Tuesday March 23, 2010 1:31 AM AEST
 
Latest Comments
"Use of the word "users" here is ambiguous. Users of Google Analytics are those that utilise it ..."
by ambiguous | Mar 22, 2010 4:51 PM
 
"Well, i have had emails sent to me containing update your fb password etc etc my norton picks ..."
by deb | Mar 22, 2010 8:47 AM
 
"plz i want repair 8GB DataTraveler 1"
by haydarsat | Mar 21, 2010 8:53 PM
 
"I would never have written a comment except... spot on Ash... I kind of wondered whether the ..."
by tashi k | Mar 20, 2010 11:12 PM
 
"im not receiving my emails can send but cant receive.was fine last night this morning not working"
by r reid | Mar 19, 2010 2:24 AM

McAfee sends out personal details in email

  • Email a Friend
  • Print Page
McAfee sends out personal details in email
By Ben Grubb
Jul 30, 2009 9:23 AM | 2 Comments
Tags: McAfee | leak | customer | detail | email | gaffe | security | strategic | summit
Details of 1400 Australian security professionals leaked.

Security vendor McAfee has sent out a bulk email containing the contact details of over 1400 security professionals that attended its recent conference in Sydney.

The email revealed demographic data collected during the registration process for the McAfee Strategic Security Summit, held in Sydney on Friday July 17, as well as the full contact details of 1408 people who attended or registered.

The details included the name, company, job title, address, phone number and email of all those who attended, according to a Twitter post and series of Flickr images posted by sound engineer and teacher Steve Murphy, one of the people who received the email. 

McAfee responded to the security breach by sending a follow-up email to the unintended recipients of the information.

"You may have been inadvertently sent information containing registration details from our recent security summit," the email read. "This was sent in error and we therefore request that this information be deleted and we sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused as a result of this."

A spokesperson from McAfee told iTnews that the company is uncertain as to how many people received the attachment in error.

"McAfee managed to intercept this email before it was sent to all recipients, so it is uncertain how many recipients received the list," the spokesperson said.

"Due to a human error, the contact list for a seminar (held two weeks ago in Sydney) was mistakenly attached to a promotional e-mail being sent to conference delegates," the spokesperson said.

"This contact list included common conference registration information but did not include any financial information."

McAfee said it believed it had taken "the appropriate steps to inform people of the mistake".

 
Ads by Google
Thoughts on this article? Add a comment below.
Comments: 2
As an example to the "security professionals" of what *not* to do, no doubt.
SC Magazine - comments icon Posted by pennoJul 30, 2009 4:54 PM
I would tend to think they should be using their own product line to avoid errors like this. Something along the lines of DLP - Reconnex.........
SC Magazine - comments icon Posted by RWAug 7, 2009 10:19 PM
Report this comment as offensive:

   * Indicates information we require to process your submission.

Name: *
Email: *
Reason for offense: *
Your report will not be displayed.  
Name:
*
 
Email:
(will not be displayed)
*
 
Comment:
(HTML not permitted)
*
 
Validation
*

Enter the code you see below:

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
Legal Whitepapers