News BriefsParasram warns of possible GDPR fines after assessing TSTT data dump

Parasram warns of possible GDPR fines after assessing TSTT data dump

Above: Shiva Parasram.

Shiva Parasram is a cybersecurity expert who has been examining the dump of data exfiltrated from TSTT’s servers. When he spoke with me, he was coming to the end of 22 hours of examining the files, which were captured as unencrypted, plain text files in txt and csv formats. Images of customer documents and identification are in standard JPEG and PDF formats.

“I was talking to one of my friends who works at a pretty high position in the Big Four ( Deloitte, Ernst & Young (EY), KPMG, and PwC) about the implications with data privacy and the GDPR. If they have customer information (for anyone in the) EU at the moment or (someone) who falls under the EU GDPR, when the EU gets wind of this and they do their own investigations and analyse it, there could be fines for this. And those fines are nothing minimal”

Parasram wonders if TSTT still has the staff capabilities to mount a forensic analysis of what was taken. He’s been informed that after recent layoffs, TSTT may be operating with a skeleton staff for cybersecurity.

“We are trying to figure out if TSTT was actually aware of the full extent of the dump, if they actually took the dump to analyse it. One of my guys tried to open one of the Excel files. The file is so large that even with 64 gigs of RAM, it was taking forever.”

Parasram is a long way from reviewing all the data in the dump, but notes. I have seen information for many people that I know, accurate information, you know the the photos with IDs and stuff like that. Whether people pay with cash or Linx. But that’s from the client-side database.”

“But even on the company side, there’s a lot of internal stuff. There’s a password file called SYS_password.xls for example (with) names of systems and what appear to be passwords. It’s a lot of information. Everybody is exhausted, and we are probably just scratching the surface. It’s a big nightmare because honestly, if they were part of the EU, this could be billions of dollars in fines

Shiva Parasram

Shiva Parasram, is an Enterprise Risk Consultant, Senior Cybersecurity Lecturer and Forensic Investigator. He has written four books about digital forensics and leads the Computer Forensics and Security Institute.

 

 

 

Related Posts

Samsung’s big bet on AI

Samsung’s big bet on AI

"Gemini can now use advanced reasoning to understand your screen context, parse complex images as prompts, and execute multi-step actions across apps.”
Read More
The data centre dilemma

The data centre dilemma

Discourse, instead of a patronising pat on the head asking whether you have a doctorate, should govern communication between a government and the people who elected them.
Read More
Social permission and the data center

Social permission and the data center

Generating equipment would have to be designed for the sea-salt laden air found even inland on an island.
Read More
Support us

Support us

Donate to support our work.
Read More
Brightstar Lottery launches 6th Annual Coding & Robotics Rock! Camp

Brightstar Lottery launches 6th Annual Coding & Robotics Rock! Camp

We want students in Trinidad and Tobago to understand these technologies from the inside, as innovators and problem-solvers.
Read More
How should business and government embrace AI?

How should business and government embrace AI?

"Very few people in the world can quantify the fiscal value of AI." - Anton Alexander
Read More
A request of readers

A request of readers

This is what's been happening since Newsday went away.
Read More
The data privacy issues in TT’s national ID platform

The data privacy issues in TT’s national ID platform

A country building a biometric database with no enforceable data-protection law is a live risk in the abstract.
Read More
Digicel, LoopUp partner to bring Microsoft Teams telephony to the Caribbean

Digicel, LoopUp partner to bring Microsoft Teams telephony to the Caribbean

By partnering with LoopUp, we can give our enterprise customers a seamless, fully managed Teams telephony experience
Read More
iVote Live launches with a focus on improved governance for organisations

iVote Live launches with a focus on improved governance for organisations

"A platform does not automatically create good governance. A digital vote does not automatically create democracy."
Read More
Samsung’s big bet on AI Samsung’s big bet on AI
The data centre dilemma The data centre dilemma
Social permission and the data center Social permission and the data center
Support us Support us
Brightstar Lottery launches 6th Annual Coding & Robotics Rock! Camp Brightstar Lottery launches 6th Annual Coding...
How should business and government embrace AI? How should business and government embrace...
A request of readers A request of readers
The data privacy issues in TT’s national ID platform The data privacy issues in TT’s...
Digicel, LoopUp partner to bring Microsoft Teams telephony to the Caribbean Digicel, LoopUp partner to bring Microsoft...
iVote Live launches with a focus on improved governance for organisations iVote Live launches with a focus...

🤞 Get connected!

A once weekly email notification of new stories on TechNewsTT. Just that. No spam.

Possible UI Glitch. Click top right corner to dismiss 👉

Get Connected!

A once weekly email notification of new stories on TechNewsTT.

Just that. No spam.

1 COMMENT

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

1 Comment
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
trackback
2 years ago

[…] Trinidad and Tobago – Shiva Parasram is a cybersecurity expert who has been examining the dump of data exfiltrated from TSTT’s servers. When he spoke with me, he was coming to the end of 22 hours of examining the files, which were captured as unencrypted, plain text files in txt and csv formats. Images of customer documents and identification are in standard JPEG and PDF formats… more […]

RELATED POSTS