Found Words: DataSpill

DataSpill: the kind of word I would expect security guru Bruce Schneier to use. DataSpill is the Digital equivalent of an oil spill, when a company springs a leak and spews confidential consumer or corporate information out in to the world. Spotted on Wired Mag’s June 2005 issue. Two recent examples that come to mind :

• CardSystems Solutions, a company that processes credit card transactions for MasterCard, Visa and other card issuers had “data from roughly 200,000 accounts from are known to have been stolen in the breach,” although 40 million were vulnerable. The company specialized in processing banking transactions, and failed to secure its network.
• Citigroup announced that it lost personal data on 3.9 million people, from backup tapes that were sent by UPS from point A and never arrived at point B. The tapes were unencrypted!