How often have you wondered what your spouse is really thinking? Or your boss? Or the guy sitting across from you on the bus? We all take as a given that we’ll never really know for sure. The content of our thoughts is our own – private, secret, and unknowable by anyone else. Until now,…
Author: Dissent
Stunning breach of confidentiality in Travolta tragedy
As Americans, we are indoctrinated with the notion of patient confidentiality. But what happened in the recent Jett Travolta tragedy should remind us that the protections we may have here may not apply if health care is provided out of the country. By now, most of the world knows that actor John Travolta’s son died…
Stolen CreditTek laptop contained data on 68,857 DJO patients
When a Creditek, LLC employee went on vacation to the Bahamas, he took his work laptop with him. The laptop, which contained personal and medical information on 68,857 patients of orthopedic products supplier DJO, LLC, was stolen from the home in which the employee was staying. According to a notification sent to New Hampshire’s Attorney…
Wyndham Hotel Group hacked
If you stayed at a Wyndham hotel, check your mail, because you may be getting a letter from the chain telling you of a hack that occurred months ago. In a letter to the New Hampshire Attorney General dated December 23, Wyndham Hotels and Resorts updated a notification sent to states attorney general back in…
Pepsi employee data on missing storage device
On December 23rd, Pepsi Bottling Group notified the New Hampshire Attorney General that: During the week of December 8, the payroll department of The Pepsi Bottling Group (PBG) reported that it could not account for a portable data storage device, which contained unencrypted personal information, including the names and social security numbers of PBG employees…
Five recent Merrill Lynch security breaches you probably didn’t know about
As if the financial sector wasn’t in enough of tailspin recently, Merrill Lynch reported at least five security breaches during the last quarter of 2008. Reports filed by the firm with several states attorney general reveal that: On September 3, the company reported a lost laptop containing personally identifiable information to New York State. That…