[Dataloss] Judge: Firm not negligent in failure to encrypt data (fwd)

[lyger]

Forwarded from another mailing list.  With 550,000 customers apparently 
contacted... has anyone heard of this incident before now?

Date: Wed, 15 Feb 2006 10:31:55 -0500
Subject: Judge: Firm not negligent in failure to encrypt data

http://news.com.com/2100-1030_3-6039645.html

A federal court has thrown out a lawsuit that accused a
student-loan provider of negligence in failing to encrypt a
customer database that was subsequently stolen. Stacy Lawton
Guin, a customer of Brazos Higher Education Service, sued
the corporation on the grounds that encryption should be
used as a routine security precaution. But U.S. District
Judge Richard Kyle in Minnesota dismissed the case last
week, saying Brazos had a written security policy and other
"proper safeguards" for customers' information and that it
acted "with reasonable care" even without encrypting the
database.

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