CVS blamed an unnamed third-party for disclosure of the information and says no personal data was made public, despite email addresses appearing in the unsecured database.
, which collects detailed information on sites. In many cases, for unknown reasons, people who searched on the CVS site entered their email address, which could have been linked to a unique identifier attached to each customer. Fowler says he believes the inclusion of email addresses in the database could have been the result of a repeated mistake by people thinking they were entering a username to log in, rather than using the search function.
A CVS spokesperson says the company swiftly took down the database, which it says was inadvertently disclosed. The company didn’t comment on the email addresses disclosed in the database. “The bad part about this finding was just how big it was,” Fowler added. “The number of records would time-out or break my browsing tool when I tried to get a total number of emails... In a small sampling of records there were emails from all major email providers.”
He said that the findings also showed how tracking website use, even where no obvious personal data is being collected, can be a risk for companies with a large online presence. “Organizations collect this valuable data and use this information for analytics, customer management, or marketing needs. At the same time consumers want privacy and to have more control over their data and how companies or social media providers use that data.
Fowler added that he didn’t download the full database for ethical reasons, not wanting to gather up vast amounts of people’s personal data. For that reason, it’s unclear how many people were affected by the leak.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Inland Empire trio plead guilty in $1.2-million COVID-19 unemployment fraudInland Empire trio plead guilty in COVID-19 unemployment fraud cases using inmates' names
Read more »
Fact-checking Ron Johnson's efforts to mislead on Covid-19 and January 6Wisconsin Republican Sen. Ron Johnson's penchant for spreading false claims and misinformation shows no signs of stopping after a week in which he touted falsehoods related to both the January 6 Capitol riot and Covid-19.
Read more »
Covid: Lockdown easing in England delayed to 19 JulyMost remaining curbs on social contact will continue - but the cap on wedding guests will be lifted.
Read more »
WHO warns Covid-19 moving faster than global vaccine rolloutGlobal health leaders call for vaccinating at least 70 percent of world’s population by next year’s G7 meeting in Germany, a feat that would require 11 billion doses.
Read more »
Japan to ship 1 mln COVID-19 vaccines to Vietnam on WednesdayJapan will send a million doses of COVID-19 vaccine to Vietnam, Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said on Tuesday, as the southeast Asian nation steps up vaccine procurement to fight a more stubborn wave of infections.
Read more »
Novavax COVID-19 vaccine: How it works and other things you should know
Read more »