According to the Washington Post (here), an investment firm employee —possibly sharing media files— was using LimeWire (an Internet peer-to-peer file sharing utility) from his employer’s network —yes, his work computer. His folly exposed the names, birth dates and Social Security numbers of about 2,000 of the firm’s clients, including a number of “high-powered lawyers” and Supreme Court Justice Stephen G. Breyer. The breach was not discovered for nearly six months.
According to Robert Boback, chief executive of the company hired by Wagner to help contain the data breach and interviewed by The Post, such security breaches aren’t uncommon. About 40 to 60 percent, he said, of all data leaks take place outside companies’ secured networks –usually as a result of employees or contractors installing file-sharing software on company computers.
An interesting inference this Post article is that one settlement outcome of litigation arising over data breaches may include a determinate period of free credit monitoring (provided by firms such as FirstAdvantage) for class members whose data has been compromised.