In response to recent news of a breach involving a veteran’s medical information, the Privacy Commissioner of Canada has already completed an investigation and announced findings. From the press release: An investigation has highlighted the serious mishandling of a veteran’s personal information, entrusted to the care of Veterans Affairs Canada, says Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart. …
Author: Dissent
Cancer researcher fights UNC demotion over data breach (updated)
Gregory Childress reports that a data breach had significant consequences for a researcher. Because I don’t recall ever seeing such consequences before, I think this is pretty newsworthy: A UNC cancer researcher is fighting a demotion and pay cut she received after a security breach in the medical study she directs. Bonnie Yankaskas, a professor in…
ICO: data crooks should face jail
… Responding to a Ministry of Justice call for evidence on the current data protection legislative framework, the privacy watchdog said that the greatest threat to information security in organisations is individuals. But it said the Data Protection Act “only provides for a fine for those individuals who knowingly or recklessly obtain or disclose personal…
Hacked D.C. online voting system stored login and encryption key on server
Kim Zetter writes: An internet-based voting system that was hacked last week by researchers at the University of Michigan stored its database username, password and encryption key on a server open to attack. Alex Halderman, a computer scientist at the university, has detailed the vulnerabilities and hacking techniques his students used to completely control the system…
Employee of Akamai Technologies charged with wire fraud in spying sting
Another reminder about insiders, even though in this case, no confidential data was actually compromised because a would-be spy delivered the information to an undercover federal agent. From the press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Massachusetts, a case first reported by Elizabeth Heichler on Computerworld: An employee of a high technology company headquartered…
Nurse reprimanded over Facebook photo that didn't involve patients
Sandra Yin reports: Managers at Genesys Regional Medical Center reprimanded a nurse for unprofessional behavior, based on a photo that ended up on Facebook, the Flint Journal reports. The photo, which was taken in the early spring showed another nurse removing a splinter from Cathy Miller in an otherwise empty operating room at the hospital based…