Emil Berry reports on a recent breach that was originally described as affecting “tens of thousands” of people. Now it appears that the breach was much bigger: A file containing identifying information for every physician in the country contracted with a Blues-affiliated insurance plan was on a laptop computer stolen from a BlueCross BlueShield Assn….
Category: U.S.
Lawsuits over Heartland data breach folded into one
Jaikumar Vijayan reports: A lawsuit consolidating 16 separate class-action complaints brought by financial institutions against Heartland Payment Systems Inc. has been filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. […] The amended complaint includes for the first time several statements that Heartland is alleged to have made regarding the controls it had…
Lawsuit: Heartland Knew Data Security Standard was ‘Insufficient’
Linda McClasson reports: Months before announcing the Heartland Payment Systems (HPY) data breach, company CEO Robert Carr told industry analysts that the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) was an insufficient protective measure. This is the contention of a new master complaint filed in the class action suit against Heartland, which in January…
Laptop left on plane put pension fund participants at risk
On June 14, when a Verso Paper Corp. employee left a company laptop behind on an airplane, two documents containing names and Social Security Numbers of some former and current participants in the PACE Industry Union-Management Pension Fund were on the laptop. According to a letter (pdf) sent to the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office,…
Computer crime case dropped
Here’s a case where it sounds like sloppy security may have led to unwarranted criminal charges. Annmarie Timmins reports: The authorities have dropped their theft and computer crime case against a former Local Government Center employee because the center’s “careless” and “sloppy” security practices would undermine any charges, according to letters obtained from the Merrimack…
Arlington trash bin yields sensitive documents
Jim Douglas reports: A startling discovery in a trash bin has residents in one Arlington neighborhood angry. They want to know who tossed out dozens of sensitive, personal files linked to their homebuilder. [….] They appeared to be sales documents from K. Hovnanian Homes, a major builder. “I grabbed one of the folders and seen…