Verizon to Hold Webinar Offering Tips to Reduce Authentication Risks

Verizon is to hold  a webinar this Thursday (Aug. 25) entitled “Strengthen Your Security Infrastructure with Universal Identify Services,” discussing the continued need for strong second-factor authentication and available options.

According to the Verizon “2011 Data Breach Investigation Report,” authentication and credential exploits are responsible for almost half of data breaches involving hacking.

With an increase of second-factor authentication…

University of Wisconsin Hacked, 75,000 Social Security Numbers Accessed

Officials at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee announced yesterday the school’s internal systems were recently hacked and bugged with malware, putting at risk the Social Security numbers of approximately 75,000 students, faculty and staff. 

The school’s technology staff discovered in May that malicious software had been installed remotely and was allowing access to the school’s database. The infected server was immediately shut down.

University Vice Chancellor Tom Luljak explained the…

Anonymous, LulzSec Retaliate: Hack 70+ Law Enforcement Sites, Leak Information

In retaliation of the recent arrests of their alleged members, the hacking collectives Anonymous and LulzSec recently infiltrated the websites of more than 70 U.S. law enforcement institutions across the United States and released this weekend 10 gigabytes of confidential information.

The hacktivists claimed to have accessed and leaked hundreds of emails, passwords, Social Security numbers and credit card numbers for U.S. officers from websites in 11…

McAfee Exposes Massive Cyber Espionage Operation

Researchers from McAfee say they have uncovered one of the largest series of cyber espionage activities to date. 

According to a report released today called “Operation Shady RAT,” some 72 organizations and governments around the world fell victim to a massive,  five-year long cyber attack carried out by…

Anonymous Strikes Again, Hacks ManTech

The online hactivist group “Anonymous” gained access to yet another government security contractor’s server and released approximately 400 megabytes of sensitive, internal documents.

The servers at ManTech International, a company that provides cybersecurity services to the U.S. government, were breached by the group on Friday and announced on the group’s Twitter account.

“ManTech has been owned,” Anonymous tweeted. “Release within 24h.”

Included in that batch of stolen information are mail…

Data Breach Compromises UNLV Employees Information

The University of Nevada, Las Vegas announced recently that private information for approximately 2,000 current and former employees may have been compromised back in 2008.

According to the university, the Office of Information Technology discovered what may have been unauthorized activity on a university desktop computer that  included names and social security numbers of approximately 2,000 current and former employees who had computer loans and other transactions with the…

Report: IRS Slow to Notify Taxpayers of Data Breaches

The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration recently published a report which highlighted the Internal Revenue Service’s failure to notify taxpayers whose personally identifiable information was inadvertently disclosed.

According to the report, more than 142 million taxpayers entrust the IRS with sensitive financial and personal data. The IRS has many processes and regulations that protect this information, but there are times where taxpayer information is inadvertently disclosed. The…

Boston Hospital Notifies 2,000 of Data Breach Resulting from Computer Virus

More than 2,000 patients at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center have been notified about a data breach that may have exposed their personal information after a hospital computer was compromised, The Boston Globe reports.

The Boston-based hospital said a computer that held medical record numbers, names and birth dates of 2,021 patients, as well as information about their radiology procedures had been infected with a virus…

Hoarder Responsible for Medical Records Breach Affecting 357

A data breach of medical records and documents at North Carolina-based Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center have affected 357 individuals, according to Winston-Salem Journal.

Linda Bowden Turner, an employee fired June 1, took home pages from 136 patient medical records and 221 employee documents, which included Social Security numbers of past and current employees and dated back to 2006.

Police have charged Turner, 55, with larceny by employee….

Kiplinger Warns Customers of Data Breach

A security breach at Kiplinger Washington Editors may have exposed the information of 142,000 customers, the company has warned.

Kiplinger notified customers about the breach last week in an email, saying an “unidentified third party” had gained  unauthorized access to a database that housed customer information.

The breach was discovered June 25, and the company said it took immediate action to stop the attack, safeguard the data, and determine what…