Hey there! Did you hear the story about that big cinema company who got dinged for not protecting their staff’s private details? Yeah, it’s been all over the news here in New York. National Amusements, they’re called. They run loads of movie theatres all over the shop, not just in our city, but around the globe.
Anyway, it turns out that they were rather lax with their data security, and managed to get themselves involved in a data breach where over 23,000 of their New York workers had their personal info compromised. Not good, I tell you, not good at all. So off they trotted to the New York Attorney General, our very own Letitia James, who gave them a proper telling off.
You know what’s worse? They were aware of this fiasco for over a year before they bothered informing their employees. Not really cricket, is it? You’d think they would have known better, given that they’d already installed multifactor authentication (MFA). But, apparently, they didn’t enforce MFA across the board, which let the hackers in. Simple stuff, really.
All in all, the blunder affected 82,128 people. The most painful part was that it wasn’t just names and dates of birth that were stolen, but sensitive stuff like social security numbers, passport details, financial account numbers and even health insurance account numbers. It’s bad enough having your identity pinched, but your health and financial information? That’s a real kick in the teeth, isn’t it?
National Amusements did say, though, that none of their cinema-going customers had been affected. It was just their past and present workforce who got done over.
As for the end result, AG James held them accountable with a hefty $250,000 fine. But it doesn’t stop there. They also have to fix this mess by transforming their cybersecurity to better protect their staff’s data. Everything from a ramped-up security program, to encrypted personal data, to stronger password measures – the works.
Our hard-nosed AG doesn’t suffer fools gladly either, she’s been cracking down on poor cybersecurity for a while. From healthcare to biotech, she’s fined companies who’ve failed to safeguard precious user data. She’s also provided guides on privacy controls and tracking on the web for both businesses and us regular Joes. And for those unlucky enough to have been caught up in data breaches, she’s recommended free credit monitoring and identity theft services, just to give us a bit of peace of mind.
So, there you have it. An expensive lesson learned for National Amusements. But it’s more than that, isn’t it? It’s a stark reminder to all companies that data security isn’t just a tick-box exercise. It’s a proper responsibility, and one that needs careful handling.
Remember, folks, in this digital age, data protection isn’t just a fad. It’s a necessity! So, let’s keep our wits about us and do everything we can to protect our own and others’ privacy. You never know when a data breach might hit.
by Parker Bytes
