Too many data breaches

It is increasingly difficult to stay on top of all the security/privacy breaches as of late. Thanks to the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, all the latest are set out in a handy table at http://www.privacyrights.org/ar/chrondatabreaches.htm and includes these recent additions:

Ohio University

Innovation Center

(Athens, OH)

a server containing data including e-mails, patent and intellectual property files, and 35 Social Security numbers associated with parking passes was compromised.

A breach was discovered on a computer that housed IRS 1099 forms for vendors and independent contractors for calendar years 2004 and 2005.

A breach of a computer that hosted a variety of Web-based forms, including some that processed on-line business transactions. Although this computer was not set up to store personal information, investigators did discover files that contained fragments of personal information, including Social Security numbers. The data is fragmentary and it is not certain if the compromised information can be traced to individuals. Also found on the computer were 12 credit card numbers that were used for event registration.

330,000 [Updated 6/16/06]

June 11, 2006

Denver Election Commission (Denver, CO)

Records containing personal information on more than 150,000 voters are missing at city election offices. The microfilmed voter registration files from 1989 to 1998 were in a 500-pound cabinet that disappeared when the commission moved to new offices in February. The files contain voters' Social Security numbers, addresses and other personal information.

June 13, 2006

Minn. State Auditor (St. Paul, MN)

Three laptops possibly containing Social Security numbers and other personal information on some employees of local governments the auditor oversees have gone missing.

Oregon Dept. of Revenue (Portland, OR)

Electronic files containing personal data of Oregon taxpayers may have been compromised by an ex-employee's downloaded a contaminated file from a porn site. The "trojan" attached to the file may have sent taxpayer information back to the source when the computer was turned on.

U.S. Dept of Energy, Hanford Nucear Reservation

Current and former workers at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation that their personal information may have been compromised, after police found a 1996 list with workers' names and other information in a home during an unrelated investigation.