For your “Why is this still happening in 2016?” file: Just one day after New York State Education Department announced it has appointed its first Chief Privacy Officer, WABC reports: In a shocking breach of confidential information, names, addresses, even social security numbers for students and parents were found outside a Bronx school. Eyewitness News has learned…
Category: Paper
Rotech Healthcare notifies patients whose details were found in possession of unauthorized individual
Rotech Healthcare Inc., a provider of home respiratory and medical equipment equipment and supplies, notified HHS of a breach involving 957 patients. Here is their notification: Rotech Healthcare Inc. (“Rotech”) would like to notify you of a recent incident that may affect the security of your personal and protected health information. We are providing you…
AU: Albany hospital staff avoid censure over confidential patient document find
ABC reports: Staff at Albany’s public hospital have avoided serious consequences after confidential patient information was found by a member of the public in the building’s courtyard. A double-sided paper document listing the personal details of 11 mental health patients, their reason for admission and their risk factors was found in the courtyard of the Albany…
UK: Hampshire County Council fined £100,000 after confidential social services papers found
Here’s a case where as part of her deliberations, the ICO considered that a council should have known they were in contravention of the DPA because the ICO had issued three monetary penalty notices to other entities who had left confidential data behind in decommissioned buildings during the relevant time period. From the Information Commissioner’s Office:…
TX: Thief steals personal information belonging to dozens of children
Renee Santos reports that a binder with identity information on 30 Texas Toros football team players was stolen in a smash and grab of the coach’s truck in a parking lot. The team is part of a children’s “Greater San Antonio American youth football league,” and the binder held registration money and the “birth certificates and…
Walgreens avoids penalty after 9-year privacy breach investigation
I have been following this case from the beginning and wondering why the heck HHS didn’t come down on Walgreens like they did on their competitors CVS and RiteAid. And now we learn that OCR just closed the case with no penalty? Seriously? So CVS and RiteAid get clobbered by both the FTC and HHS/OCR, and Walgreens…….