personal data

Federal Reserve confirms its Web site was hacked

The wave of high-level cyberattacks continues as the Federal Reserve confirmed that one of its internal Web sites was hacked into today, according to Reuters.

"The Federal Reserve system is aware that information was obtained by exploiting a temporary vulnerability in a website vendor product," a Fed spokeswoman told Reuters. "Exposure was fixed shortly after discovery and is no longer an issue. This incident did not affect critical operations of the Federal Reserve system."

Apparently the hackers accessed data associated with specific individuals, according to Reuters.

This attack comes on the heels of the hacking group … Read more

U.K. to reopen probe of Google Street View data collection

Google is facing renewed privacy scrutiny in Britain, as a U.K. regulator reopens its investigation into how the Web giant's Street View program gathered personal data.

The U.K. Information Commissioner's Office announced today that it was motivated to reopen its probe, after information provided in an earlier U.K. investigation appears to have been contradicted by the Federal Communications Commission, which found in April that Google's data collection had not broken the law.

"During the course of our investigation, we were specifically told by Google that it was a simple mistake, and if the … Read more

Your personal data isn't safe and it's worse than we thought

The optimist in me wants to say this week will go down as a turning point in the struggle to protect the privacy of user information. The pessimist in me says wait and see--yes, there are glimmers of hope that change is afoot, but this is an industry with a spotty track record.

Last week, a firestorm hovered over Path, after it was found to be uploading and storing user data from iPhone address books without requesting permission. The company subsequently changed its policy and apologized to users. But the selective outrage irked Michael Arrington, the blogger-turned-investor whose CrunchFund has … Read more

Report: Hackers accessed Citigroup customer data

Citigroup said today that hackers breached the bank's network and may have gained access to the personal data of hundreds of thousands of bank card customers.

Customer names, account numbers, and contact information, including e-mail addresses, were accessed during the breach, which was discovered in May during routine monitoring. However, no Social Security numbers, birth dates or security codes were accessed, Citi said.

Citi said the breach affected about 1 percent of its 21 million customers.

"We are contacting customers whose information was impacted," Citi spokesperson Sean Kevelighan said in a statement. "Citi has implemented enhanced … Read more

How to avoid sharing personal info online

Honesty is the best policy--unless you're dealing with someone you can't trust.

The sad fact is, you can't trust anyone on the Web. Just ask the millions of people who signed up for Sony's PlayStation Network and who now must protect against possible hack attacks on their bank accounts and other private data lost due the recent data breach. CNET News reporter Erica Ogg explains the company's response to its customers in her Circuit Breaker blog.

Sony claims the credit card information was encrypted and did not include the cards' security codes; the company also … Read more

Business intelligence is nice, personal data apps are better

The business intelligence community has made much of its ability to transform the way enterprises operate, and even the way the world works. Open source takes this to the next level, as OStatic recently described. And yet, as exciting as open-source business intelligence is, it's not what gets me out of bed every morning before sunrise. What drove me out of bed to climb 2,474 feet on my mountain bike this morning is the personal intelligence movement or, more accurately, the personal data movement.

Tim O'Reilly talks eloquently about " data as the Intel Inside" of … Read more

Steep learning curve

Notesbrowser attempts to pull several different organizational functions under one roof, and the end result is somewhat overwhelming. Even the publisher notes that there's a learning curve involved, and you have to be prepared to spend some time with the Help file if you want to understand this program.

Notesbrowser begins on the wrong foot with a cluttered interface full of boxes, lists, and text. Users are advised to take several minutes to simply look over the options, because tabs and subcategories are certain to appear out of the background. The program offers ways to manage downloaded music, contacts, … Read more

Laptop theft exposes patients' medical data

A government laptop housing the medical information of 2,500 patients enrolled in a National Institutes of Health study was stolen, potentially exposing personal data.

The computer was stolen in February from the trunk of a car driven by a lab chief of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, but officials did not notify the patients of the theft until Thursday, saying they didn't want to spread unnecessary alarm, according to The Washington Post.

The laptop contained seven years worth of clinical studies on the patients, including their names, ages, medical record numbers, and MRI reports. Social Security … Read more