Frederick Eugene Wood once had been a promising medical student, before the methamphetamine took over. Then he became an HIV-infected addict who used his smarts as a computer hacker and identity thief. Tuesday, a federal judge in Seattle sentenced the 34-year-old Seattle man to more than three years in prison for using peer-to-peer file-sharing networks…
Category: Exposure
Spam uncovers career center security breach
A spam e-mail uncovered a potentially dangerous security breach. The potential problem centers around a Nashville organization that helps people get jobs and improve their career. One hundred and sixty people are now in the process of being notified over concerns that their names and Social Security numbers were exposed on the Internet. It turns…
Whistleblower lawsuit against Kaiser (updated)
At a time when concerns about the privacy and security of electronic health records are a hot topic and the issue of private vs. public health insurance is making the front pages, a lawsuit filed by a former Kaiser employee alleges that Kaiser knowingly and repeatedly violated HIPAA, exposed millions of members to identity theft,…
Skyward breach affects St. Lucie County SD workers
[St. Lucie County School District] employees will receive a letter this week from a school district computer contractor advising them that an error during recent work may have sent their personal information to other school districts. The employee information may include Social Security numbers, home phone numbers and home addresses, said Janice Karst, schools communications…
Social Security numbers visible on Iowa site
A link to a state Web site was shut down Friday after the discovery that the Social Security numbers of hundreds of Iowa’s top business officials and company board members were accessible by the public. The numbers – more than 2,000 in total – appeared primarily in corporation reports made to the Iowa secretary of…
Inquiry after passports found in punchbag
The Home Office has launched an “urgent investigation” after two brothers found thousands of scraps of passports, chequebooks and prescription pads in a punchbag [Note: in the U.S., punching bag]. Simon and Richard Coe discovered personal data, including signatures and photos, torn up into thousands of small pieces. Much of the personal information contained in…