FTC Warns Of Widespread Data Breaches

[security curmudgeon <jericho () attrition org>]

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

http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/attacks/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=223100254

By Thomas Claburn
InformationWeek
February 23, 2010

The Federal Trade Commission on Monday said that it had notified almost 
100 organizations in both the public and private sector that they need to 
review their security practices.

In letters to these organizations, the FTC says that "at least one 
computer file containing sensitive personal information from or about your 
customers and/or employees has been shared from your computer network, or 
the network of one of your service providers, to a peer-to-peer file 
sharing (P2P) network."

Failure to prevent this information from being shared may represent a 
violation of one or more laws that the FTC enforces, such as the 
Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, the Fair Credit Reporting Act, and the Federal 
Trade Commission Act.

The FTC however has not filed any lawsuits related to these breaches.

FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz said in a statement that companies of all sizes 
are vulnerable to P2P-related breaches. He said that the FTC found 
information that could be used to commit identity theft, including health 
information, financial data, drivers' license numbers and social security 
numbers.

[...]
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