Macrocosmic Technologies

According to the KATU TV web site, a trojan downloaded from a porn site by an Oregon Department of Revenue employee exposed the names, addresses, and social security numbers of some 2200 residents.

There’s some bad juju out there, there’s no denying that. It’s painfully evident that spyware needs to be addressed at the enterprise level. Anyone who says otherwise is itching for a fight*.

* Apologies to Michael Feldman

According to a recent article, an unclassified computer belonging to the DOE was hacked in September of 2005, and had a file containing names, social security numbers, and security clearances for 1500 employees stolen. Frighteningly, senior management was only made aware of this two days ago, or nearly nine months after the fact.

What separates this incident from most data disclosures is that the article makes this out to be a TARGETED theft of data, rather than randomly stealing hardware that happens to contain sensitive data. In this case, the data was the target.

Personal information, including social security numbers, was stolen last month from the home of a VA official last month. Some 2.2 million people, including up to 80% of current active military personnel, are affected. The breakdown is 1.1 million active-duty military personnel, 430,000 National Guard members and 645,000 reserve members. The information includes names, dates of birth, and social security numbers.

One day, increasingly soon given the current rate of egregious data disclosures, anyone handling sensitive or confidential information will be required by law to encrypt it and protect it. Already, HIPAA and The Graham Leach Bliley Act place these requirements on entities that handle medical or financial information. While these are good ideas, they’re simply the first steps to providing comprehensive protection for all of everyone’s private information.

Particularly worrisome about this loss is the fact that while senior VA officials were aware of the loss within hours, it wasn’t until nearly TWO WEEKS later that the VA secretary was notified. According to the Washington Post article covering the data loss, the analyst who had the laptop and hard drive removed from his home had been taking the data for at least three years.

Ye Olde Register is reporting that Ernst & Young has followed up its February loss of four laptops with losing only one, but this one happened to contain information about nearly a quarter of a million of Hotels.com’s customers. From a joint letter by E&Y and Hotels.com to its customers:

“Unfortunately, the computer contained certain information about customer transactions with Hotels.com, and other sites through which we provide booking services directly to customers, from 2002 through 2004.

“This information may have included your name, address and some credit or debit card information you provided at that time.”

Maybe I should have given my itinerary to a globetrotting garden gnome instead… If you’re interested, Ernst & Young does offer an IT Security and Risk Management practice. I have to wonder though, if they’ve ever heard the phrase, “Eat your own dog food.”