Gina Pothoff reports: Some 260 patients with records in the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department will receive notification letters explaining that a Health Care Center employee illegally accessed their personal health information. The department announced the unauthorized data breach Wednesday, saying a staff member accessed electronic information for an unapproved academic research project. Read more on…
Category: Insider
University of Rochester Medical Center settles NYS Attorney General charges stemming from HIPAA breach
Back in May, I noted that University of Rochester Medical Center was notifying 3,000 patients because a departing employee had taken patient information with her for her new employer to use to recruit patients. Now NYS Attorney General Schneiderman has announced a settlement with URMC over the HIPAA breach. The settlement requires the center to pay a $15,000…
Ca: Alberta Children’s Hospital privacy breach leads to 26 charges
CBC reports: A privacy breach at the Alberta Children’s Hospital in Calgary has resulted in 26 charges being laid against a staff member. The incident was investigated by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner and the charges were laid under the Health Information Act. Read more on CBC News.
UK: Officer sacked after using police computer to snoop on niece’s drug dealing boyfriend
There’s an update to a case I’ve been following since earlier this year. The Echo reports that Paula Humphreys of Merseyside Police was fired for snooping in confidential computers for information about her relatives and their boyfriends: The 43-year-old researched her sister Dawn’s boyfriend Lee Gallagher who later was jailed for more than four years after being…
NM: Fired by Roadrunner, former employee allegedly took revenge by hacking them and re-routing customer service calls
Kirsten Swanson reports: A Rio Rancho man was arrested for hacking his old employers and posing as a technician, even after police say they charged him with a crime. Gordon Logan is accused of hacking into the servers at Roadrunner Wireless Internet Service. He worked at the company for 16 years. Police started to investigate…
NZ: Health privacy investigation at Wellington Hospital after complaint
In a way, I’m glad that even a single case of improper access can lead to a full investigation and be considered newsworthy. How often does this happen here? Ben Heather reports: A Wellington hospital worker is under investigation for improperly accessing a patient’s medical records. The Capital & Coast District Health Board confirmed an…