Public Technology reports: The Ministry of Defence has been fined £350,000 over a data breach that divulged the identities of hundreds of Afghan nationals who worked for the UK government in Afghanistan. According to data watchdog the Information Commissioner’s Office, the incident allowed 245 recipients of an email about the evacuation of eligible people to…
UK: Severn Valley Medical Practice data breach leads to sacking
Joseph Broady reports: A staff member at a city GP surgery was sacked after lying about having appointments – resulting in a patient data breach. The data breach was confirmed by Severn Valley Medical Practice, which oversees the Henwick Halt Medical Centre in St John’s and the Lyppard Grange Medical Centre in Warndon. A letter was sent by…
AHA opposes HHS’ plan for cybersecurity fines
Naomi Diaz reports: The American Hospital Association said HHS’ plan to levy financial penalties in the event of a cyberattack on a healthcare organization would be counterproductive. In a Dec. 6 statement, the AHA said it is advocating for the HHS to review its proposal that requires healthcare organizations to be compliant with new cybersecurity requirements and…
Ted Cruz wants to stop the FCC from updating data-breach notification rules
Jon Brodkin reports: Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and other Republican senators are fighting a Federal Communications Commission plan to impose new data-breach notification requirements on telecom providers. In a letter sent to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel today, the senators claim the pending FCC action would violate a congressional order. The letter was sent by Cruz, Sen. Minority…
White House cyber director confirmed in Senate
Martin Matishak reports: The Senate on Tuesday confirmed Harry Coker to be the country’s next cybersecurity czar, installing the former NSA official as President Joe Biden’s top cyber adviser at a time when the administration is working to revamp the nation’s digital posture. As the new head of the Office of the National Cyber Director,…
Russian banker of Hive ransomware network arrested in Paris
The following is an automatic machine translation of an article by Le Figaro with AFP: A Russian, suspected of having recovered in cryptocurrencies the money taken from French victims of the powerful Hive ransomware , dismantled in January, was arrested last week, AFP learned on Tuesday December 12 from the judicial police. The suspect, ”…