Henry K. Lee reports: A third suspect has been charged for his role in a gas pump-skimming operation that was uncovered in Martinez and victimized customers throughout Northern California, authorities said Wednesday. Edwin Hamazaspyan, 31, is facing identity theft and conspiracy charges along with David Karapetyan, 31, and Zhirayr Zamanyan, 30, all of Los Angeles. The three…
Author: Dissent
Two charged with credit union theft that allegedly used Navy clinic data
Another case allegedly involving theft of patient data for fraud. John Wharton reports from Maryland: St. Mary’s grand jurors have charged two county residents with stealing from the Navy Federal Credit Union, in a scheme that law officers allege misappropriated the personal information of Navy health clinic patients. Donna Mason, a 41-year-old Lexington Park woman,…
Clinic blasts calls for added oversight of porn industry
Molly Hennessy-Fiske reports on the latest developments in a battle between the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) and the Adult Industry Medical (AIM) HealthCare Foundation, a Los Angeles area HIV testing clinic funded by and serving the adult film industry. The dispute pits privacy against public health concerns that unprotected sex in the adult porn industry…
Data breach in 2005 fueled a long-running massive Medicare fraud scheme
An indictment unveiled in New York today concerning a huge Medicare fraud scheme reveals how both medical professionals and patients may have their identities stolen in furtherance of fraud. And in this case, a data breach years ago provided much of the identity information needed. William K. Rashbaum and Michael Wilson report: An Armenian-American crime…
Is computing healthcare data breach statistics a waste of time?
Over on Technology Liberation Front, Jim Harper responded to my post that asked what can we learn from the first year of HHS breach reports. He starts by taking me to task for seemingly glossing over what he sees as important considerations: …. The post gives extremely light treatment to the possibility—indeed, the likelihood—of noncompliance…
'Scrapers' Dig Deep for Data on Web
Julia Angwin and Steve Stecklow report: At 1 a.m. on May 7, the website PatientsLikeMe.com noticed suspicious activity on its “Mood” discussion board. There, people exchange highly personal stories about their emotional disorders, ranging from bipolar disease to a desire to cut themselves. It was a break-in. A new member of the site, using sophisticated…