John Bryan uses a recent monetary penalty by the Information Commissioner’s Office to contrast what might happen to fines under the GDPR. Fertility patients being treated at the Lister Hospital, part of the US-based HCA Healthcare group, discovered in April 2015 that transcripts of their confidential patient-doctor conversations were publicly available on the world wide web….
Category: Commentaries and Analyses
China arrests over 4,200 for personal information fraud in 2016
Xinhua reports: Chinese police caught over 4,200 suspects for theft of personal information in 2016, with over 1,800 cases solved, according to the Ministry of Public Security (MPS). The police also managed to track more than 30 billion stolen personal information items last year, while nearly 100 of the suspects were hackers. Read more on…
What a decade of data breach investigations can teach us
George Nott has a good summary of some of the key findings in Verizon’s newest Data Breach Investigations Report. Some snippets: This year’s report – described by Verizon as an “InfoSec coddiwomple that has now culminated in a decade of nefarious deeds and malicious mayhem” – includes analysis on 42,068 incidents and 1,935 breaches from…
Ars Technica Live: Why it’s important to defend hackers, even the not nice ones
Cyrus Farivar reports: On June 13, 2017, Mark Jaffe is set to appear before the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco to argue on behalf of his client, journalist Matthew Keys. And at the most recent Ars Live event, Jaffe spoke to David Kravets and me about this case and broader issues…
Federal Trade Commission Plans to Clarify its Data Security Standard
Weiss Nusraty writes: The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has announced that it is launching a new initiative to improve data security guidance and transparency as part of a broader plan to implement process reform initiatives. In an interview with Politico Pro (subscription required) last week, the new acting director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer…
A Heart-to-Heart from the Hackers: Cyber-Vulnerabilities in Cardiac Devices
Robert Radick writes: Just over a year ago, this blog took note of a governmental letter that powerfully underscored the dangers of cyberattacks in the healthcare industry. The letter, which then-Senator Barbara Boxer had sent to FBI Director James Comey, discussed the serious risks that hospitals and other institutional health care providers face from cyberattacks,…