Two Major Breaches Caused By Loss Of Physical Media

[security curmudgeon <jericho () attrition org>]

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

http://www.darkreading.com/security/privacy/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=225800186

By Tim Wilson
DarkReading
July 14, 2010

Online attacks might be getting more sophisticated every day, but two 
incidents last week are reminding the industry that the loss of physical 
storage media is still among the most common causes of data breaches.

AMR, the parent company of American Airlines, is in the process of 
notifying some 79,000 current and former employees of the loss of a hard 
drive containing microfiche records dating from 1960 to 1995. Some of the 
records included bank information.

And on July 6, the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) 
reported to federal authorities that a missing compact disc (CD) delivered 
to the department may not have been encrypted by the sender, Care 1st 
Health Plan. The CD contains personal information, including names and 
addresses, for 29,808 Care 1st members.

Recent studies indicate that the theft of physical media remains one of 
the most common causes of data breaches. Both AMR and the California DHCS 
have discovered that the hard way.

[...]
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