BBC reports: Over 40,000 firms, including energy providers, banks and hospitals could be required to report cyber-break-ins under new rules proposed by the EU. It is part of a move to intensify global efforts to fight cybercrime. Digital agenda commissioner Neelie Kroes said that Europe needed to improve how it dealt with cybersecurity. But firms…
Author: Dissent
Utah senate passes bill that would require Medicaid or CHIP participants be notified that their data will be in state databases
Sometimes breaches result in legislation. That appears to be the case in Utah, where the Associated Press reports that the state senate passed a bill in response to two breaches the state experienced: Utah lawmakers want to alert participants in the state Medicaid program or Children’s Health Insurance Program that their personal information will be…
Judge tentatively approves Cord Blood Registry class action lawsuit settlement
It’s been an interesting few weeks for those who have followed the Cord Blood Registry (CBR) data breach. As background: back in February 2011, CBR disclosed that backup tapes with 300,000 people’s information had been stolen from an employee’s unattended vehicle in December 2010. CBR offered those affected one year of free credit monitoring and…
12 Sue North Shore University Hospital In L.I., Allege Breach Resulted in Identity Thefts
Twelve people filed a lawsuit yesterday against North Shore University Hospital in New York, following a breach in which patient face sheets were stolen. Some claim to have been victims of identity theft as a result of the breach. Two suspects were arrested last year. And no, this breach isn’t listed in HHS’s breach tool…
Boca Raton Regional Hospital employee charged in tax refund fraud scheme that used patients' information
Brian Bandell reports: Federal authorities charged eight people with identity theft for filing fraudulent federal tax refunds in five separate cases, including that of a former Boca Raton Regional Hospital scheduler. Shalamar Major had access to the personal information of the hospital’s patients and gave it to Tanisha Wright in exchange for the promise of future payments, according to a…
HHS breach investigations badly backlogged, leaving us in the dark
To say that I am frequently frustrated by HHS’s “breach tool” would be an understatement. Their reporting form and coding often makes it impossible to know – simply by looking at their entries – what type of breach occurred. Consider this description from one of their entries: “Theft, Unauthorized Access/Disclosure”,”Laptop, Computer, Network Server, Email” So…