Alice Lipowicz reports: Can personal medical data that has been stripped of its identifiers to protect privacy later be used to identify a specific person? That is the question that the Health and Human Services Department is hoping a research contractor can answer. HHS intends to hire a contractor to demonstrate either the “ability or…
Author: Dissent
Hacker steals $3M from Duanesburg schools
Paul Nelson reports: A computer hacker stole $3 million from the Duanesburg Central School District last month and transferred the money to overseas banks, school officials said today. The thefts occurred between Dec. 18 and Dec. 21. The district’s bank, NBT Bank, noticed the questionable money transfers on Dec. 22 and alerted the district, Superintendent…
TX: Medical Records Found on Street
KRGV in Texas reports that a citizen found files full of medical records from a home health care agency scattered on the street: Jose Diaz’s walk to the grocery store led him to files with names of people, their address, phone number and social security numbers. Most of documents are from late December. They’re medical…
Hospital Maintenance Man Charged in Peeping Tom Case
ohn Commins reports: A maintenance man at Sanford Hospital in Rock Rapids, IA, was arrested after he allegedly confessed to using “peepholes” to spy on female employees in a rest room. The suspect, John David Elias, 55, also allegedly admitted that he discovered, stole, and unsuccessfully attempted to destroy a hidden surveillance camera that was…
How to Prevent Top Three Health Information Breaches
Dom Nicastro writes: Major breaches of patient information in 2009 break down into three types: snoopers, hackers, and those involving large quantities of data. So let’s examine the top breaches from the past year and find out what facilities can do to prevent similar problems. Read more on HealthLeadersMedia.com
Four men arrested in PA on ID theft charges
The Associated Press reports that four men have been arrested and charged in Pennsylvania with running a multistate identity theft operation. Bensalem police say they recovered documents — including licenses and credit cards — listing the names of about 100 victims when they made the arrests Monday. Police charged 31-year-old Earl Johnson, 30-year-old Armone Stanley,…