Last month, I posted a breach story by Robert Siciliano about a then-unnamed insurance agency that had reportedly discarded Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance applications in a dumpster. The files were found by investigator William “Cobra” Staubs, who was engaged in “research.” Simon Barrett followed up on the incident and posted some pictures that suggest that…
Category: Health Data
NS: Privacy watchdog mulls probe of WCB
Davena Jeffrey reports: Nova Scotia’s defender of personal privacy will decide Monday whether she will launch an investigation into the Workers’ Compensation Board of Nova Scotia’s handling of its clients’ information. In an interview Friday, Dulcie McCallum, Nova Scotia’s freedom of information and protection of privacy review officer, said her office has been discussing what…
HHS web site reveals three new breaches
Today’s update to the HHS breach tool web site records some breaches we already knew about but also some other breaches we did not know about through the usual media sources: California Therapy Solutions in California reported that 1,226 patients had protected health information on a stolen device. The theft occurred on November 15. As…
UK: Doc Files Dumped in a Bin
Paul Thornton reports: Hospital bosses have launched an investigation after documents revealing patients’ personal records were found dumped in a wheelie bin. The details – on two sheets of paper – were discovered with a dictaphone tape, also thought to contain confidential medical data. Data included the patients’ addresses and phone numbers, as well as…
CA: Stolen laptop contained Sebastopol substance abuse patient information
Bob Norberg reports: Personal information for 699 former residents of a Sebastopol drug and alcohol treatment facility was on a physician’s laptop computer that was stolen in New York, officials said Friday. The theft occurred Nov. 18 at a New York hotel, said Kristen Hayes, a spokeswoman for Azure Acres, the Sebastopol facility. The information…
6,500 Blues members’ personal info exposed (updated)
Melissa Burden reports: Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan is notifying about 6,500 members whose personal, but non-medical information was exposed on a third-party website, the insurer said today. The nonprofit health insurer said the breach involved a website created by Harper Woods-based Tstream Software, which was doing work on behalf of Warren-based Agent Benefits…