The Federal Trade Commission today told a Senate Subcommittee that it supports proposed legislation that would require many companies to use reasonable data security policies and procedures and require those companies to notify consumers when there is a security breach. In testimony before the Committee on Science, Commerce, and Transportation Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product…
Category: Of Note
Victims of ChoicePoint Data Breach to Receive Redress Checks
An administrator working for the Federal Trade Commission is mailing checks to 14,023 consumers who were victims of ChoicePoint’s alleged failure to implement a comprehensive information security program to protect consumers’ personal information, as required by a previous court order. As a result, in the spring of 2008, an unauthorized person accessed its database and…
Maine Supreme Court: Hannaford breach victims cannot sue for time and effort
Following what appears to be a pretty well-established pattern by now, Maine’s Supreme Court has dealt victims of the Hannaford Bros. breach what will likely be the final blow, telling them that they cannot sue unless they have suffered unreimbursed financial losses, physical harm or identity theft. In their opinion, they state: We, therefore, are…
Creator of CallService.biz extradited to New York
Dmitry Naskovets, the creator and operator of CallService.biz — an online business that assisted over 2,000 identity thieves in over 5,000 instances of fraud — was extradited from the Czech Republic on charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit credit card fraud, and aggravated identity theft. According to a press released issued…
Julie’s Place hack: an all-too-familiar story by now
This breach was first reported earlier this month, but I seem to have missed it: About 100 people found out over the last couple weeks that someone else had accessed their bank account, taking their money and leaving them stunned. […] After being flooded with reports of fraud, the Leon County Sheriff’s Office began to…
Former UPMC Shadyside Hospital employee charged with HIPAA violation
In the first HIPAA prosecution in the Western District of Pennsylvania, United States Attorney David J. Hickton announced this week that a resident of Monroeville, Pa., had been indicted by a federal grand jury in Pittsburgh on charges of multiple illegal disclosures and use of patient individually identifiable health information for personal gain. The Health…