Dionne Cordell-Whitney reports: Minnesota collects DNA samples from newborn children, then illegally keeps the genetic information and shares it with third parties without informed consent of the parents, parents say in a class action. Lead plaintiffs Nathan and Katrina Anderson sued the state, the Minnesota Department of Health, and its commissioner, in Hennepin County Court….
Month: January 2012
Programming Note
A number of regular readers have e-mailed to ask why the blog is not being updated as frequently as it usually is. The answer is simple, but sad: my mother is dying. Updates will continue to be sporadic for a while as I am at the hospice every day to spend time with her as…
NYSEG and RG&E Notify Customers of Unauthorized Access to Customer Data
From NYSEG: New York State Electric & Gas (NYSEG) and Rochester Gas and Electric (RG&E), subsidiaries of Iberdrola USA, today began sending precautionary notifications to customers advising them of unauthorized access to customer data. This situation involves an employee at an independent software development consulting firm (contracted by NYSEG and RG&E) who allowed unauthorized access…
Euronet faces first criminal computer breach of secure payment data
Alyson Raletz reports: Euronet Worldwide Inc., a Leawood company that provides secure payment services, has reported a criminal computer security breach. Euronet (Nasdaq: EEFT) said the breach targeted a “small portion” of its European business in late 2011, according a Monday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Read more on Kansas City Business Journal.
(Update) Attorneys General Seek Info about Zappos breach
Concerned about a recent hacking attack that may have affected more than 24 million customers, Attorney General George Jepsen, with support from nine other states, has asked Zappos.com, Inc. about its efforts to protect private customer information and its response to the breach. The Attorney General wrote to the chief executive officer of the on-line…
(Follow-up) Agreement Reached With Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. Over Release of Some Customers’ Personally Identifiable Information
Attorney General George Jepsen and Consumer Protection Commissioner William Rubenstein have reached an agreement with Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. to provide additional protections to the current and former customers whose personal information was made public. Information of current and former MetLife customers was part of a spreadsheet posted to the Internet by an employee of…