Anne Galloway reports that at least 500 Vermont state employees fell for a phishing scam on Thursday that compromised at least 50 employees’ W-2 information. Galloway provides the text of the phishing email in her report. Had the employees checked the From address, they might have been suspicious that it wasn’t from a .gov address, and the…
Category: U.S.
California hematologist notifies patients after thief stole paper records with protected health information
Sometimes I find a breach listed on HHS’s public breach tool, but it’s a while before I can find out what happened. Such was the case with a breach reported by Michael S. Benjamin, MD, a California physician specializing in hematology and oncology. On December 28, Dr. Benjamin notified HHS of a breach affecting 1,300…
Alaska Orthopedic Specialists Notifies Patients of Security Incident
ANCHORAGE, Alaska, Jan. 22, 2016 — Alaska Orthopedic Specialists has sent notification to all affected patients about a security incident involving information that was taken by a former non-physician employee. In March of 2015, Alaska Orthopedic Specialists, Inc., closed its medical practice in Anchorage, Alaska. In the course of closing the business later that year, the practice discovered that the…
New background check agency announced in wake of OPM hacks
It may go unnoticed while everyone focuses on the weather, but Greg Otto of FedScoop reports that The Obama administration will create a new office to conduct background checks on federal employees, in an effort to improve the security of personal information in the wake of the massive data breaches at the Office of Personnel Management. The formation of the National…
Hackers ‘Dox’ Miami Police Officers With Data Stolen From Government Database
Lorenzo Francesco-Bicchierai reports: A group of hackers has dumped the names, phone numbers and email addresses of more than 80 police officers from Miami, Florida, in what appears to be an attempt to “dox” the agents. The hackers appear to be loosely affiliated with the group of alleged teen hackers, known as “Crackas With Attitude”…
FBI Alerts University of Virginia to Employee Information Data Breach That Began in 2014
Wendi Moore reports: The University of Virginia is the victim of another data breach. According to a UVA statement, the personal information of approximately 1,400 UVA academic division employees has been accessed in a phishing email scam. The FBI notified UVA of the breach following an investigation. The FBI says suspects are in custody overseas….