Fergie's Tech Blog

Nature Conservancy Says Spyware Compromised Employee Data

Joe Stephens writes in The Washington Post:

A human resources employee at the Nature Conservancy in Arlington used his laptop last month to visit a sports Web site. A short time later, computer technicians at the world's largest environmental organization noticed a torrent of data flowing out of its computer network.

The bad news arrived in the in-boxes of Conservancy staff members a week later: The employee had inadvertently downloaded a spyware program from the Web site, which allowed the software to seize personal and financial information about thousands of Conservancy employees from his hard drive. The rogue program moved the information through a sophisticated network of servers in a number of countries, cloaking the final destination.

Officials say 14,000 people are in danger of having their identities stolen. The hijacked data includes names, home addresses, Social Security numbers, payroll direct-deposit account numbers, bank routing numbers, and benefits and beneficiary information. Those affected include employees, former employees and dependents of employees who worked for the Conservancy between 2000 and Aug. 3 of this year.

More here.

Note: People may wonder at times why security breaches at public websites is a big deal (just two recent examples here and here). Well, wonder no more. - ferg

posted by Fergie @ 10/04/2007 09:19:00 PM