Jane Yakowitz writes: Vioxx, the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug once prescribed for arthritis, was on the market for over five years before it waswithdrawn from the market in 2004. Though a group of small-scale studies had found a correlation between Vioxx and increased risk of heart attack, the FDA did not have convincing evidence until it completed…
Author: Dissent
CFTC Data Breach Risks Employees’ Social Security Numbers
Silla Brust reports: The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission suffered a data breach in May, putting at risk Social Security numbers and personal information of employees of the country’s top derivatives regulator. A CFTC employee received a “phishing” e-mail on May 21 and input information to a fraudulent website, according to a copy of an…
Old law puts school data at risk
Susan Palmer reports: An obscure state regulation — one that requires districts to keep student records for decades — is one reason several thousand Eugene School District students are at risk of having their Social Security numbers hijacked following a security breach of the district’s electronic records. School districts must retain student records for 75…
Sen. Toomey Introduces Data Security Bill
U.S. Senator Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) introduced a bill Thursday to create a national standard requiring companies to protect and secure consumers’ electronic data. Companies must currently comply with 46 different state laws in the event of a data breach. Sen. Toomey’s bill would preempt these laws and replace them with a single national standard, providing…
Employee files found outside Fred’s Super Dollar in Midfield
Mike McClanahan reports from Alabama: A tip from viewer led CBS42 to a stack of files full of valuable personal information, just out in the open…ripe for the picking for identity thieves. There were ten folders in all. Full of employee names, phone numbers, social security numbers, addresses, work histories, birthdays, and even copies of…
MN: State worker stole IDs for fraud
David Chanen and Dan Browning report: Applications that psychologists made to the Minnesota Board of Psychology to get or renew their licenses delivered a gold mine of information to a receptionist working with a crime ring to defraud banks and retailers in 14 states. Robin Finger, 44, is the latest of several people in a…