by Charles Ornstein ProPublica, Dec. 23, 2015, 5 a.m. This story was co-published with The New York Times. When a New Jersey lawyer named Philip received legal papers last year informing him that his former psychologist’s practice was suing him over an unpaid bill, he was initially upset they could not work out a payment…
Category: Of Note
Misconfigured database may have exposed 1.5 million individuals’ PHI: researcher (UPDATE2)
Alliance Health is a technology company that owns and operates a group of condition-specific social communities with over 1.5 million registered members. Their 29 communities include conditions such as arthritis, diabetes, Crohn’s, asthma, allergies, and HIV, but also includes mental health conditions such as ADHD, Bipolar Disorder, and anxiety disorders. To join a community, the member is…
WI: Mental health counseling clinic notifies patients after laptop with sensitive data stolen
Nathaniel Shuda reports that Fox River Counseling Center has notified 509 patients of a breach of personal and medical information after a burglary in October that involved the theft of an unsecured laptop. The computer contained outpatient mental health records of clients who visited the center from Nov. 7, 2012, to Aug. 19, 2014, and Wisconsin…
Cybersleuth’s scary find: Hackers, some at least Iran-based, can control dated U.S. power grid networks
AP reports: Security researcher Brian Wallace was on the trail of hackers who had snatched a California university’s housing files when he stumbled into a larger nightmare: Cyberattackers had opened a pathway into the networks running the U.S. power grid. Read more on The Japan Times.
Oracle Agrees to Settle FTC Charges It Deceived Consumers About Java Software Updates
From the FTC: Oracle has agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that it deceived consumers about the security provided by updates to its Java Platform, Standard Edition software (Java SE), which is installed on more than 850 million personal computers. Under the terms of a proposed consent order, Oracle will be required to give consumers the…
Credit card info of donors to pro-Muslim or anti-islamophobia organizations leaked
Update: Post-publication, the Virtue Center web site was taken offline and has not returned as of December 23. An undated entry on another site lists Shakil Islam and Faizan Sattar as “former employers” of VC. At the time of publication, however, they were listed on VC’s web site as part of their team. Follow-up e-mail…