As this site noted in August, health insurer Aetna had a privacy breach when almost 12,000 members’ HIV status was unintentionally disclosed in mailing envelope windows. This week, Aetna announced it was offering immediate assistance to members affected by the breach. It’s unusual to see a breached entity offer such immediate assistance, and I think…
Category: U.S.
NC tech firm to pay $264K fine for Vermont data breach
AP reports that Vermont settled with a subcontractor for its Health Connect service after a breach in which the subcontractor didn’t – and possibly would never have – notified anyone about a breach they had been alerted to: Vermont’s attorney general says a technology company will pay a $264,000 fine for a data breach that…
Graton casino ‘data breach’ potentially reveals some patrons’ Social Security numbers
Martin Espinoza reports: An undisclosed number of patrons at Graton Resort and Casino are being notified by mail of what casino officials said was an inadvertent email distribution of personal information such as names, addresses and Social Security numbers of patrons. One Santa Rosa resident who declined to be interviewed or identified received the “Notice…
The Equifax Hack Has the Hallmarks of State-Sponsored Pros
Michael Riley , Jordan Robertson , and Anita Sharpe report: In the corridors and break rooms of Equifax Inc.’s giant Atlanta headquarters, employees used to joke that their enormously successful credit reporting company was just one hack away from bankruptcy. They weren’t being disparaging, just darkly honest: Founded in the 19th century as a retail…
Some NC A&T students’ personal information leaked in ‘security incident’
Nick Sturdivant and Carly Hildyard report: The personal information of 1,581 students at North Carolina A&T State University was leaked following a “data security incident.” It happened on Tuesday when a faculty member within the College of Business and Economics accidentally emailed a file containing personal information to a group of students. Read more on…
Malware attacks San Ysidro School District, demands $19K ransom
Leonardo Castañeda reports: Malware infected computers at a local school district this month, deleting emails and forcing the district to temporarily shut down part of its systems. The San Ysidro School District became a local victim of malware attacks that have hit school districts from Maryland to Montana this year. The cyber attack, known as ransomware,…