Source: [id: 41018; name: CSO; isActive: true; siteId: 3] -- CSO -- $content.altguid

Attrition.org: Tracking Data Drains

Recent breaches chronicled by attrition.org

By CSO Contributor

February 05, 2007 — CSO —

On Dec. 13, 2006, when Boeing acknowledged a laptop with files containing the private data of 382,000 current and former employees, the tally that Privacy Rights Clearinghouse has kept since early 2005 of data breaches made public reached an artificial yet interesting milestone: 100 million records. In 2006 the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse and Attrition.org cataloged 2 dozen breaches with more than 100,000 records of sensitive information—and that doesn't include breaches where the total is unknown, such as the personal data of "potentially millions of registered voters" the Ohio secretary of state sent to 20 political campaigns last April. Here are the five biggest breaches of 2006.


RECORDS POTENTIALLY BREACHED

WHERE AND WHEN MADE PUBLIC

WHAT HAPPENED

28.6 millionVeterans Affairs Department, May 22Laptop stolen from employees home holds veterans personal data. Computer recovered and FBI forensics says no data accessed; veterans agency contracts monitor to see if data misused.
2.6 millionCircuit City, Chase Card Services, Sept. 7

Computer data tapes containing Circuit City cardholders data mistakenly discarded.
1.7 millionTexas Guaranteed Student Loan Corp., May 30Worker at subcontractor loses equipment containing borrowers names and Social Security numbers.
1.35 millionChicago Election Board, Oct. 23Illinois activists report they hacked into voter database where names, Social Security numbers, dates of birth are viewed.
1 millionAmerican Red Cross, St. Louis chapter, May 24Employee with access to donors Social Security numbers allegedly uses three records for ID theft scheme.

Sources: Privacy rights clearinghouse, attrition.org

Read more about identity theft prevention in CSOonline's Identity Theft Prevention section.

RESOURCE CENTER