I’ve often disagreed with the Center for Democracy & Technology, but I laud them for pointing out the glaring holes in proposed federal data security and data breach notification laws that exclude health information. Harley Geiger writes: One of the negative side-effects of the sectoral approach the United States has taken to privacy regulation is confusion over…
Category: Health Data
Cn: DOH reveals massive patient data leak
Wow. When I read the headline to this story out of China and the lead sentence about “largest breach… ever,” I expected it would be a P2P leak or something. It wasn’t: Taipei Municipal Wan Fang Hospital yesterday came under fire for leaking patient documents and personal information in the largest breach of privacy ever…
(Follow-up) Kaiser employee ID theft suspect pleads no contest
C. Johnson reports: A benefits clerk, who was busted while about to undergo liposuction surgery using fraudulently-obtained credit card information from one of her victims, has pleaded no contest to identity theft. The Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office says Mia Garza, 31, was accused of stealing personal identification information from more than 400 Kaiser Permanente…
IE: Patient data leak not confined to Tallaght hospital, says chief
Elaine Edwards reports: The scope of a data breach involving confidential patient information is much wider than just Tallaght hospital in Dublin, the hospital’s acting chief executive has indicated. The hospital yesterday admitted there had been “unauthorised access and disclosure” of material sent to the Philippines for transcription. Its arrangement with Irish-based company Uscribe, which…
NHS security breach as patients' letters posted with security codes on envelopes
Martin Beckford reports: At least 216 letters have been posted with security codes for door entry and key safe boxes printed on the front of the envelopes. The confidential information is used by carers and nurses to gain entry to immobile patients’ homes. But it was wrongly added to records on the Personal Demographic Service, part…
IG: Contractor Improperly Accessed VA IT
Eric Chabrow reports: The Department of Veterans Affairs’ inspector general substantiated allegations left on a departmental hotline last summer that IT contractors without appropriate security clearances improperly gained access to the VA’s electronic health record system. Belinda Finn, assistant inspector general for audits and evaluations, wrote in an audit dated July 27, that contractor personnel improperly shared user accounts…