Latest news with #privacybreach
ABC News
a day ago
- General
- ABC News
NZ prime minister's deputy chief press secretary Michael Forbes resigns after reportedly recording sex workers without consent
The New Zealand prime minister's deputy chief press secretary has resigned after allegedly recording audio of sessions with Wellington sex workers and taking intimate photos of women in public. A Stuff investigation reported that Michael Forbes, a former journalist, allegedly recorded audio of multiple sessions with Wellington sex workers, and amassed a gallery of women working out at the gym, shopping, and being filmed through a window getting ready to go out. A Wellington sex worker told Stuff she realised while Mr Forbes was in the shower that his phone's voice recorder was allegedly activated, back in July 2024. She told the outlet that she and other sex workers working that night asked Forbes for his phone PIN code and they went through his phone. They claim to have found multiple audio recordings of sessions with sex workers, albums full of photos of women, and videos of women getting ready to go out, filmed through a window at night. Mr Forbes has offered an apology for the harm his actions caused to women. "I want to offer my sincerest apologies to the women I have harmed," he said in a statement. "In the past, I was in a downward spiral due to unresolved trauma and stress, and when confronted with the impacts of my behaviour a year ago, I sought professional help, which is something I wish I had done much earlier. "What I failed to do then was make a genuine attempt to apologise. Instead, I tried to move on without offering those I had harmed the acknowledgement, accountability, or amends they deserved. I recognise how wrong that was." Mr Forbes said he spent the past year "reflecting on how I may have affected these women's sense of safety and ability to go about their lives and work". "No one should ever feel violated, unsafe, or disrespected, especially in spaces where they should feel secure, and I am truly sorry for contributing to an environment where women may have felt otherwise," he said. "The therapy I've received over the past year has helped me to understand the roots of my behaviour and begin addressing the patterns that led to it. This is a long-term commitment to change that I take very seriously. "I understand that my past actions may have undermined the trust people place in me. So, I have resigned from my job to focus on the work I need to do." According to John Van Den Heuvel, Wellington District Manager Criminal Investigations, police received a complaint from a Wellington brothel in July last year, after a client was found to have concerning images and recordings on his phone. Police investigated and spoke to the individual. The case was filed as the event did not meet the threshold for criminal prosecution. A spokesperson from the prime minister's office said they were informed at 4pm on Tuesday, June 3. "The matters were immediately raised with Ministerial Services and the prime minister was informed that evening. The allegations were serious and concerning. They were discussed with the staff member on the evening of June 3 and it was clear their employment was untenable," the spokesperson said. "It was agreed that the staff member was stood down that evening and they resigned the following morning. Had the staff member not resigned, we expect their employment would have been terminated after a short investigation. "As this is an employment matter between the individual and Ministerial Services, the prime minister will not be able to comment further." This story was originally published by Radio New Zealand.
News.com.au
3 days ago
- General
- News.com.au
Housemates secretly filmed in bathroom of Sydney share house
A Chilean national will be sentenced after police discovered he had been secretly filming three of his female housemates in their share house in an affluent Sydney suburb. The intimate footage captured included the women in the bathroom and their bedroom, none of whom were aware they were being filmed until after they had moved out. Luis Alberto Cancino Mena, 39, had installed a hidden camera in their shared bathroom, including the shower, as well as in one of their bedrooms, according to ABC. The covert recording device Court documents revealed how the gross breach of privacy came to light. Cleaners at the home discovered a pen containing a hidden camera on the bathroom floor, sometime after the tenants had moved out. After pulling the device apart, they found out it was recording. Then, after finding a storage card inside, they found files of themselves cleaning the bathroom and a woman having a shower. The property owner took this to the police, where they found recordings of Cancino setting up the camera. He subsequently confessed to his actions when questioned by police. The documents also revealed that Cancino had folders on his laptop labelled with the names of the women, which included videos of them. None of the women gave Cancino consent to film them. Cancino pleads guilty Cancino pleaded guilty on Thursday to three counts of intentionally recording intimate video/image without consent. Records show he is in Australia on a temporary visa, which is set to expire soon. His passport has been seized by police, and he has told police he intended to return to Chile and not come back to Australia. He had been due to be sentenced on Thursday, but the case was adjourned until July after the defence lawyer raised a 'significant issue' with the statement of facts outside court. Now, one of the women has told ABC that the delay was 'disappointing' and she wants to see him deported. Mena will remain on bail with his case scheduled to return to Waverley Local Court on 8 July. How common is this? According to the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR), there were 422 finalised charges related to recording or threatening to record intimate images without consent in 2024. This is a rise from the previous year, with 267 finalised charges in 2023.
