ISR News: 35M Records Breached in 2008
Excerpt from CIO.com’s Jeremy Kirk
More than 35 million data records were breached in 2008 in the U.S., a figure that underscores continuing difficulties in securing information, according to the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC).
It documents 656 breaches in 2008 from a range of well-known U.S. companies and government entities, compared to 446 breaches in 2007, a 47 percent increase. Information about the breaches was collected by tracking media reports and the disclosures companies are required to make by law.
The business community had the most breaches, comprising more than a third of the 656 breaches, ITRC said. BNY Mellon Shareowner Services, an investment bank based in New Jersey, reported the highest number of breached records: 12.5 million. A box of computer tapes containing names, Social Security and account numbers was lost in February 2008. A lock on the truck transporting the tapes was broken, and the truck had been left unattended, according to news reports. The tapes were not encrypted.
Filed under: Breach, Financial, Government, ISR News, Insider Threat, Military, PCI, Sarbanes-Oxley, Uncategorized, hackers, identity-theft, malware, national security, privacy
Comments
2 Comments on ISR News: 35M Records Breached in 2008
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John Franks on
Fri, 9th Jan 2009 1:22 pm
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Jonathan Brill on
Wed, 14th Jan 2009 10:13 pm
I like to pass along things that work, in hopes that good ideas make their way back to me. Data breaches and thefts are due to a lagging business culture – and people aren’t getting the training they need. As CIO, I look for ways to help my business and IT teams further their education. Check your local library: A book that is required reading is “I.T. WARS: Managing the Business-Technology Weave in the New Millennium.” It also helps outside agencies understand your values and practices.
The author, David Scott, has an interview that is a great exposure: http://businessforum.com/DScott_02.html -
The book came to us as a tip from an intern who attended a course at University of Wisconsin, where the book is an MBA text. It has helped us to understand that, while various systems of security are important, no system can overcome laxity, ignorance, or deliberate intent to harm. Necessary is a sustained culture and awareness; an efficient prism through which every activity is viewed from a security perspective prior to action.
In the realm of risk, unmanaged possibilities become probabilities – read the book BEFORE you suffer a breach.
Ouch. Of all the arguments for information management, this has to be near the top of the list.
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