A Few of the Latest "Reported" Data Breaches...

EDS to pay for identity theft coverage after errant mailing

MADISON, Wis. -- Electronic Data Systems Corp. said Friday it will provide one year of free identity theft insurance and credit monitoring for 260,000 Wisconsin residents whose Social Security numbers were mistakenly visible on mailers sent by the company.

EDS vice president Sean Kenny said the coverage and new mailings will cost the Plano-based company at least $1 million. EDS was "deeply regretful" about the mistake, he said.

The Social Security numbers wound up being outwardly visible on brochures sent to Medicaid and other insurance participants when data fields were merged to create the address label. Kenny described the mistake as human error.

Wisconsin's Department of Health and Family Services has asked the state's attorney general's office to investigate a possible lawsuit against EDS for the error. Department Secretary Kevin Hayden said he believed the error violated the company's contract with the state, as well as state and federal privacy laws.

Metro offering 337,000 registered voters identity-theft protection

Identity-theft protection will be provided at no cost to the 337,000 registered voters whose personal information was contained on two laptop computers stolen from the Davidson County Election Commission over the holidays, Mayor Karl Dean says. Read More

Records for 800 UA students missing

The University of Akron has informed 800 students and graduates of the College of Education that a portable hard drive containing personal information is missing and may have been discarded or destroyed in December.
The university said the device contained Social Security numbers, names and addresses of students and graduates.

...The University of Akron has informed 800 students and graduates of the College of Education that a portable hard drive containing personal information is missing and may have been discarded or destroyed in December.
The university said the device contained Social Security numbers, names and addresses of students and graduates. Read More

Hacker breaches UGA system -Augusta Chronicle

ATHENS, Ga. - University of Georgia officials are scrambling to contact more than 4,000 current, former and prospective residents of the university's graduate family housing complex after an overseas hacker tried to access a server containing Social Security numbers.

The hacker breached the security system sometime between Dec. 29 and Dec. 31, according to a statement UGA released Tuesday.

During that time, a computer with an overseas Internet Protocol address was able to access the personal information, including Social Security numbers, names and addresses, of 540 current graduate students living in graduate family housing and 3,710 former students and applicants.

University officials know what country the hacker was operating in but would not comment on that part of the investigation, UGA spokesman Tom Jackson said.

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As we I continue to hear reports of what seems like an endless array of security lapses -maybe the Federal government should listen to the sharp criticism aimed at them by state governments and privacy experts who have been opposing the upcoming initiation of Homeland Security's Read ID program. Will a database containing the personal data of 245 million people be too tempting to hackers and identity thieves to ignore?

See ABC's News report: .Real ID Program Has Drawn Criticism From States, Privacy Groups