McAfee Leaks Conference Attendees' Personal Info 72
Timmy writes "In the cruelest of ironies, e-mail security vendor McAfee has accidentally coughed up the personal details of some 1400 attendees of its recent security conference in Sydney, Australia. Those who were sent the list — attached as a spreadsheet to a thank you e-mail — are far from pleased that such an extraordinary thing could happen. McAfee, which sells products to 'stop sensitive and protected data from leaving the enterprise through email and web traffic' has blamed 'human error' for the blunder and is 'taking steps to ensure it doesn't happen again.' Doh!"
Re:Obligary, but funny (Score:5, Interesting)
This is why I don't want my personal information in any database anywhere.
Good luck with that.
I'm not saying this would be impossible but it would be very difficult to achieve in todays world as you would have to live completly off the grid...
Think about it, how many databases have your personal info (or at least that of someone you live with). Any phone service (Cell or Land Line), Internet service, Electricity, Trash, Water, Natural Gas. These are all databases, and if you ever live on your own all of these will will include your personal info.
Also, do you have a drivers liscense? If you do your state government has your personal info (and thats if they didn't have it already).
Social Security (assuming your not a member of a religion that has contrary religous beliefs), congrats, the government has you on a list and, while this list doesn't directly include any personal information, what is the one thing that will get someone all the info they will ever want about you?
You wouldn't happen to own a car or house? Or do you live in an appartment with your name on the lease??
Do you have a job that pays other than cash?
Do you have a credit card?
These are just the lists that come to mind offhand, if I put my mind to it I'm sure I can think of more...
The Dinosaurs WILL escape (Score:2, Interesting)
Somewhat related, I work on an institutional review board that reviews human studies submissions for a large university. One main dichotomy that is used to classify protocols is the concept of "minimal risk" vs. "greater than minimal risk," minimal risk defined somewhat loosely as risks encountered in everyday life.
Accidental sharing of protected health information is considered a risk of many of these studies that collect sensitive information. We continue to subsequently review incidents in which protected health information has been "spilled," leaving us to determine if this was an "expected" or "unexpected" event.
Unfortunately, a la Ian Malcolm, I've come to believe that it is essentially guaranteed (thus expected) that these leaks will occur, making loss of confidentiality now just part of everyday life, therefore "minimal risk" from the point of view of the US federal regulations on human studies.
Funny? Maybe not ... (Score:2, Interesting)
Isn't this the 2nd time for McAfee? (Score:2, Interesting)