Freehold Community School in Oldham has been found in breach of the Data Protection Act after the theft of an unencrypted laptop from a teacher’s car, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) said today. The laptop contained personal information relating to 90 pupils at the school. The school reported the breach to the ICO in January…
Author: Dissent
No reasonable expectation of privacy in an emergency room
From the I-didn’t-know-that dept.: Patient privacy may not extend to the patient’s clothes or belongings. Via FourthAmendment.com: An officer who came to the trauma section of Grady Hospital in Atlanta could seize defendant’s clothing in plain view. Defendant had no reasonable expectation of privacy in the ER. United States v. Howard, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS…
Texas Health Arlington Memorial Hospital breach notice
I finally tracked down an explanation for a breach entry in HHS’s breach tool that read: Texas Health Arlington Memorial Hospital,TX,, 654, 12/23/2010,Unknown ,Electronic Medical Record,, I had reported it on this blog last week, but here’s the undated notice that explains it: Texas Health Arlington Memorial Hospital is notifying our patients about a breach…
Texas fires two tech chiefs over breach
Jaikumar Vijayan reports: The Texas State Comptroller’s office has fired its heads of information security and of innovation and technology following an inadvertent data leak that exposed Social Security numbers and other personal information on over 3.2 million people in the state. Two other employees have also been fired over the incident, a statement posted…
IEEE members notified of second breach in as many months
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) describes itself as the world’s largest technical professional organization with over 365,000 members worldwide, but some of its members may be feeling a bit beleaguered after receiving what may be their second breach notice in as many months. In February, the association notified 828 members that an…
HK: Leak fear as hospital loses patient details
A flash drive containing patients’ personal details has gone missing at Queen Mary Hospital, nine months after it was stored in a ward. A clerk at the hospital’s department of pediatrics discovered the loss on Monday, and informed management the following day. The device is not encrypted or password-protected. It contains a data file with…