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.
Canada Latest News, Canada Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
CVS Accidentally Leaks 1 Billion Website Records—Including Covid-19 Vaccine SearchesCVS 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.
Read more »
Pediatricians work to close gaps in Covid-19 vaccine coverage by vaccinating adultsAs pediatricians vaccinate newly eligible children and teens against Covid-19, some of them say they are giving just as many shots to adults.
Read more »
A life-saving new drug for covid-19 is foundBut only rich countries will benefit, and even they will struggle to get hold of it | Science & technology
Read more »
CNN analysis: Where vaccination is up, Covid-19 cases are downA CNN analysis found that states that have fully vaccinated over half of their residents tend to have lower-than-average case rates that are trending down, while states that have vaccinated less than half of their residents had higher average case rates.
Read more »
Cases of a dangerous Covid-19 variant are 'rapidly increasing' in US, expert saysAs US states lift more coronavirus restrictions, experts are worried people who aren't fully vaccinated could contribute to further spread of the virus.
Read more »
FDA Authorizes More Covid-19 Vaccine Doses From Troubled Baltimore PlantThe agency cleared 15 million doses, bringing the total doses authorized for export to 25 million, according to a senior U.S. official.
Read more »