Catherine Harrop reports: New Brunswick’s privacy commissioner has reprimanded the Department of Health for failing to adequately test its massive medicare data system following a 2011 overhaul. A technical failure resulted in 114 medicare cards being sent to the wrong addresses and 24 households receiving multiple cards, some belonging to other families. The error meant…
Category: Government Sector
Report Says Former IRS Employees–Think Lois Lerner–Can Still Peruse Your Tax Returns
Robert W. Wood translates a GAO report that was recently reported on this site: Could Lois Lerner still take a look at your tax returns on IRS computers? It sounds preposterous, but a new watchdog report says former IRS employees still have access to IRS computer systems long after they have no official business with the information. The report is by the U.S….
Ca: Cops called, but no charges in Service NL privacy breach
Rob Antle reports: Service NL Minister Dan Crummell won’t say whether an employee who inappropriately accessed the personal information of 28 people at the Motor Registration Division in Mount Pearl is now back on the job. “The only thing I can tell you is this — that person has been disciplined,” Crummell said. Read more…
Swedish city seeks half a million kroner in damages after teenager hacks system
IT Governance reports: In 2013, Erik Sundqvist, then 16, hacked into Umeå Municipality’s IT system and gained access to a database containing more than 600 passwords. He was found guilty, but escaped a jail sentence because of his age – instead, he was sentenced to 35 hours’ community service. Now the municipality is seeking half…
MD: IT specialist who hacked state databases sentenced
There’s a follow-up to a breach previously noted on PHIprivacy.net. AP reports: A Frederick man has been sentenced to six months in federal prison for stealing personal information of more than 11,000 intellectually and developmentally disabled people. Alexander Afonso, an information technology specialist, pleaded guilty to using another employee’s computer credentials to obtain the victims’ Social Security numbers and medical…
Russian hacker claims responsibility for taking down Maine, N.H. websites
Steve Mistler reports: A purported Russian hacker is claiming responsibility for an attack that disabled Maine.gov, the central portal to the websites for Maine state offices. The hacker, dubbed Vikingdom2015, boasted of the attack via Twitter. In addition to Maine state websites, the group also claimed responsibility for disabling New Hampshire state websites as well….