Hillary Borrud reports: Computer systems at the Oregon Employment Department remain vulnerable more than a year after a major data breach at the agency, according to a state audit released this week. State employees have taken steps to tighten the Employment Department’s cyber security, but auditors found that problems remain. These include a lack of…
Category: Commentaries and Analyses
California might investigate massive leak of voter records
As I first reported in co-breaking the story about the massive leak of voter records that had been discovered by Chris Vickery, I called the California Attorney General’s Office to alert them to the leak of California voters’ information. The attorney I spoke with on December 21 told me she was immediately forwarding the information I provided, including the IP…
Few Consequences For Health Privacy Law’s Repeat Offenders
Regulators have logged dozens, even hundreds, of complaints against some health providers for violating federal patient privacy law. Warnings are doled out privately, but sanctions are imposed only rarely. Companies say they take privacy seriously. by Charles Ornstein and Annie Waldman ProPublica, Dec. 29, 2015, 4 a.m. This story was co-published with NPR’s Shots blog. When CVS Health customers complained…
DHS rings its privacy policy bell in 2015
Scott Maucione reports: The past 12 months were the year of the cyberattack. Government agencies, infrastructure, private companies and citizens were all impacted by cyber breaches. In its year-end privacy review, the Department of Homeland Security’s Privacy Office is touting its privacy and security policies and initiatives to protect its federal workers and the United States from future cyber…
OCR should fine entities that close and just dump patient records
Seriously. How many times will see news reports of how medical practices closed their doors and just dumped patient records? Here’s another case this week, reported by WSFA in Alabama, who made great efforts to track down someone – anyone – who might be able to help identify the culprit (and yes, I use the…
Canadian data breaches in 2015: Big firms weren’t the only targets
Howard Solomon reports: Of all the publicly-disclosed data or privacy breaches in this country in 2015, one topped them all by a wide margin: Ashley Madison. With over 30 million records exposed from the dating site, a $578 million class action suit filed against parent Avid Life Media, the CEO resigning after his emails were…