Iain Thomson reports: The low levels of security in healthcare IT systems, and the high value of its data, is going to make the sector the next big target for scammers, according to the Microsoft-backed team that takes down botnets. “Healthcare is really in a disadvantaged place in cyber-security,” said Patrick Peterson, CEO of security…
Category: Uncategorized
MN: Privacy and civil liberties at stake in trial over filming of paramedics in Little Canada
Chao Xiong reports: Civil liberties and personal privacy clashed Wednesday in the trial of a Little Canada man charged after filming paramedics as they helped an intoxicated and possibly suicidal patient. Kevin Beck, prosecuting for the city of Little Canada, argued that Andrew J. Henderson disrupted the paramedics when he refused to obey their request…
Former Fort Benning hospital employee steals military IDs to commit tax refund fraud – indictment
Tracy Mitchell, of Phenix City, Alabama, was indicted by a federal grand jury for her involvement in a stolen identity refund fraud scheme, announced George L. Beck, Jr., U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Alabama and Kathryn Keneally, Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Tax Division. Mitchell was charged with several counts of…
Ca: Island Health investigating privacy breach
John Harding reports: One never knows what one will find for sale in the SOS Thrift Store. The personal information of someone who has sought medical help isn’t something one would expect to be for sale, however. Denise Whitson was in the Parksville SOS Thrift Store last weekend, looking for some office supplies. The Qualicum…
Health law cybersecurity challenges
Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar of AP reports: As the Obama administration raced to meet its self-imposed deadline for online health insurance markets, security experts working for the government worried that state computer systems could become a back door for hackers. Documents provided to The Associated Press show that more than two-thirds of state systems that were supposed…
"Patients, Not Users" – Privacy of class claimants upheld in case against Health Canada
I generally don’t like posting press releases that are advertisements for law firms, but when they contain important news about patient privacy, I occasionally bend my own rules. The following press release provides an update on this breach and lawsuit. In a decision released on Tuesday, the Federal Court of Canada (the Court) agreed that to deny the…