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LulzSec supposedly claims its biggest coup yet: The entire UK 2011 Census

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Re: LulzSec supposedly claims its biggest coup yet: The entire UK 2011 Census

#51

Post by Peroni »

mike-cardwell wrote: post #48
shubble wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Imagining that the release is true, this will do strange things for pay bargaining. Imagine if you could look up your colleagues before asking for a rise? On the other hand, I don't recall anything really horrific on that form. Enough data to steal my identity and take out a mortgage in my name, yes. Enough to embarrass me? no...

I don't remember salary being requested on the UK census...

It did ask for the household annual income. It also asks for the job title of the various householders so with a small bit of market info you could easily discern who earns what. Regardless, salary info would be the least of my concerns.

Re: LulzSec supposedly claims its biggest coup yet: The entire UK 2011 Census

#52

Post by iwwr »

retube wrote: post #14

They're going to piss a lot of people off if they do this. Like every single UK citizen. Exposing security flaws and embarrassing govt is one thing, but to put un-redacted personal data online is quite another.

Supposedly, census data should be anonymous. This means the records should be anonymized as soon as possible and should not just be stored.

Re: LulzSec supposedly claims its biggest coup yet: The entire UK 2011 Census

#53

Post by mike-cardwell »

Peroni wrote: post #51
mike-cardwell wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't remember salary being requested on the UK census...

It did ask for the household annual income. It also asks for the job title of the various householders so with a small bit of market info you could easily discern who earns what. Regardless, salary info would be the least of my concerns.

Oh. I can't see that question on

http://www.ons.gov.uk/census/2011-census/2011-census-questio...

Re: LulzSec supposedly claims its biggest coup yet: The entire UK 2011 Census

#54

Post by xedarius »

mike-cardwell wrote: post #34
retube wrote: post #14

They're going to piss a lot of people off if they do this. Like every single UK citizen. Exposing security flaws and embarrassing govt is one thing, but to put un-redacted personal data online is quite another.

I filled in the UK census online, but I can't actually remember what compulsory data was requested. Is there a copy of it somewhere?

http://www.ons.gov.uk/census/2011-census/2011-census-questio...

Re: LulzSec supposedly claims its biggest coup yet: The entire UK 2011 Census

#55

Post by mathly »

shubble wrote: post #21
Peroni wrote: post #9

If true, this will be a massive coup and regardless of how they obtained the records, LulzSec will get all of the significant negative attention they so badly crave. I submitted my census info via the online form and given the amount of detail I included I would be terrified if that info was leaked.

Imagining that the release is true, this will do strange things for pay bargaining. Imagine if you could look up your colleagues before asking for a rise? On the other hand, I don't recall anything really horrific on that form. Enough data to steal my identity and take out a mortgage in my name, yes. Enough to embarrass me? no...

Found the questions (pdf): http://www.ons.gov.uk/census/2011-census/2011-census-questio...

Re: LulzSec supposedly claims its biggest coup yet: The entire UK 2011 Census

#56

Post by m4tt »

ErrantX wrote: post #31
m4tt wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wrote the article and have been trying to trace the authenticity of the release. I am still waiting to hear back from the Office of National Statistics, which at the time were unaware of who LulzSec even were. I contacted them a little over two hours ago, I haven't received a response, yet.

Knowing a little of the internals of ONS... It may take them a while to figure out what a "computer" is and how it might be "hacked". You could be waiting some time :) ahem.

Just got off the phone to them. Issuing a statement very soon. Will update both the article and on HN.

Re: LulzSec supposedly claims its biggest coup yet: The entire UK 2011 Census

#57

Post by tomp »

pedrokost wrote: post #13

With the amount of hacking that is flooding the news recently, I would like to learn about database security. What are some good books/tutorials/videos on how to make databases more secure?

I believe that most databases are secure, especially the open source ones.

What you should be careful about is the things surrounding the database: the .php files (or whatever) that read/write the database, and the system it is running on.

Basic security practice for the web: NEVER trust user input: check and recheck all the GET/POST variables, check that numbers are numbers, that strings are correct strings (they have no funny characters, such as " or ; (for databases) or "&' (for HTML) or . (for paths)). Check all input into the databases (to prevent SQL injections) and all output for to the user (for XSS).

Basic security practice for sysadmins: Use up-to-date OS and software. Use strong passwords. Almost never run root. Make remote access hard.

This seems easy, and for the most part, it is. It's just so many things that people forget to check for them all.

Re: LulzSec supposedly claims its biggest coup yet: The entire UK 2011 Census

#58

Post by Peroni »

mike-cardwell wrote: post #53
Peroni wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It did ask for the household annual income. It also asks for the job title of the various householders so with a small bit of market info you could easily discern who earns what. Regardless, salary info would be the least of my concerns.

Oh. I can't see that question on http://www.ons.gov.uk/census/2011-census/2011-census-questio...

You're right. I must have been confusing it with the litany of forms & processes I went through after our son was born. Good find.

Re: LulzSec supposedly claims its biggest coup yet: The entire UK 2011 Census

#59

Post by mariuskempe »

Peroni wrote: post #29
shubble wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Imagining that the release is true, this will do strange things for pay bargaining. Imagine if you could look up your colleagues before asking for a rise? On the other hand, I don't recall anything really horrific on that form. Enough data to steal my identity and take out a mortgage in my name, yes. Enough to embarrass me? no...

There may not be anything in there to embarass me but there is unequivocally enough in there for someone to steal my identity and ruin a credit rating I've been working extremely hard to build over the last three years.

What info from the census would enable someone to steal an identity? From the looks of it there's only DoB and address in terms of personal info...

Re: LulzSec supposedly claims its biggest coup yet: The entire UK 2011 Census

#60

Post by antihero »

StrawberryFrog wrote: post #42
estel wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's jurisdiction for that?

Why would jurisdiction enter into someone in the UK suing the company that processed the UK census data? Thier data. I don't know if antihero is in the UK, but if they aren't, people in the UK should do it instead. I am disturbed that my data could leak like this.

I'm in the UK and for some crazy reason filled out my census correctly, so yeah, I think there's grounds for DPI lawsuit action.
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