Data Loss Source: The Ministry of Defence (MoD) is investigating the theft of computer files holding the records of thousands of serving and former RAF staff. The information was stored on computer hard drives at the Service Personnel and Veterans Agency at the Royal Air Force (RAF) Innsworth site near Gloucester.
Date of Breach: Sept. 17, 2008
Size of Loss : As many as 900,000
Affected Individuals: RAF staff
Geographic Focus: United Kingdom
Data contained: The missing drives contain appraisal forms, which included names, dates of birth, service numbers, and bosses’ opinions of staff.
Additional Notes: The spokesman said the email addresses are MoD e-mail addresses and bank details are contained in a minority of cases.
Additional Information: BBC News

Data Loss Source: Sonoma State University officials are investigating a security breach that exposed the Social Security numbers of about 600 former students.
Date of Breach: Sept. 28, 2008
Size of Loss : 600
Affected Individuals: Former Sonoma State students
Geographic Focus: Rohnert Park, CA
Data contained: Names and Social Security numbers
Additional Notes: Officials say a former student accessed the roster of names and Social Security numbers through a networking Web site for students previously enrolled in computer science classes.
Additional Information: San Jose Mercury News

Data Loss Source: As many as 2 million Countrywide customers may be at risk thanks to a data breach that lasted for nearly two years. A former Countrywide employee was arrested on August 1 and charged with illegally accessing the lender’s records to sell sales leads to mortgage brokers.
Date of Breach: Sept. 11, 2008
Size of Loss : 2,000,000
Affected Individuals: Countrywide customers
Geographic Focus: Nationwide
Data contained: Names, addresses, Social Security numbers, and loan details
Additional Notes: The company promised to provide two years of free credit monitoring to affected individuals.
Additional Information: Consumer Affairs

Data Loss Source: The personal information of taxpayers may have been stolen by a Trojan horse program downloaded accidentally by a former worker who was surfing pornographic sites while at work at the Oregon Department of Revenue.
Date of Breach: Sept. 15, 2008
Size of Loss : 2,300
Affected Individuals: Taxpayers
Geographic Focus: Oregon
Data contained: Names, addresses or Social Security numbers
Additional Notes: The malware was discovered on the worker’s desktop computer on May 15, after the worker was fired for violating departmental policies that forbid inappropriate Web surfing at work. The Trojan horse was found after IT workers investigated performance problems with the computer.
Additional Information: Computer World

Data Loss Source: East Burke High School’s website exposed 163 staff members’ Social Security numbers and other personal information on the Internet.
Date of Breach: Sept. 6, 2008
Size of Loss : 163
Affected Individuals: Students
Geographic Focus: Morganton
Data contained: Social Security numbers and other personal information.
Additional Notes: The school district and the State Employees Credit Union will have a meeting Wednesday at East Burke to talk about preventing and responding to identity theft and to address people’s questions and concerns.
Additional Information: Morganton.com