Patrick O’Neill reports: After multiple thefts and data breaches related to the unencrypted personal information of 7,400 U.S. veterans out of a Veterans Affairs hospital, an appeals court dismissed a lawsuit this month in which patients alleged violations of the Privacy Act and Administrative Procedure Act. The veterans claimed at least seventeen more data breaches have occurred at Wm….
Category: Of Note
The CoPilot Provider Support Services incident: The HIPAA issue
In the first part of a discussion of an incident reported by CoPilot Provider Support Services, this site reported claims by John Witkowski, a former employee, that CoPilot had not reported accurately on the incident. In this part, we focus on just one of CoPilot’s claims – that they are not a business associate under HIPAA….
OCR investigating CoPilot Provider Support Services breach; former employee lodged complaint
When CoPilot Provider Support Services recently disclosed a security incident that they had known about since 2015, their statements might have led you to believe that a disgruntled former employee had hacked them or misused previously authorized access, and that law enforcement might be looking into criminal charges. If you thought that, you were wrong on both counts. CoPilot Provider Support Services (“CoPilot”) describes itself…
Turkey Arrests Journalist For Reporting On Hack
Efe Kerem Sözeri reports: Turkey, already in the midst of a crackdown on the media, has arrested a journalist for reporting on hacked emails that revealed apparent corruption in the country’s government. His colleagues say he may have been caught after sharing a group direct message on Twitter with a hacker group and several fellow journalists….
Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield Pays $1.1M For Customer Data Breach
Jerry DeMarco reports: Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey agreed to pay $1.1 million and improve data-security practices to settle charges that it failed to properly protect the privacy of nearly 690,000 state policyholders whose personal information was contained on two laptops stolen from the insurer’s Newark headquarters. The insurance giant — New…
State Data Breach Notification Laws: February 2017 Privacy Update
Cynthia J. Larose and Michael B. Katz of Mintz Levin write: During 2016, amendments to breach notification laws in five states went into effect (California, Nebraska, Oregon, Rhode Island and Tennessee). And by the end of last year, well over twenty states had introduced or were considering new regulations or amendments to their existing security breach…