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Missing Hard Drive Spurs Data-Theft Fears In Canada

Posted by timothy on from the get-your-new-ehdentity dept.

DevNull writes "A government of Saskatchewan (Canada) hard drive has gone missing, and it contains significant personal data - in fact, the government won't even detail what all is contained in it. Read about it from the CBC. So much for people who think the internet is the cause of all their security fears! Identity theft is the major concern at the moment." B5_geek links to this report on Bloomberg.com which says that "'[t]he information includes names, addresses, beneficiaries, social insurance numbers, pension values, pre-authorized checking information and mothers' maiden names," according to Co-operators Chief Executive Kathy Bardswick

3 of 29 comments (clear)

  1. Ugh by Blkdeath · · Score: 2, Interesting
    I'm glad I don't have a policy with these people. It sucks when you go to certain lengths of care with whom you share your personal data and it gets stolen anyways.

    Security, security, security, people. It's my (and your) information we're dealing with here. I'd sooner it not be put in the hands of the lowest bidder, Thankyouverymuch.

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    BD Phone Home!

    Shameless plug. Like you weren't expecting it.

  2. A global ID by noitalever · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I've seen countless things in the news lately, and am really getting the feeling that at some point we are going to *have* to have a global, secure ID. A lot like the SSN's of today for america, but with two parts, one part that is on the internet, and one part on a random number generator of some sort that we keep on our person. That way, the internet information is useless.

    Like it or not, at some point it seems like EVERONE's data gets stolen. I'm uber-paranoid about giving my info to anyone, but I KNOW that there is info floating around the internet about me that someone could use to steal my identity. Is anyone working on a two part identity sytem like this that isn't proprietary?

    Shawn

  3. Physical security is important too... by Syncdata · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Just ask the CIA/FBI/Lawrence livermore cats who couldn't seem to hang onto a laptop from 1996-2000. It's all fine and good if your system is cracker proof, but do try to keep an eye on it.
    Software security means squat diddly if someone can just pop the HDD in as a slave.

    --
    "Inattention makes clowns of us all" -Bean