Nedra Pickler of The Associated Press reports: A passport specialist curious about celebrities has admitted she looked into the confidential files of more than 500 famous Americans without authorization. Brooke Reyna pleaded guilty in federal court in Conord, N.H., to lying to investigators when confronted. The files contain photos and personal information and are protected by…
Author: Dissent
JP: EDITORIAL: Leak of terrorism data
Well, I didn’t post a security breach from Japan the other day because the news report I read suggest that no PII were involved. But an editorial today on Asahi.com indicates that PII were involved — and perhaps dangerously so: As Japan prepares to receive foreign government leaders who will gather in Yokohama for…
Family Not Entitled to Post-Autopsy Brain
As I’ve occasionally mentioned, I adhere to the “gut doctrine” of law: if a ruling feels wrong in my gut, it must be wrong. And so the gut doctrine tells me that there’s something very wrong with a decision out of Michigan. Jeff Gorman of Courthouse News reports: Family members do not have the right…
Data Breaches Cost Hospitals $6B Yearly
Dom Nicastro writes: Hospitals spend $6 billion annually because of data breaches, and Federal regulations enacted under the HITECH Act have not improved the safety of patient records research from The Ponemon Institute shows. Among the data security and privacy research firm’s findings: Hospitals are not protecting patient data Hospitals admit to being vulnerable to…
Pointer: Information Commissioner to issue fines – Finally!
Over on Cervello Consultants, Lindsay comments on an issue I raised earlier today blog post about fines for data breaches. Lindsay writes, in part: Do I think that the time has come for these floggings to take place in public? I’m afraid to say in my opinion it is. […] Fines and public humiliation are…
Four plead guilty to stealing cash from victims’ bank accounts, identity theft
The last of four Minnesotans pleaded guilty yesterday in federal court in St. Paul to operating an identity theft ring involving the creation of fraudulent identification cards and checks that were eventually cashed at businesses and banks in three states. Appearing before United States District Court Judge Donovan W. Frank, Christopher Englin, age 28, of…