Dell Cameron reports: Dallas-based journalist Barrett Brown walked free from prison on Tuesday morning after spending more than four years behind bars. The 35-year-old cause célèbre, convicted in January 2015 after spending more than two years in pretrial confinement, faces a laundry list of post-release restrictions and obligations, including drug treatment, mental health evaluations, and computer monitoring. Read…
Category: Commentaries and Analyses
Data Breach Notification In the EU: A Comparison of US and Soon-To-Be EU Law
David A. Zetoony, Joshua A. James, Jena M. Valdetero, and Christopher M. Achatz of Bryan Cave provide an overview of significant differences between U.S. breach notification laws and the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”). Here’s a snippet from their analysis: That said, there are several significant differences including: Type of Information Governed. Data breach notification laws in the United States apply…
Data manipulation heralds a new era of hacking
Here’s one of the nightmares I’ve occasionally had over the past two years: a healthcare entity gets hacked, but instead of patient data being stolen, it’s corrupted, leading to inaccurate patient medical records that result in wrong treatment or even fatal mistakes. Has it already happened? Data corruption is a risk that has always been mentioned in…
Paytm suspends ‘App POS’ on data security concerns
PTI reports: Mobile wallet company Paytm has suspended its app that allowed small shopkeepers to accept payment through cards amid ongoing cash crunch, citing risks to customer data and privacy. The new feature was designed to eliminate the need for a physical point-of-sale (PoS) terminal or a card swipe machine, instead helping small shopkeepers use their smartphones…
Over 300 data leaks at Dutch hospitals this year
DutchNews.nl reports: Dutch hospitals have reported 304 potential leaks of sensitive information to the Dutch data protection agency DPA since the beginning of this year, Trouw said on Thursday. Reporting has been compulsory for a wide variety of organisations since the start of this year. The agency has refused to give any information about the…
IG: IRS Employees Sent Unencrypted Emails Containing Personal Data of Thousands of Taxpayers
Ian Smith reports: A recent report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) found that IRS employees sent unencrypted emails which contained 8,031 different taxpayers’ personally identifiable information. According to the report, TIGTA found 326 unencrypted emails containing taxpayer data. 275 of the emails were sent internally within IRS, while 51 emails were…