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When Europol suffered a data breach

A law enforcement agency suffering a data breach is a worrying thought, especially one as big as Europol – but it can and did happen.

Last year, Europol admitted they were subject to a rather shocking data leak when one of their former employees – a former Dutch police officer – breached the agency’s policies by taking home a confidential file that contained extremely sensitive information on multiple terrorist investigations.

A story from 2016 that’s similar to the recent Heathrow USB device found containing all sorts of sensitive security information, it goes to show the worrying reality that even the forces who are there to protect us can fall foul of a data breach.
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Uber “paid off” hackers to keep quiet on a data breach involving 57 million users

Uber has revealed that the company’s database was hacked in October last year, but instead of alerting authorities and warning users about the breach, they instead paid hackers around £75,000 to keep quiet about the hack, and for assurances that the information would be deleted.

Former chief security officer, Joe Sullivan, reportedly made the decision to cover-up the Uber hack, and it was a decision that cost him his job, his deputy’s job, and risked the security of some 56 million people around the world.
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Former Yahoo CEO and Equifax CEO’s testify for largest data breaches in history

The former Yahoo CEO and Equifax CEO were grilled over perceived failings surrounding two of the world’s largest data breaches in history.

Hackers easily got through both companies’ security systems and stole personal data belonging to millions of people. For two large organisations like Yahoo and Equifax, you’d think such breaches would never happen at all…

Both former company representatives reportedly started out by saying how they’d “changed” since the breaches, but they apparently also struggled when facing intense questioning.
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Freedom of press vs data protection – the big debate

As we prepare ourselves for the General Data Protection Regulation, an updated version of the Data Protection Bill is making its way through Parliament. The bill will hopefully give people more control over their personal data and greater enforcement powers when organisations don’t keep it safe or misuse it.

In addition to this, the House of Lords changed the way reporters can obtain and use personal information in the name of public interest. This means individuals can make a claim for their private information not to be disclosed before it’s already plastered on the headlines.

Some news outlets are not happy about it!
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Equifax data hack: the damage has only just begun…

“On a scale of 1 to 10 in terms of risks to consumers, this is a 10” – says fraud analyst, Avivah Litan on the Equifax data hack.

It has been months since the Equifax hack, but calamity isn’t about to quieten down anytime soon as the hacking exposed confidential information belonging to some 145 million customers, including almost 700,000 in the U.K.

This particular breach is distinct to others because of the wealth of information stolen combined with the company’s somewhat questionable attempts to mitigate the damage…
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After compromising over 145 million people’s financial data records, Equifax responds by producing an app…

Equifax have faced heavy criticism for a series of failings around the data breach that exposed over 145 million people’s personal data records, with almost 700,000 Brits caught up in the scandal. It was bad enough that a company responsible for credit referencing was easily hacked, especially given that the hack was down to Equifax failing to patch a known security vulnerability.

Their handling of the breach has been heavily criticised by authorities, experts and regulators. There are allegations of delays and failures to report the breach; an arguably dangerous website set up for people to check whether they were affected (which fraudsters can copy to lure people to give away information); and now an app, which is arguably one of worst offenders in terms of breaches and leaks of information.
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Nursing and Midwifery Council dismisses NHS midwife for snooping on medical records

A ‘nosy’ midwife has been sacked by the University Hospitals of Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust after she was discovered to have viewed confidential medical records belonging to friends, colleagues and other acquaintances.

Thirty-eight-year-old Vicky Anne Bloxham lost her job as a midwife for the illegal snooping carried out between 2002 and 2016.

In 2016 alone, Bloxham reportedly reviewed the medical records of some 45 friends and acquaintances without authorisation, with one person’s records accessed 13 times in a four-month period.
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USB device containing confidential Heathrow Airport data found miles away on a London residential street

Confidential and secretive information for Heathrow Airport was reportedly found on a USB device some 13 miles from the site in a random London neighbourhood, prompting questions over the quality of the U.K.’s airport security.

The data on the device was also found to have had no encryption and wasn’t even password-protected; arguably the most rudimentary security measure that should be implemented for any type of information worth protecting.

How confidential data concerning the U.K.’s largest airport – and potentially a huge target for terrorist attacks – could be removed in this manner is incredibly worrisome.
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Australian ‘Amazing Rentals’ uploads thousands of personal documents online

Australian appliance-rental company, Amazing Rentals, are in trouble with Australian authorities yet again for behaviour that has prompted government discussions over the need to crack down on bad business behaviour.

Around mid-September this year, the Guardian reported that Amazing Rentals “published 26,000 personal documents involving 4,000 customers on the internet.” No further information was provided as to what the details included, but clear concerns were aired over identity theft and credit fraud.

The Australian Information Commissioner’s Office shut down Amazing Rental’s website shortly thereafter and warned the retailer’s customers to take precautions against identity theft and other forms of fraud.
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All Wi-Fi networks reportedly vulnerable to hacking

Security experts warn that all Wi-Fi networks are vulnerable to hacking after a Belgian researcher managed to break through a protective security protocol implemented in most of the world’s routers.

Whilst unsurprising, given all the major hacks that have happened lately (Yahoo, Equifax, HBO), confirming it still makes us all feel a little uneasy.

The researcher, Mathy Vanhoef, was studying the WPA2 security protocol used in wireless networks when he came across the vulnerability, and the result means that all devices that have a Wi-Fi connection could be affected by the weakness.
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