Zack Whittaker reports: A U.S. government network was infected with malware thanks to one employee’s “extensive history” of watching porn on his work computer, investigators have found. The audit, carried out by the U.S. Department of the Interior’s inspector general, found that a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) network at the EROS Center, a satellite imaging…
Category: Government Sector
Gabon official websites hacked by Anonymous
AFP reports: The Anonymous hackers collective on Sunday claimed it hacked into more than 70 Gabon government websites, as part of what it called a campaign against dictatorships. Government sites including the ministries of communications and the civil service were inaccessible on Sunday, as were the websites of at least 30 other institutions. The presidency…
Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services notifies 10,400 whose data improperly retained by contractor
JEFFERSON CITY, MO – On October 24, 2018, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (“Department”) mailed over 10,400 letters to individuals informing them that the Department recently discovered a breach of security of their personal information. The breach occurred because, sometime before September 30, 2016, an information technology contractor for the State of…
Follow-up: Mecklenburg Co. not fined for releasing personal information of health department patients
WSOC-TV reports: The United States Department of Health and Human Services Office of Civil Rights did not fine Mecklenburg County for inadvertently providing Channel 9 with the personal medical information of thousands of health department patients in 2017. Records show Mecklenburg County self-reported the potential HIPAA violation on May 4, 2017. In March 2017, in…
NZ: IRD privacy breach raises data handling concerns
Nine to Noon reports: Inland Revenue’s data protection protocols are being questioned after a woman received information about a stranger’s child support in a copy-and-paste error. The Wellington woman got a letter from Inland Revenue addressed to her that included the full name of a father who was paying child support, and his child. She…
TX: Statement and Frequently Asked Questions about the 2018 ERS OnLine Security Incident
From the Employees Retirement System of Texas, this breach information notice. Note that this was reported to HHS with ERS listed as a health plan, and the breach was reported as affecting 1,248,263 members, but also note that no medical or health information was reportedly involved. On August 17, 2018, the Employees Retirement System of…