medical information on 1,500 patients has gone missing during shipping via UPS from the central processing agent.
Data on 18000 OSU students accidentally leaked to the Web.
Right before New Year’s Eve, on December 31, website of the Columbus Dispatch published a story about the incident in Ohio. Ohio State University has notified 18,000 current and former students that their names and Social Security numbers were mistakenly stored on a computer server exposed to the Internet. A vendor doing work for Ohio State's student health insurance plan made the mistake. However, only students enrolled in the school's insurance program from fall 2005 to summer 2006 are affected.
Indiana State unemployment accounts breached
On January 8, Fox28 reported a breach at the Indiana state workforce improvement department. Some 1000 accounts of the unemployed were compromised. The breach happened in the ATM processing company that was serving the cards. The state did send out letters at that time and 200 immediately changed cards.
Data on 6360 convicts lost with a flash-drive
On January 9, according to the Lancashire Evening Post a memory stick containing details of up to 6,360 prisoners was lost. The USB data stick was lost by a health worker at Preston prison. The missing memory stick was encrypted, but the password had been attached to the device.
Hackers stole data on 450 Rochester students
Finally, on January 11, Democrat And Chronicle covered incident at the University of Rochester. Personal information including Social Security numbers of about 450 current and former University of Rochester students was stolen by hackers. The information was taken from a non-academic student database and copied illegally to an off-campus IP address.
New Year’s Quietness, however not promising anything positive
