How do Chemist Warehouse receipts end up on the street?
Technorati Tag: Security Breach
Date Reported:
11/02/08
Organization:
Chemist Warehouse
Contractor/Consultant/Branch:
Chemist Warehouse Bondi Junction
Location:
Sydney, Australia
Victims:
Customers
Number Affected:
"hundreds of people"
Types of Data:
"highly confidential dockets" including "active credit card numbers, expiry dates and customer signatures"
Breach Description:
"There are concerns about the privacy of hundreds of people with highly confidential dockets from a Chemist found strewn across a Sydney oval."
Reference URL:
The Sydney Morning Herald
Macquarie National News
Report Credit:
Eamonn Duff, The Sydney Morning Herald
Response:
From the online sources cited above:
THE Australian Privacy Commissioner has launched an inquiry after hundreds of highly confidential dockets were found strewn across a Sydney oval.
The receipts, from Chemist Warehouse in Bondi Junction, were scattered over Mascot Oval and featured active credit card numbers, expiry dates and customer signatures.
The first sightings were on October 9 but, nine days later, many dockets were still there, including receipts for transactions made last month.
[Evan] Seriously?! After nine days there were still receipts and other "dockets" lying around in public? What kind of response is this?
Chemist co-owner Tony Herro said he had "no idea" how the receipts came to be on the oval
[Evan] Not a good sign. Honest, but doesn't instill much confidence.
"There's been no break-in so I need to get to the bottom of this as soon as possible," he said.
"We take the privacy of our customers seriously. We have legal obligations in regards to these details so I'm alarmed."
Mr Herro said his business "used a professional shredding company to dispose of these things after we've stored and retained them for the required time. But some of these receipts are recent, so nothing is making sense".
[Evan] It will be interesting to read the results of any investigation into this incident.
Australian Privacy Commissioner Karen Curtis said her office had opened an investigation into the case.
Local resident Rose Gleeson was walking her dog on a footpath alongside Mascot Oval almost a fortnight ago when she noticed the field and surrounding streets were "littered with small tickets".
"When I picked some of them up, I discovered they were credit card receipts from a chemist. They had enough information for someone to commit identity fraud," she said.
"I picked up as many as I could and threw them away but there were too many. Nine days later, there were still some knocking about. There are countless people unaware their details may be in someone else's hands."
When The Sun-Herald attempted to contact one chemist customer whose details were found in the park, his daughter said he was overseas, adding: "He'll be horrified. Who wouldn't be?"
Commentary:
We don't know many details about how the information came to be where it was found or what the potential cause(s) could be. Guesses?
Past Breaches:
Unknown
Date Reported:11/02/08
Organization:
Chemist Warehouse
Contractor/Consultant/Branch:
Chemist Warehouse Bondi Junction
Location:
Sydney, Australia
Victims:
Customers
Number Affected:
"hundreds of people"
Types of Data:
"highly confidential dockets" including "active credit card numbers, expiry dates and customer signatures"
Breach Description:
"There are concerns about the privacy of hundreds of people with highly confidential dockets from a Chemist found strewn across a Sydney oval."
Reference URL:
The Sydney Morning Herald
Macquarie National News
Report Credit:
Eamonn Duff, The Sydney Morning Herald
Response:
From the online sources cited above:
THE Australian Privacy Commissioner has launched an inquiry after hundreds of highly confidential dockets were found strewn across a Sydney oval.
The receipts, from Chemist Warehouse in Bondi Junction, were scattered over Mascot Oval and featured active credit card numbers, expiry dates and customer signatures.
The first sightings were on October 9 but, nine days later, many dockets were still there, including receipts for transactions made last month.
[Evan] Seriously?! After nine days there were still receipts and other "dockets" lying around in public? What kind of response is this?
Chemist co-owner Tony Herro said he had "no idea" how the receipts came to be on the oval
[Evan] Not a good sign. Honest, but doesn't instill much confidence.
"There's been no break-in so I need to get to the bottom of this as soon as possible," he said.
"We take the privacy of our customers seriously. We have legal obligations in regards to these details so I'm alarmed."
Mr Herro said his business "used a professional shredding company to dispose of these things after we've stored and retained them for the required time. But some of these receipts are recent, so nothing is making sense".
[Evan] It will be interesting to read the results of any investigation into this incident.
Australian Privacy Commissioner Karen Curtis said her office had opened an investigation into the case.
Local resident Rose Gleeson was walking her dog on a footpath alongside Mascot Oval almost a fortnight ago when she noticed the field and surrounding streets were "littered with small tickets".
"When I picked some of them up, I discovered they were credit card receipts from a chemist. They had enough information for someone to commit identity fraud," she said.
"I picked up as many as I could and threw them away but there were too many. Nine days later, there were still some knocking about. There are countless people unaware their details may be in someone else's hands."
When The Sun-Herald attempted to contact one chemist customer whose details were found in the park, his daughter said he was overseas, adding: "He'll be horrified. Who wouldn't be?"
Commentary:
We don't know many details about how the information came to be where it was found or what the potential cause(s) could be. Guesses?
Past Breaches:
Unknown
Posts Atom 1.0
Comments