Joseph Menn and John Walcott report: A U.S. investigation into a leak of hacking tools used by the National Security Agency is focusing on a theory that one of its operatives carelessly left them available on a remote computer and Russian hackers found them, four people with direct knowledge of the probe told Reuters. The tools, which…
Category: U.S.
500 million Yahoo accounts breached; biggest breach ever publicly disclosed
Kim Hjelmgaard and Elizabeth Weise report: Information from at least 500 million Yahoo accounts was stolen from the company in 2014 and the company believes that a state-sponsored actor was behind the hack. The information may have included names, email addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth, and, in some cases, encrypted or unencrypted security questions…
Dozens of clinics, thousands of patients impacted by third-party data leak
EMR4all, Inc. was a California business providing free EMR software to physical therapy, speech therapy, and occupational therapy practices that used their associated patient billing service, Rehab Billing Solutions (RBS). Over the summer, they began shutting down operations and notifying their clients of their closure. Their effort to make a graceful exit wound up marred by a data…
FL: Charlotte deputy misuse of private information leads to concern
Tim Wronka reports: One deputy is fired and another disciplined in Charlotte County. That’s the punishment for using agency equipment to look up information of private citizens. It’s the latest in a series of misuses of the D.A.V.I.D. system — a state database with driver and personal information. Attorney Scott Weinberg has kept a close eye on…
Keck Medical Center of USC discloses ransomware attack
Keck Medical Center of USC is notifying patients of a ransomware attack that they discovered on August 1. The ransomware affected two servers that did not contain EMR but that did contain internal documents that included demographic information, date of birth, health information including treatment and diagnosis, and in some cases, Social Security numbers. Other files…
Lost and Found: Ventura County Health Care Agency notifies patients of breach
The Ventura County Star reports that 777 patients of the Ventura County Health Care Agency have been notified of a breach that happened in July because an employee took paperwork home and then couldn’t find it. The data reportedly included names, birth dates and medical history. Two cases involved financial data including Social Security numbers. The files…