CBC
7 days ago
- Politics
- CBC
N.S. Liberals call for emergency meeting on Nova Scotia Power ransomware attack
Politicians are demanding action following the Nova Scotia Power ransomware attack, with the Liberals calling for an emergency meeting with the utility's executives. Interim Liberal Leader Derek Mombourquette said Thursday the matter is an urgent one considering the personal information of 280,000 customers has been compromised. Mombourquette said Nova Scotians deserve answers and the utility's executives should appear before the all-party public accounts committee to provide them. "This is an opportunity for Nova Scotia Power to speak publicly on what took place and explain to Nova Scotians — as [Nova Scotia Power] asks for more money on their rates — what happened," Mombourquette told reporters in Halifax. Nova Scotia Power confirmed last week it was the victim of a ransomware attack and that hackers who stole data published it on the dark web. The roughly 280,000 customers it has sent letters to warning about the attack represents more than half of the utility's customers in the province. The president of Nova Scotia Power said no ransom has been paid and the utility is working with cybersecurity experts as it investigates the situation. In a letter to the chair of public accounts, Mombourquette requested that Nova Scotia Power leadership appear before the committee for an examination into what he has described as "one of the most significant privacy breaches in Nova Scotia's history." NDP Leader Claudia Chender said the cyber attack is "scary" and another reminder people need to take steps to protect their personal information. She is in favour of a comprehensive examination of what happened. "We absolutely support a deeper probe from government into how this happened, how it is being dealt with, and making sure it never happens again," Chender said. The chair of the committee, NDP MLA Susan Leblanc, agreed the matter is urgent "and deserves discussion." Committee members are now being asked to vote on whether to try to schedule a meeting for next week. It needs to be unanimous for that to happen. Nova Scotia Cyber Security Minister Jill Balser is encouraging those who received alerts from Nova Scotia Power to sign up for the credit monitoring service and do things like change passwords to their accounts. Balser said resources and help are also available from her department. "I want us to be a place where Nova Scotians can get that support," Balser said.
News.com.au
19-05-2025
- Politics
- News.com.au
Students' biometric data collected by Microsoft Teams ‘for weeks', NSW Education ‘unaware'
A data stuff-up has resulted in the biometric data of NSW school students being collected by Microsoft Teams – with the Education Department not realising the issue 'for weeks'. A new feature that allowed biometric data to be collected through Microsoft Teams was rolled out by the tech giant in mid-March, and used on school-issued computers. But the department was not aware until early April – at which point they had the feature switched off. A Microsoft spokesperson told NewsWire individual biometric data was not accessible to anyone – reiterating it was encrypted and 'stored securely per our compliance and privacy standards'. Minister for Education and Early Learning Prue Car is looking into the incident. 'The Minister has asked for a full briefing on the incident from the Department,' a spokesperson told NewsWire. 'We want to assure parents and students that the function is now disabled and that no biometric data was held by the Department.' Any data collected during the weeks in which the feature was active has since been deleted, the department said. 'The Department of Education does not collect student biometric data,' a spokesperson said. 'A new Microsoft Teams feature that allowed voice and facial enrolment for people entering Teams meetings was quickly disabled across our network, and any face or voice recognition profiles that were created have been removed.' Shadow education minister Sarah Mitchell said there had been a 'complete breach of privacy and trust for every student and parent' in NSW. 'Not only do we not know how long the data was held, but we also have not been told what the data was used for while it existed,' she told NewsWire. 'What's even more concerning is the fact that it appears there are parents out there who are not even aware this occurred – and that is simply not good enough. 'We need to know exactly how many students have been caught up in this and who they are so they can be notified immediately. 'It's also scary that there's no indication of who had access to this sensitive data while it was available.'
Washington Post
10-05-2025
- Business
- Washington Post
Amazon One Medical employees wrongfully accessed dead patient's records
Nine employees of Amazon One Medical, the online retailer's primary-care clinic, inappropriately viewed the health records of a dead patient whose family filed a lawsuit accusing the company of wrongful death, according to new court documents. The employees accessed the records of Philip Tong, a One Medical patient who died in California in late 2023, without a 'legitimate business purpose' after media coverage in December of his family's lawsuit, according to a letter from One Medical the family filed with a California court this week.
