[privacy] Two Important Data Loss Incidents in Pacific Northwest

["Fergie" <fergdawg () netzero net>]

Wow. Speechless.

First, "DHS Loses Personal Data on 900 Employees".

[snip]

Federal Homeland Security officials in Portland are trying to find a
lost computer storage device that may have held personal information on
more than 900 current and former employees.

The device, called a ThumbDrive, turned up missing Oct. 16 at the
Transportation Security Administration's command center at Portland
International Airport. The agency, born after the Sept. 11 terrorist
attacks, has about 500 employees statewide who oversee airport security
checkpoints.

Mike Irwin, federal security director at PDX, said the agency had spent
the past several days trying to determine what information was on the
drive and where it had gone.

[snip]

More:
http://www.oregonlive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/business/1161746723210640.xml?oregonian?fng&coll=7

And for good measure, "Port of Seattle Reports Airport Worker
Information Missing".

[snip]

The Port of Seattle announced today that six computer disks, containing
personal information for 6,939 people who work for employers at
Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, are missing. "We have no reason
to believe that the information has been misused by anyone," said Mark
Reis, managing director at Sea-Tac. "However, we do not know at this
time whether the disks were misplaced, or were removed from Port property."

The disks were from the Airport I.D. Badging office, and had been
scanned from paper I.D. forms. When it was discovered the disks were
missing, the Port immediately conducted an investigation. As a
precaution, the Port is sending letters to all individuals with names
on the disks. No action is required by the individuals unless they are
aware of any suspicious activity regarding their personal financial
information; in that case, individuals should contact their financial
and credit institutions.

The missing disks are from random dates, ranging from 2001 to early
2006, and carry names of employees from airlines, concessions, the Port
and other employers at Sea-Tac. Some of the names may be of former
employees.

[snip]

More:
http://www.portseattle.org/news/press/2006/10_02_2006_39.shtml

Props, Network Endpoint Security:
http://www.watchyourend.com/

- ferg


--
"Fergie", a.k.a. Paul Ferguson
 Engineering Architecture for the Internet
 fergdawg(at)netzero.net
 ferg's tech blog: http://fergdawg.blogspot.com/

_______________________________________________
privacy mailing list
privacy () whitestar linuxbox org
http://www.whitestar.linuxbox.org/mailman/listinfo/privacy