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back to article Cheapo telcos fined for their cheapo security: Financial records on 305,000 people spilled

American watchdog the FCC is fining a pair of US mobile operators for an astonishing lack of security in handling customer information. The commission said that TerraCom Wireless and YourTel Wireless improperly stored information on 305,000 customers and will have to pay a joint fine of $10m split between the two firms as a …

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  1. Mark 85

    It is a pity that there's no "watchdog" for web services.

    <rant>

    Two companies get fined because the 3rd party service they used wasn't secure. At the least, the 3rd party service should have been fined. I'm truly puzzled... banks, stores, etc. never take a hit from any watchdog in this country. They get some negative media attention and that's about it and in the meantime, way too many people have had their personal info compromised.

    At least in healthcare, Medicare <rolls eyes> can punish insurance and providers if personal info is compromised. Or they at least threaten to. But what the hell about all the non-healthcare?

    Maybe I'm naïve, but I wonder if the threat of large fines would cause these companies to take data security seriously?

    </rant>

    And no, I don't feel better because of the rant. I'm just wondering what it's going to take before any company that has an 'Net connection will take security seriously.

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    1. This post has been deleted by its author

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: It is a pity that there's no "watchdog" for web services.

      " At the least, the 3rd party service should have been fined. "

      No. The duty of care was on the companies collecting the data. The 3rd party provider should face redress for (at most) breach of contract. And that assumes that the telcos wrote the security requirements into the contract. If they didn't bother to check the contracted security arrangements, it may be rather bold to assume that they did indeed write them into the contract.

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    3. jonathanb Silver badge
      Reply Icon

      Re: It is a pity that there's no "watchdog" for web services.

      But was the hosting service designed for storing private documents, or was it designed for normal websites where everything is supposed to be available to the public? Also, who was responsible for developing the software that was used on the site?

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  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I wouldnt be surpised if it was intentional

    Tinfoil Hat asside it wouldnt be the first time that the poor and sick had their personal details "insecurely" handled, as ever, if an offer it is too good to be true that is because it isn't

    1 0 Reply
  3. frank ly

    Details?

    Was the information presented on the internet because the applicants applied using a website, or did this third party company just make all its file servers internet facing?

    0 0 Reply
  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Savaged by a dead sheep

    "... 305,000 customers and will have to pay a joint fine of $10m ..."

    Meanwhile, back in Blighty, the same offence would result in being invited to Riverside House (at your convenience) for a nice cup of tea and a mild admonishment that you were very naughty.

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  5. keithpeter Silver badge
    Windows

    permissions?

    Wondering if this was that one where you set directory permissions to be readable by a group, but then forget to make the command recursive thus not changing the permissions of the files underneath...

    ...used to be quite common oh, 15 years ago.

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  6. Eddy Ito

    Now we know

    The value of your financial information and potentially your financial security and identity is deemed by the government to be $32.79. Is it any wonder why recent data breaches have been met with a shrug? In case you're wondering, according to ITRC (PDF) we're up to 621 breaches this year.

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