Thursday, December 29, 2011


This is another bankrupt firm. Apparently, everyone who cared about protecting important data left long ago... (along with those who knew tapes from disks)
UK: Information on 1.4m customers lost by Cattles Group Birstall headquarters
December 29, 2011 by admin
More than a million customers have had their personal details “lost” after a data mix-up at a loan firm’s Birstall headquarters.
The Cattles Group, which owns Welcome Finance loans firm, has written to customers informing them that two back-up storage discs with private information about 1.4 million customers have been misplaced.
Marlene Proctor, 31, from Wibsey, was one of the customers who received a letter saying the firm cannot account for her personal details, including bank details, national insurance number, date of birth and address.
[...]
As well as customers’ details, the lost IT discs included human resource data about staff who are part of the Cattles Group.
[...]
The Cattles spokesman said: “The storage tapes contain low-level personal data relating to 1.4 million customers, limited to names and addresses for 800,000, but also including date of birth and payment history for 600,000.
“The tapes also include HR data relating to staff in employment with the Cattles Group up to October 2010. A process to inform affected customers and employees is under way. There is no evidence that the information has fallen into the wrong hands or been used maliciously.
Read more on Telegraph & Argus.
h/t, AlertBoot, who point out some of the contradictions in the reports.
When companies go bankrupt or fold, we have often seen records treated with less than the scrupulous security they require. Over the years, I’ve reported cases where boxes of medical records are left behind or cartons of employee records are just thrown out, etc. Was the lack of adequate security in this case related to the firm having gone bankrupt? Hard to say, as the lack of proper security may just be symptomatic of other problems the firm had that resulted in bankruptcy. We may never know, but that’s a lot of personal data to be unaccounted for.


I like it!
WV: Bank says Va. company failed to prevent ID theft
December 28, 2011 by admin
Here’s another breach I hadn’t heard about. Interesting to see the bank suing the firm for negligence in security. Kyla Asbury reports:
The Bank of Charles Town is suing N/L Entertainment after it claims the company failed to prevent the theft of debit card and credit information of its customers at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas in Winchester, Va.
[...]
The bank claims at least 232 purchases were made using Bank of Charles Town customers’ debit cards.
As a result of the defendant’s negligence, the Bank of Charles Town has been damaged in the amount of $29,919.74 plus interest, according to the suit.
[...]
Jefferson Circuit Court case number: 11-C-436
Read more on: The West Virginia Record.
I’ve emailed the law firm requesting a copy of the complaint as this is one I want to follow.


Granted American Thinker leans a bit to the right, but even the Post noticed some new bits...
Data-Crazy Department of Education Throws Privacy Out the Window
December 29, 2011 by Dissent
Ann Kane is singing my tune:
Data is king in the progressives’ world. The more they have on you, the more they can control you.
A New York Post article brings to light the slippery slope of the State’s intrusion into the private lives of students and their families. Obama’s Department of Education has rewritten the rules for collecting data on American students. In a final version of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy statute published on December 2, 2011, the DoEd, within the space of 57 pages, effectively and comprehensively wills itself to be chief facilitator of state gathered data of public school children Pre-K through college.
The DoED claims there won’t be a central office to which all the states report; the states will have the option of sharing their own databases with other interested organizations. But students’ private health records, grades, and family information will be available to anyone who can provide a reason to have them.
Read more on American Thinker
[From the Post article:
Buried within the enormous 2009 stimulus bill were provisions encouraging states to develop data systems for collecting copious information on public-school kids. To qualify for stimulus money, states had to agree to build such systems according to federally dictated standards. So all 50 states either now maintain or are capable of maintaining extensive databases on public-school students.


This will conflict with the “no cellphones in the courtroom” rules.
December 27, 2011
iPhone Application Support for FedCtRecords (Federal Court Records)
"This application allows public access to court electronic records for Federal District Courts across the United States. Users MUST be registered, have a valid PACER account, to use this application. New users may register here PACER. This application is 'CASE SEARCH' only, therefore documents CANNOT be filed using this applciation, [Opportunity? Bob] users can only view documents and information that is currently filed. It is important to note that a PACER account is separate from any filing account. A PACER account is required for document access in all federal courts."


Cheap, simple videos – but students who pass my classes love them!
Khan Academy Jumps To 4M Uniques Per Month (Up 4X From Last Year)
… Currently the top post on Reddit, Khan has spent the last two hours detailing everything from their recent growth and his workflow to the team’s plans for the future.
The Highlights So Far:
  • Over the last month, Khan Academy saw 4 million unique users. That’s up from 1 million in the same period last year, and up from 3.5 million in October (asked by dbigthe)
  • “I’d say that 90% [of the videos are shot] in 1 take. 99% are 2 takes.” [That explains a lot, actually Bob]
  • “I will definitely do much more advanced mathematics in the next year than what we have now.” (This resulted in Michael Nielson, leading quantum computing expert and author of the standard text on the subject, to offer his assistance right in the thread)


So do I wait for the Aakash or pay nearly 3 times as much for immediate satisfaction?
"The HP TouchPad Go, which is a smaller version of the company's signature TouchPad, may go on sale for $99 like its predecessor. The tablet features a 1023 x 768 resolution display, runs on webOS, and also has a removable cover with soft-touch coating to minimize fingerprints on the 7-inch screen. HP's new tablet also comes with a removable battery, 32GB of storage, a 3G radio, a five-megapixel camera and LED flash.HP designed the TouchPad Go around the same time as the larger model, but it failed to reach production stages when the company decided to kill off all devices running on the doomed webOS. If the tablet indeed sells for $99, it would be the cheapest tablet in the world besides the Aakash tablet, which was released by the Indian government for $35."

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