SCHNUCK’S MASSIVE DATA BREACH RESULTS IN SEVERAL CLASS ACTION LAWSUITS

       As we reported last month, Schnucks super market stores announced a data breach in March that potentially effected 2.4 million debit and credit card users.  News reports have indicated that as many as 79 Schnucks stores may have had their customers’ card numbers and information stolen.  As is often the case, class action lawsuits have … Continue reading

SCHNUCKS IS THE LATEST SUPER MARKET CHAIN TO SUFFER AN EXTENSIVE DATA BREACH

        Last month Schnucks supermarket chain announced that it had been the victim of a hacking and was investigating a data breach that lead to customer credit and debit cards being fraudulently charged with purchases.  At the time, Schnucks did not indicate the severity of the data breach.  Schnucks has now announced that approximately 2.4 … Continue reading

State of the Cybersecurity Union — Obama’s Executive Order Aimed at Cyberattacks

“We know hackers steal people’s identities and infiltrate private e-mail.  We know foreign countries and companies swipe our corporate secrets.”  With those words, and just prior to his 2013 State of the Union address, President Obama signed an executive order on cybersecurity.   The order is focused on protecting critical cyber infrastructure from cyberattacks. As an executive order, … Continue reading

NATIONWIDE INSURANCE LATEST VICTIM OF A DATA BREACH

       Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company announced that part of its computer network has been hacked and that personal information effecting more than 1.1 million individuals has been stolen.  The data breach occurred on October 3rd.  The network that was breached is also used by Allied Insurance. Nationwide has determined that the compromised information includes names, birth … Continue reading

Credit/Debit Card Breach at Barnes & Noble Exposes Holes in Point of Sale Systems

Hackers gained access to credit card information from customers at 63 Barnes & Noble stores.  Although the incident was first discovered in September, the FBI requested that Barnes & Noble delay publicly reporting the incident so as not to impede the investigation. Somehow, and the exact methodology has not been revealed, hackers were able to capture information from PIN … Continue reading

MEDAL OF HONOR RECIPIENTS BECOME VICTIMS OF AN ON LINE DATA BREACH

        The Social Security numbers of 31 Army Medal of Honor recipients were accidentally posted on line by a Pentagon employee.  The Los Angeles Times reported last week that the personal information was removed from the internet after the breach was discovered by a well known military historian.  The Social Security numbers appear to have … Continue reading

CREDIT CARD DATA SECURITY ISSUES RAISED ABOUT ROMNEY SUPER PAC IN WASHINGTON TIMES ARTICLE

This morning a Washington Times newspaper article raised potential data security issues with the online credit card system used by Restore Our Future, a Mitt Romney Super PAC. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/may/3/romney-super-pac-donors-put-at-credit-card-risk/. The article detailed how the super PAC’s computer system appears to lack fundamental security methods for protecting its donor’s personal information. The PAC is raising money … Continue reading

Credit Card Transactions: A Data Breach Waiting to Happen

Last week, Global Payments, Inc., an electronic transactions processor for, among others, VISA and MasterCard, reported a large data breach.    According to Global Payments, intruders obtained ”track 2″ credit card data on 1.5 million cardholders. Track 2 refers to a portion of the data contained on the credit card’s magnetic stripe [pdf].  Track 2 data includes card numbers and expiration dates.  Track 1 data, which was not … Continue reading

DATA BREACH LITIGATION: CREDIT MONITORING NOW OR FEDERAL LAWSUIT LATER

Three prominent academics recently published a research paper that analyzed data breach litigation throughout the United States. http://ssrn.com/abstract=1986461.  The authors analyzed over 230 federal data breach lawsuits from 2000-2010. The paper’s results suggest that the odds for an organization to be sued in federal court are 3.5 times greater when an individual has suffered financial harm … Continue reading

Is Cloud Computing Compatible With the FBI’s Data Security Rules?

We all know that if you want to do business with the government, you have to play by the rules.   This includes law enforcement agencies seeking to access the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS). The CJIS database, maintained by the FBI, is one of the world’s largest repositories of criminal information.  CJIS provides state, local and … Continue reading