Rich Lord reports: UPMC Health Plan has suffered a data breach, and today notified its members, according to a spokeswoman for the insurer. Neither Social Security numbers nor medical information was included in the lost material, wrote Gina Pferdehirt, director of public relations for UPMC Health Plan, in an email response to questions. “So while…
Category: U.S.
Hacker Gets 13 Years in Prison for Massive International ID Theft
There’s an important update in the case that involved Court Ventures/U.S. Info/Experian, and Dun & Bradstreet, although the government doesn’t name the businesses in its press release. James Eng reports: A Vietnamese national was sentenced to 13 years in prison for hacking into U.S. businesses’ computers, stealing personally identifiably information (PII), and selling to other cybercriminals his fraudulently-obtained…
Update: Former Dothan police officer faces more ID theft charges
Matt Elofson reports: A former Dothan police officer faces more identity theft charges after his recent arrest by Dothan police investigators. Dothan Police Investigator Erik Broten confirmed police officers arrested Charles Thomas Simmer, 28, of Coffee Springs, over the weekend and charged him with two felony counts of identity theft. Dothan police investigators arrested Simmer…
Blue Cross Blue Shield Association to offer all members nationwide free identity theft protection service
John George reports: Independence Blue Cross, the Philadelphia region’s largest health insurer, said Tuesday it will offer identity protection services — at no charge to eligible members and their dependents — starting Jan. 1, 2016. The action was part of the national Blue Cross Blue Shield Association’s announcement that Blue plans across the country will…
Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield offering credit protection to members affected by computer theft
From ABCBS: Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield is taking steps to protect its members and applicants from identity theft after an independent insurance agency was broken into last month. Treat Insurance Agency reported a break-in at its North Little Rock office on June 16, 2015. Two computers, which stored information from 560 Arkansas Blue…
Google accidentally reveals data on ‘right to be forgotten’ requests
Interesting data leak. Sylvia Tippman and Julia Powles report: Less than 5% of nearly 220,000 individual requests made to Google to selectively remove links to online information concern criminals, politicians and high-profile public figures, the Guardian has learned, with more than 95% of requests coming from everyday members of the public. The Guardian has discovered new data…