Meena Harris writes: Last week, the Consumer Electronics Association (“CEA”) announced its Guiding Principles on the Privacy and Security of Personal Wellness Data, a set of baseline, voluntary guidelines for private-sector organizations that handle the type of data often produced by wearable technologies. Read about the guidelines on Covington & Burling InsidePrivacy.
Category: Health Data
Stanford researchers identify potential security hole in genomic data-sharing network
Hackers with access to a person’s genome might find out if that genome is in an international network of disease databases. Sharing genomic information among researchers is critical to the advance of biomedical research. Yet genomic data contains identifiable information and, in the wrong hands, poses a risk to individual privacy. If someone had access…
Our veterans deserve better infosecurity of their information
When News3 in Madison, Wisconsin started digging into a breach involving 637 veterans’ Social Security numbers, what they found should have everyone asking the VA some hard questions. Adam Schrager reports: The Social Security numbers of Wisconsin veterans are being sent via email without encryption despite numerous federal laws and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs…
UK: Confidential hospital patient details found lying on public footpath
The Argus reports: Confidential details of 37 patients were discovered lying on a public footpath near a hospital. The information related to patients, many of whom were elderly and vulnerable, being cared for at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton. The papers included patient names, the town where they lived, their treatment and whether they live on…
Federal authorities investigate Henrico State Senate candidate Dunnavant for possible HIPAA violations
WWBT reports: Federal authorities have launched an investigation concerning Republican State Senate candidate Dr. Siobhan Dunnavant, after a complaint alleged the Henrico doctor used her private patient information to solicit contributions, volunteers and votes. The investigation is being led by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights. The Department’s regional…
NY: Woodhull Medical and Mental Health Center Data Breach Announced
HIPAA Journal reports: The New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC) has sent breach notification letters to 1,581 patients of its Brooklyn Woodhull Medical and Mental Health Center, after a laptop computer was discovered to have been stolen. The laptop computer was password protected, but data stored on its hard drive had not been encrypted. As…