[LINK] Digital disaster as online security firm loses personal data in the mail

[Jan Whitaker]

At 04:05 AM 10/07/2012, Rick Welykochy wrote:
>    AusCERT, which was paid $1,199,484.52 to run 
> staysmartonline.gov.au between
>     April 29, 2008 and April 29, 2012, lost subscribers' data after 
> using Australia
>     Post to send it on a DVD to the Department of Broadband, 
> Communications and the
>     Digital Economy (DBCDE) on April 11 when its contract to run 
> the alerts service
>     expired."

Doesn't do much for Aussie Post's reliability either! It was in an 
express post bag according to the stories.

There is another teeny-weeny problem. I had no idea what 
staysmartonline was, so I went to the website. Nothing on there front 
page under feature or hot topics about this fiasco. One would think 
that the first place you would try to disseminate information about a 
security breach is on the home page of the system that's been jeopardised.

I used to get the original Auscert alerts, but when the government 
took over and spit in the face of the originators, I decided not to 
play with them any more. Given this blunder, glad I didn't.

Any sign of the Department of (a)BCDE notifying the people whose 
personal data has been lost in this current situation?
(was the department named in alphabetical order so it was easier for 
them to remember when they had to write it out? j/k)

Jan



Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
jwhit at janwhitaker.com
blog: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/
business: http://www.janwhitaker.com

Our truest response to the irrationality of the world is to paint or 
sing or write, for only in such response do we find truth.
~Madeline L'Engle, writer

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