I read the following news story by Dan Wallach and thought, “Are you kidding me?!” The Texas Comptroller’s office has arranged for individuals affected by an inadvertent exposure of personal data to receive a 70 percent discount on one year of credit monitoring to alert them if their information is misused. On Monday, the comptroller’s office…
Author: Dissent
Pryor Urges FTC to Investigate Data Breach that Exposes Millions of Consumers
U.S. Senator Mark Pryor has sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission urging the Chairman to investigate the recent data breach of Epsilon, an online marketing firm that handles email lists for companies such as Target, Best Buy, Walgreens, and Citi Group. Pryor said the information that was stolen is likely limited to e-mail…
Update: One of two stolen Albright computers recovered
Steven Henshaw reports: State police said Friday that they have recovered one of two laptop computers stolen from Albright College’s financial aid office. Troopers said it appears the suspect, who is not a student, stole the computers to trade them for drugs, not the information they contained. The second laptop remains missing and an investigation…
Mailing error by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida misdirects almost 7400 Explanation of Benefits Notices
As noted yesterday, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida was one of four entities added to HHS’s breach tool as recently reporting a breach. I contacted BCBSFL and they kindly sent me a link to a press release they had issued on March 7 explaining the incident: Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida Corrects…
IN: Credit card scam hits local eatery
A restaurant in Richmond, Indiana seems to have fallen for a ruse that has resulted in fraudulent charges on their customers’ credit and debit cards. Robert Sullivan reports: A local restaurant and several of its customers have been victimized by a credit card fraud scam, Richmond Police Department officials said. Fifteen individuals who ate at…
Privacy and use of newborns’ blood samples
Over on Privacy Lives, Melissa Ngo blogs about an issue I’ve discussed a number of times on this blog: the collection, storage, and use/misuse of newborns’ blood samples. Melissa points us to a discussion on Minnesota Public Radio: … On Tuesday, parents, doctors and researchers urged state lawmakers to reject proposed restrictions on Minnesota’s Newborn Screening…