Mike LaCount reports: On April 8, students in the UW-Milwaukee Geography department received an e-mail containing personal information of former UWM students, but the message was removed before most of the recipients opened it. Judith Kenny, associate professor and undergraduate program chair for the department of geography, sent an e-mail to 97 students in the…
Author: Dissent
Security fears as HSBC forgets to BCC
Ben Flanagan reports: Some of HSBC Middle East’s wealthiest customers have complained that their privacy has been compromised after the bank sent a mass mailout to its ‘Premier’ customers – whom are required to maintain a minimum balance or investment of AED350,000 ($95,300) – with customers’ email addresses visible in the ‘To’ field. The customer…
Data Redaction: You’re Doing it Wrong
John Bambenek writes: PDF files are a common way to distribute documents on the Internet and even are used for distributing documents with redacted (removed) content. However, when you distribute redacted documents make sure that the data you don’t want out there isn’t, in fact, still in the file. Case in point, take the upcoming…
The Havasupai Indians, Genetic Research and the Problem of Informed Consent
Over on Concurring Opinions, Gaia Bernstein discusses the Havasupai case discussed here previously in several posts, and makes the following statement: No doubt, the Havasupai Indians informed consent argument resulted in their victorious settlement. But, the harder question is whether informed consent principle can be feasibly applied in the area of genetics. Genetic information is…
Survey: Delayed Compliance with New Regulations Has Increased Data Breaches and Medical Identity Theft in U.S. Hospitals
Although some will tend to minimize survey results when the surveyor has a self-serving interest, the results of the recent Identity Force survey of over 200 hospital administrators provides unsurprising, yet troubling, data. From their press release about the survey: PROBLEMS ARE WORSENING DESPITE MAJOR REGULATORY EFFORTS 41.5% of hospitals have TEN OR MORE data…
Report: Data breaches, patient identity thefts still a threat despite new laws
From CMIO: Despite new regulations in the HITECH Act, data breaches and medical identity theft remains at critical levels throughout hospitals in the U.S., where 83.6 percent of providers have data breaches every year, according to a report from identity theft prevention contractor Identity Force. The Framingham, Mass.-based Identity Force surveyed 220 compliance executives from…