Danielle Nerman reports: The president of the Privacy and Access Council of Canada says it’s not just individuals and small businesses who are shelling out to hackers who infect their computers with viruses. “Police departments and law firms are very, very attractive targets and they pay quite often,” said Sharon Polsky, a Calgary data protection and privacy expert. “If it’s…
Category: Non-U.S.
UK: NetNames confirms easily.co.uk whacked by cyber crims
Paul Kunert reports: The UK’s number two website hosting business, Easily.co.uk, has confirmed to customers it has fallen prey to cyber crims. The NetNames-owned company, which hosts 100,000 sites including 65,000 in Britain, told punters yesterday IT systems were attacked by an “unknown third party”. “A forensic investigation by independent experts has revealed that unauthorised…
UK: Former medical center director prosecuted for improper access of colleagues’ records
From the Information Commissioner’s Office: A former medical centre practice director Zita Driaunevicius-Cookson has been prosecuted at Bury & Rochdale Magistrates’ Court for accessing the medical records of colleagues and members of their family without consent. She was fined £300, ordered to pay costs of £434.73 and a victim surcharge of £20.
Ca: Federal departments reported 256 data breaches in 2014-15
Leslie Young reports: Federal institutions reported 256 data breaches in 2014-15, according to the annual report from the Privacy Commissioner of Canada. That’s up from 228 breaches the year before – which was double the number from the year before that. Read more on Global News.
Ca: Alberta Health department flouts privacy law, watchdog finds
Matt McClure reports: Alberta Health is flouting the law by failing to provide the required oversight to prevent snooping and privacy breaches involving electronic health records, says the province’s privacy watchdog. The Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner released an investigation report Wednesday that found a legally-mandated committee charged with overseeing stewardship of data made…
South America Hacker Team Targets Dissidents, Journalists
Frank Bajak of AP reports: A shadowy cyber-espionage group that sent malware to the prosecutor whose mysterious death transfixed Argentina early this year has been hitting targets in left-leaning nations across South America, the Internet watchdog group Citizen Lab reported Wednesday. The breadth and brazenness of the hackers’ activity bear the hallmarks of state sponsorship….