Michael Cohn reports: The House has approved legislation to increase the criminal penalties against identity thieves who steal taxpayer information to file fraudulent returns. The Stopping Tax Offenders and Prosecuting Identity Theft Act, H.R. 4362, was introduced in April by Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas. The bill…
Author: Dissent
FL: Personal information found on Ocoee’s website
It was a tip from WESH-TV to Ocoee Mayor Scott Vandergrift about personal information on the city’s website that got the material quickly removed from the public eye. The documents were eight pages long and included names of more than 150 current and former city employees, as well as personal information like dates of birth…
UK: Sensitive details of NHS staff published by Trust in Devon
From the Information Commissioner’s Office: A health trust in Torquay has been served with a £175,000 penalty after the sensitive details of over 1,000 employees were accidentally published on the Trust’s website, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) announced today. Staff at Torbay Care Trust published the information in a spreadsheet on their website in April…
Willingboro woman sold IDs of TD Bank customers, used them to take money from accounts: police
Jessica Beym reports: A Burlington County woman and a New York man were each charged Thursday with one count of bank fraud and two counts of aggravated identity theft in a scheme that netted them more than $170,000, announced United States Attorney Zane David Memeger. Authorities said Patricia Lightsey, 27, of Willingboro, worked as a…
Update: About 9,200 people affected by Clarksville-Montgomery County School System hacking
Adam Tamburin reports: On Thursday, the school system began notifying about 9,200 people that elements of their personal data were accessed during a June security breach. That total includes about 4,900 employees and 4,300 students, according to James Prendergast, an attorney with Nelson Levine de Luca & Hamilton, a law firm the school system enlisted…
FL: Palm Beach County Health Department employee pilfered patient information
Ed Komenda reports: With a few key strokes and clicks of a mouse, an employee with the Palm Beach County Health Department accessed everything. The employee used a computer to view all manner of patient records. Names, prescriptions, social security numbers: nothing new to someone who had walked through the department’s halls for years. But…