Information security analytics

California Penal Code Section 502 regulates unauthorized access to computers and computer networks and has implications for employers with employees in California.

According to the Identity Theft Resource Center, there have been 371 data breaches that have exposed 12,871,065 records so far this year in the United States. NetworkWorld reports that businesses suffered the most breaches, making up 35% of the total. Medical and healthcare services accounted for 29.1% of breaches. The government and military made up 16.2% of breaches. Banking, credit, and financial services experienced 10.5% of breaches, and 9.2% of breaches occurred in educational institutes.

Wellington, Aug 24 NZPA - The Government's database that is used to confirm identities will be opened to private businesses under a bill introduced to Parliament today. Internal Affairs Minister Nathan Guy says they will be able to use the Data Validation Service to check the identity of customers, but only under strict conditions of security, privacy and integrity.

Californians could get increased consumer privacy protection if Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signs a bill passed by the Legislature Thursday. Senate Bill 1166, authored by Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, which Mr. Simitian says strengthens the notification required when databases of personal information are compromised. California’s existing data breach law, which was written by Mr. Simitian in 2002, requires companies and state government agencies to notify individuals when their personal information has been compromised.

Europe working on legislation to notify victims of information breaches. A law forcing all organisations to publically declare data breaches is expected to be in place in the UK within four years. According to lawyers at law firm Field Fisher Waterhouse (FFW), legislation requiring organisations to notify the relevant authorities as well as individuals affected in the event of a serious security breach involving personal data will be introduced across Europe.

The press release issued by the Senators: Today Senator Tom Carper (D-Del.) joined Senator Bob Bennett, (R-Utah) to re-introduce legislation that helps protect consumers and businesses from identity theft and account fraud.

InfoWatch analytics lab reports, the Russian Federation is considering amending the country’s data protection law, according to BNA’s Privacy Law Watch.

InfoWatch analytic center reports, it appears that Google maybe too smart for their own good as they have admitted that their Street View cars have been accessing information that they had no right collecting. For the last three years, Google has been acquiring data pertaining to people’s wi-fi activity, private information that is none of their business.

InfoWatch analytics lab reports, Irish data protection controllers should face sanctions for deliberate or reckless breaches of information protection law, a Government appointed review group has concluded. The obligations of controllers to report security breaches should be set out in a statutory code of practice, which would outline when disclosure of data breaches is mandatory, and failure to highlight such incidents should lead to prosecution, the report by the Data Protection Review Group states.

InfoWatch analytics lab reports, earlier this month (May 1, 2010), Alberta became the first Canadian province to pass a broad breach notice law (“Bill 54”) as part of their comprehensive data privacy statute, the Personal Information Protection Act (“the Act”; technically, Alberta is the second province to pass a breach notice law in Canada, Ontario previously passed a breach notice law that focuses on health information custodians).