Merikay Wootton, 63, Lenexa, Kan., has been sentenced to 24 months probation and fined $3,600 for disclosing confidential information while she was an employee of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Wootton pleaded guilty to unlawfully disclosing confidential information from a government agency. In her plea, she admitted she was working as a loan officer for…
Category: U.S.
Hospital Explains its Breach Decisions
Joseph Goedert reports: Lincoln Medical and Mental Health Center in Bronx, N.Y., recently notified 130,495 patients of a breach of their protected health information after seven CDs a business associate FedEx’d were lost (see story). In a statement to Health Data Management, the hospital, part of NYC Health and Hospitals Corp., explains why the data…
Health Net to pay Conn. $250,000 in settlement
Cara Baruzzi reports: Health Net will pay the state at least $250,000 and implement stronger consumer protections to settle allegations the insurer failed to secure medical records, financial information and other private data on more than 440,000 Connecticut members, state officials said Tuesday. Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who sued the company in the wake of…
UH computer breach may have compromised 53,000 people
More than 53,000 people, who did business with the University of Hawaii at Manoa parking office’s data base from 1998-2009, are being notified by mail that they may be affected by a computer security breach. The FBI and Honolulu Police Department are investigating the breach that was discovered on June 15 during a routine audit….
UF officials notify patients of privacy breach
University of Florida officials have notified 2,047 people that their Social Security or Medicaid identification numbers were included on address labels affixed to letters inviting them to participate in a research study. The letters were sent through the U.S. Postal Service on May 24, and the information also was shared with a telephone survey company….
FL: Citizens Property Insurance didn’t get its mail, warns of fraud
Jeff Harrington reports: Someone filled out a change-of-address form for Citizens Property Insurance. But it wasn’t Citizens. Now the state-run insurer is warning policyholders that mail sent to its headquarters in late June, including payment checks, may have been fraudulently misdirected to a Hialeah apartment. The insurer of last resort, which has more than 1…