The Minnesota Independent

Coleman breach - Latest Stories

Coleman’s individual donations dropped with trial’s start

By Chris Steller | 07.27.09 | 1:10 pm

Like a plane from Washington, D.C., descending into Minnesota through iffy Midwestern weather, former Sen. Norm Coleman’s financial support from individual donors took a long, bumpy decline. A week-by-week analysis of new Federal Elections Commission reports shows that receipts from individuals reached a high point around the time Coleman’s election-contest trial began Jan. 26, then trended downward through his concession on the last day of June.

Leaked Coleman data include trove of comments from Franken fans

By Chris Steller | 04.03.09 | 3:20 pm

Many of Norm Coleman’s online donors were angered last month to learn that the former senator’s campaign Web site had leaked a database with their credit card data. While a U.S. Secret Service investigation is pending, here’s a footnote to the affair: A second leaked database contained dozens of comments from fans of Coleman’s DFL rival, Al Franken.

Wikileaks, IT pro not ‘in any danger’ in Coleman leak, lawyer says

By Paul Schmelzer | 03.16.09 | 4:19 pm

Federal law leads the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s civil liberties director to believe that neither the IT consultant who found Norm Coleman’s donor database online nor the Web site that leaked it did anything illegal. Fodder for the argument: a similar case in California where authorities decided not to pursue charges when controversial conversations by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s were downloaded by political opponents.

Coleman authored data security bill in 2007

By Andy Birkey | 03.16.09 | 8:25 am

coleman-shrugFormer Sen. Norm Coleman is no stranger to breaches in data security. He authored a bill in 2007 that would have directed federal agencies to disclose breaches of sensitive personal information in a timely manner.

Coleman tells worried donors to call him but isn’t answering the phone

By Chris Steller | 03.13.09 | 4:25 pm

Norm Coleman told donors who are worried about the leak of personal and financial data from his campaign Web site to cancel their credit cards and call him with questions. A Coleman contributor in Atlanta who did just that — shelling out $16 for an expedited replacement card — tells the Minnesota Independent that no one answers the phone at the number Coleman gave.

Coleman camp’s claim about January data breach is ‘bullshit,’ tech expert says

By Paul Schmelzer | 03.13.09 | 3:56 pm

Norm Coleman’s campaign has said it has “a high degree of confidence” that late January’s exposure of an unprotected donor database didn’t result in the loss of sensitive data. This week’s news that Wikileaks.org had obtained the 4.3 gigabyte database casts doubt on that statement — and so does Bruce Schneier, the locally based and internationally renowned security expert who calls the claim “complete and utter bullshit.”

Coleman Web site dropped promise not to store donors’ credit card data

By Chris Steller | 03.12.09 | 4:54 pm

coleman-privacy-graphicAs recently as last year, Norm Coleman promised campaign donors his Web site would not store their credit card numbers. That was then. The Coleman Web site’s “Privacy Policy” now promises only to encrypt contributors’ data “during the transfer process.”…

Coleman campaign may have violated law in database breach

By Andy Birkey | 03.12.09 | 12:44 pm

The campaign of former Sen. Norm Coleman has alerted donors that a database containing personal data, including credit card numbers, has been circulating on the Internet.

Minnesota has a number of consumer protection laws that govern the use of personal information, which has raised questions about whether the Coleman campaign has violated state law.

Coleman: A ‘chilling, scary … attack on this campaign’

By Chris Steller | 03.11.09 | 7:08 pm

coleman-shrug“Chilling,” “frightening,” “scary.” That’s how former U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman described an apparent breach of confidential donor data at his campaign Web site. It’s “obviously an attack on this campaign,” he said.