In an effort to combat identity theft, a bill that would require information stored on copier machines and scanners used by consumers be wiped clean has passed the New Jersey Assembly. Democrats Paul Moriarty, Herb Conaway, M.D., and Dan Benson sponsored to combat identity theft by requiring the hard drives of all digital copy machines…
Author: Dissent
Mandatory STD disclosure among inmates may become law
Ellyn Fortino reports: A new measure to help stop the spread of sexually transmitted diseases among incarcerated individuals and the general public may soon become law if a West Side senator has her way. State Sen. Kimberly Lightford’s (4th) plan would require the Illinois Department of Public Health and the state’s Department of Corrections to…
Ca: Durham Region Health class action lawsuit puts price on personal information
Emily Jackson reports: A proposed settlement in a class action lawsuit against Durham Region Health puts a $5.99 price tag on the patient data doctors are privy to. The lawsuit was filed against Durham Region after a nurse lost a USB key laden with the unencrypted personal information of 83,524 people in December 2009. According…
University of Nebraska breach needs to reverberate in Washington, D.C.
The University of Nebraska disclosed a breach last week, which I dutifully entered on DataLossDB. The breach sounded like it could be huge, despite the university’s statement that it had no evidence (at that time) that any data had been downloaded: The NeSIS database includes Social Security numbers, addresses, grades, transcripts, housing and financial aid…
Flame: Massive cyber-attack discovered, researchers say
Dave Lee reports: A complex targeted cyber-attack that collected private data from countries such as Israel and Iran has been uncovered, researchers have said. Russian security firm Kaspersky Labs told the BBC they believed the malware, known as Flame, had been operating since August 2010. The company said it believed the attack was state-sponsored, but…
Ca: Veteran's privacy not violated, internal review found
An independent investigator who reviewed privacy violations at Veterans Affairs Canada told the Harper government in late 2010 it was appropriate to include the personal medical information of an outspoken advocate in briefing material, say internal federal documents. The central finding of the Amprax Inc. review flies in the face of the country’s privacy watchdog,…