Matt Anderson comments: In a previous issue, I related a conversation I had with a patient about the electronic medical record (EMR) and described to her the problems of poor documentation and up-coding. My conversation with my patient continued, as I told her about the legal intrusions of her privacy made possible or made easier…
Author: Dissent
Missing Student Records From Chattanooga State
Karen Zatkulak reports: Nearly two thousand students records from Chattanooga State are missing. Administrators there tell us the company hired to scan the documents, mishandled them. The school says this is not the first time this company hired to protect information did the opposite. They say it’s the same business who dumped medical documents from…
UK: NHS computers hit by voracious, data-stealing worm
Dan Goodin reports: The UK’s National Health Service has been hit by a voracious, data-stealing worm that’s easily detected by off-the-shelf security software, according to researchers who directly observed the mass compromise. Researchers from anti-virus provider Symantec have been monitoring the Qakbot worm since last May and have documented its behavior here and here. On…
Paging Dr. Google
There’s a Note by Colin P. McCarthy in the latest issue of William and Mary Law Review that reviews some of the privacy, security and regulatory issues surrounding personal health records: “Paging Dr. Google: Personal Health Records and Patient Privacy.”
More on the Havasupai case and issues
Amy Harmon of the New York Times has more on the settlement in the Havasupai case (covered here) and the ethical issues. As part of her two stories, she reports: “It is a gesture of respect to say, ‘We told you we wanted to do one thing, and we’d really like to do something else,’…
Criminal web forum trades in stolen social network profiles
A study from VeriSign’s cyber security watchdog iDefense has revealed a huge increase over the past year in demand for nicked social network user accounts, many of which go on to be sold internationally on the black market including over forums. Once information available on social networking is secured it is auctioned off in bulk…