![\"FAA\"](\"http:\/\/www.cesac.howard.edu\/_images\/logo\/faa.jpg\")
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In another of a long line of high-profile security breaches both in and out of the government recently, the Federal Aviation Administration has announced that in the course of a breach of their computer system, over 45,000 employee names \u2013 and presumably, personal information \u2013 were compromised. The systems were thankfully not connected to the air traffic control system or other critical operations systems.<\/p>\n
The FAA is said to be following up with potentially affected individuals one by one.<\/p>\n
Similarly, healthcare giant Kaiser Permanente reported on Sunday that nearly 30,000 employee names, addresses, Social Security numbers, and dates of birth were stolen. The breach was a chance discovery \u2013 the files containing the data were found in the possession of one Mia Garza, who was arrested on unrelated counts of stolen property and fraud. It is unclear how she came to possess the data, and thus it is entirely possible that copies of it are still in the hands of malicious people. As she was arrested on December 23rd of last year, it has clearly been quite some time since the breach occurred.<\/p>\n
According to Kaiser, existing security policy included restricted access to sensitive information by ACL and encryption of data on electronic devices, including cell phones \u2013 both measures that sound wise. It is still entirely possible that the issue was policy not in fact being followed \u2013 Kaiser does not know what caused to the loss of data.<\/p>\n
Due to the lack of detail surrounding both of these events, they serve simply as a reminder of how broadly security breaches can affect people on a personal scale. In just a few weeks, companies and government agencies ranging from the above to RBS WorldPay \u2013 an event in which 1.5 million people’s financial information and 1.1 million Social Security numbers were stolen \u2013 Heartland Payment, which processes over four billion payments a year, and even security specialists Kaspersky have all suffered high-profile data breaches.<\/p>\n
Hopefully all these attacks will remind other organizations to take a long, hard look at their security systems.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In another of a long line of high-profile security breaches both in and out of the government recently, the Federal Aviation Administration has announced that in the course of a breach of their computer system, over 45,000 employee names \u2013 … Continue reading