Zack Whittaker reports: Thousands of remote villagers in Guatemala and South Africa are living off the grid, but their personal information isn’t. Chris Vickery, lead security researcher of the MacKeeper security research team, discovered an unprotected database with no password over two months ago. Anyone who knew the database was there could access more than…
Class Claims St. Jude Pacemakers Can Be Hacked
From the you’re-not-really-surprised-by-this-are-you? dept., Don DeBenedictis reports: In a class action that sounds like a Tom Clancy novel, a patient claims that pacemakers and other implanted heart devices sold by St. Jude Medical can be attacked by hackers to steal personal information and even harm patients. Clinton W. Ross Jr. claims that several lines of…
Mass download of Poles’ personal data sparks fears
PAP reports: Downloading personal data from the national identification number (PESEL) database is well within the rights of bailiff offices, as a way of verifying if they are targeting the right person. But the sheer amount of downloads has raised concerns that the data may have been used for purposes other than intended. For example,…
Benecard 3rd Circ. Win Is Latest Setback For Hack Victims
Allison Grande reports: The Third Circuit recently refused to allow Benecard Inc. employees and customers to proceed with negligence and breach of contract claims against the company in the wake of a data breach, creating a new obstacle for those pursuing data security class actions against employers and service providers in the absence of clear…
County-USC patients’ personal information stolen in car break-in
Abby Sewell reports: Files containing personal information on more than 700 patients treated at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center were stolen when an employee’s car was broken into, county health officials said Monday. The break-in occurred in July. The county Department of Health Services released a statement after trying to notify the affected patients by mail. The…
Tens of Thousands of Infowars Accounts Hacked (UPDATED)
Joseph Cox reports: Tens of thousands of subscriber accounts for media company Infowars are being traded in the digital underground. Infowars, created by famed radio host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, produces radio, documentaries and written pieces. The dumped data relates to Prison Planet TV, which gives paying subscribers access to a variety of Infowars content….