fringe: Shell Employee Directory Leaked, Allegedly By Activist Workers

[security curmudgeon <jericho () attrition org>]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>

http://www.darkreading.com/database_security/security/client/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=222900239

By Tim Wilson
DarkReading
Feb 12, 2010

The names and phone numbers of more than 170,000 employees and contractors 
at Royal Dutch Shell have been emailed to environmental and human rights 
campaign groups, the oil company acknowledged today.

The database, from Shell's internal directory, gives names and telephone 
numbers for all of the company's workforce worldwide, including some home 
numbers, according to a story in the Financial Times. The e-mail was 
ostensibly sent by disaffected staff calling for a "peaceful corporate 
revolution" at the company.

The database was emailed with a 170-page cover note, explaining that it 
was being circulated by "116 concerned employees of Shell Oil dispersed 
throughout the USA, the UK, and the Netherlands" to highlight the harm 
allegedly done by the company's operations in Nigeria, according to the 
Financial Times.

Shell confirmed the database was genuine, but said it did not pose a 
security risk because it did not include home addresses, according to the 
news report. The company said it was investigating the security breach, 
but did not believe the claim it had been leaked by disaffected staff. So 
far, no Shell employee has admitted playing a role in the data theft.

[...]
_______________________________________________
Dataloss-discuss Mailing List (dataloss-discuss () datalossdb org)
Archived at http://seclists.org/dataloss/

Get business, compliance, IT and security staff on the same page with
CREDANT Technologies: The Shortcut Guide to Understanding Data Protection
from Four Critical Perspectives. The eBook begins with considerations
important to executives and business leaders.
http://www.credant.com/campaigns/ebook-chpt-one-web.php