Die Krankheitskarte web site reports: German health insurance company (or rather: sickness fund) “BKK Gesundheit” was eager to outsource its telephone hotline to a virtual call center. In their home offices, the untrained workers then could retrieve data they weren’t allowed to see, including medical diagnoses. They all had access to „an unneccessary huge amount…
Category: Of Note
Lawrence Welk Resort Furious with Visa
Elizabeth Banicki reports: The Lawrence Welk Resort says a tech company disabled its computer security system, making 1,427 customers’ credit cards vulnerable to ID theft. Welk says it paid Micros Systems $100,000 for the botched job, to “ensure compliance with evolving Visa and other industry security standards,” and that Visa, for “no legitimate reason,” ordered…
Online Robbery: Hackers Steal $50,000. Bank Says ‘Tough Luck’
Kathy Kristof reports on a story that should make everyone who banks online think about whether they, too, are at risk: …. Seven years ago, Fan Bao opened a checking account at Bank of America to facilitate his small import-export business called ZICO USA. When he needed to wire money, he or his wife, Cathy…
AvMed: Data of 208,000 at risk after Gainesville theft
The Gainesville Sun reports that AvMed Health Plans announced that personal information of some current and former subscribers may have been compromised by the theft of two company laptops from its corporate offices in Gainesville on Dec. 11. The information includes names, addresses, phone numbers, Social Security numbers and protected health information, according to an…
Liechtenstein bank owes tax dodger damages, court rules
A German tax dodger has won millions in damages in a suit against his Liechtenstein bank for failing to reveal that his information was stolen along with hundreds of other account holders and sold to Berlin for a criminal investigation. The case against LGT Treuhand, a former subsidiary of the LGT Group, was decided in…
AU: Extorted companies silent on stolen data
Darren Pauli reports: Desperate companies are buying off data thieves and extortionists to recover stolen data, according to experts. They claim it is “common” for some businesses operating in Australia to pay ransoms to hackers and disgruntled employees to re-secure sensitive information or prevent illicit corporate activities from becoming public. Law firm MMLC Group managing…