10 Massive Security Breaches
March 12, 2011 06:00 AM They make the news on a regular basis: incidents in which a company or government agency's security is breached, leading to a loss of information, personal records, or other data. There are many ways to measure the size or cost of a security breach. Some result in the loss of millions of data records, some affect millions of people, and some wind up costing the affected businesses a lot of money. Not to mention, the questions of you calculate the value of personal medical information vs. credit card numbers. Here are ten security breaches of epic scale, plus one "bonus" incident that ranks among the boneheaded moves of all time.
Health Net
In May 2009, the Connecticut health care provider Health Net reported that an unencrypted portable storage device was missing, containing seven years' worth of financial and medical information on 1.5 million customers. The capper? The device actually went missing six months before the company reported it. The Connecticut attorney general promptly filed suit. Health Net settled for $250,000 and is on the hook for another $500,000 if any of the data is accessed and misused before November 30, 2011.
See Also
Nasdaq Confirms Servers Breached
Two Arrested For AT&T iPad Network Breach
Schwartz On Security: First, Know You've Been Breached
