When I first saw a headline in my newsfeed, “Local man finds another Walgreen customer’s info,” I thought this was going to be another story about improper records disposal. My first thought was, “Wow, after all Walgreen has gone through and may still be going through on records disposal, this is the last thing they…
Author: Dissent
Ex-city workers used stolen IDs in costly spree
Guillermo Contreras reports: A San Antonio couple who worked for the city pleaded guilty Tuesday to a charge that they used stolen Social Security information to buy a boat, jewelry and several vehicles, including two motorcycles, two Cadillacs and a $43,000 Corvette. Mary Mercy Lopez, 49, and David Edward Reyes, 48, pleaded guilty to conspiracy…
UK: Basildon Hospital faxed cancer details to wrong person
The BBC reports on one of the recent actions by the Information Commissioner’s Office, reported previously on this blog. A hospital in Essex has changed patient communication procedures after cancer records were repeatedly faxed to a member of the public instead of a GP. Basildon Hospital was reported to the Information Commissioner – the data…
UK: Target practice?
Is Local Government being disproportionately targeted by the Information Commissioner? Jonathan Baines looks at the evidence. On 1 July 2011 the Information Commissioner (IC), Christopher Graham, issued a strongly-worded press release, which announced the publication of five undertakings he had required NHS Trusts to sign, following serious breaches of the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA). In…
Demonstration: wiping hard drives is not sufficient to secure PHI
Watch this video. The hard drives belonged to Bayou City Medical Center and over 100,000 files with patient information were recovered containing names, Social Security Numbers, dates of birth, and much more… after the drive had reportedly been wiped and reformatted. I do not know if this breach was ever in the media or reported…
140,000 children could be identity fraud victims
For most people, the thought of their children being victims of identity fraud is even more chilling than being a victim themselves. While children are less at risk for identity fraud than adults, when it happens it can be much more devastating because the fraudulent activity can go undetected for years, making it all that…