Peter Williams, 39, an Australian national, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court today in connection with selling his employer’s trade secrets to a Russian cyber-tools broker, the Justice Department announced today. Williams pleaded to two counts of theft of trade secrets. The material, stolen over a three-year period from the U.S. defense contractor where he…
Category: Insider
California hospitals can escape fines if workers expose patient info
Scott Holland reports that a California state appeals court agreed with a hospital that it should not be held liable for employee misbehavior if they had a clear policy in place but the employee knowingly violated it: A state appeals panel has agreed hospitals can’t be sued if one of their employees posts confidential patient…
Harris Health discloses insider-wrongdoing breach that went on for a decade
Here is today’s reminder of the insider threat and why it may be challenging, but it’s still necessary, to monitor and audit employee access to patient records to spot any inappropriate access. Harris Health is notifying more than 5,000 patients that an employee — who was fired and referred to law enforcement when their wrongdoing…
Latvian health authority official and IT company head fined for data breach
From Latvian Public Media: The Kurzeme Regional Court has decided to overturn the acquittal of the District Court and to find guilty an official of a state institution for disclosing confidential information and a board member of a company for inciting a public official to disclose this information, Latvian Television reports on 17 September. Latvian…
Former Defense Contractor Sentenced to Over 10 Years in Prison for Attempted Espionage
From the U.S. Department of Justice: John Murray Rowe Jr., 67, of Lead, South Dakota, was sentenced today to 126 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release and a $25,000 fine for attempted espionage. The defendant was charged by indictment in December 2021 and pleaded guilty in April of last year to one count…
Department of State employee sentenced for transmitting national defense information to suspected Chinese government agents
Today’s reminder of the insider threat, from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia: ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A U.S. Department of State (DOS) employee was sentenced today to four years in prison for conspiring to collect and transmit national defense information to individuals he knew to be working for the government of…