It is hard for me to believe that this even makes the news anywhere. Not that the person isn’t right to be concerned if the allegations are true, but it’s just that it seems so darned common as to no longer be newsworthy. Then again, maybe if such incidents did result in bad press and…
Category: Health Data
UK: 8,000 breaches due to viruses in a 1-year period
Incidents such as the report out of Alberta Health Services in Canada and this report, below, from the UK, should serve as a reminder as to how much risk attaches to networking data and having it accessible online — either intentionally or unintentionally: More than 8,000 computer viruses have infected NHS computers over the last…
Medical records found in Salt Lake dumpster
KUTV reports that about 20 boxes of medical records were found in a dumpster. The files contained names, credit card numbers, Social Security numbers, canceled checks, routing numbers, and medical information. KUTV reports: At least some of the records appeared to come from Mountain Medical Center, a chiropractic office that had been in the Murray…
Reports Pour in under California's New Privacy Laws
Reports of health record breach violations have been pouring into the California Department of Public Health since the state began requiring healthcare entities to report all incidents of unauthorized record access. More than 800 reports have been filed since the law took effect January 1, according to Kathleen Billingsley, RN, deputy director of the California…
BOTSWANA: Court rules on privacy violation
In the first case of its kind in Botswana, a woman has successfully sued another woman for publicly revealing her HIV status. The High Court in Lobatse, a city in the southeast, has ruled that Sadi Nokane pay Obakeng Madubela US$1,000 in damages for violating Madubela’s right to privacy. Around 55 percent of the population…
Alberta Health records hit by virus
The Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner has been notified by Alberta Health Services that a virus was present on the Alberta Health Services network in Edmonton. The virus impacted the network and Netcare, Alberta’s electronic health record, before it was discovered and removed. The virus is a new variant of a Trojan horse…