Narinda Purber reports: A 28 year-old Chicago man has pleaded guilty to using phishing scams to illegally access more than 300 iCloud and Gmail accounts, around 30 of which belonged to celebrities. The high profile iCloud data breach, which was dubbed ‘celebgate’, resulted in the leak of nude photographs in 2014. However, it is important to note that the defendant…
CO: Allergy clinic finds signs of ransomware, notifies patients
Jennie Trejo reports: Allergy, Asthma & Immunology of the Rockies, P.C. (AAIR), a full-service allergy clinic, found evidence of ransomware on its computer systems on May 16. […] Kari Hershey, an attorney for AAIR, said the disturbance was first noticed when they had trouble accessing a few of the documents. […] “They weren’t able to…
Circuit Upholds Nosal Conviction in Key CFAA Decision
Ross Todd reports: Ruling in a case that tested the boundaries of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, a divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Tuesday upheld the conviction of former Korn/Ferry International recruiter David Nosal. Circuit Judge M. Margaret McKeown found that Nosal had knowingly and intentionally…
Ca: Physician’s certificate of registration suspended for 5 months, slapped with $5,000 fine over breaches
Jeffrey Ougler reports: The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario has found that Dr. Douglas Brooks committed an act of professional misconduct. The college charged in June 2015 that the Sault Ste. Marie physician “inappropriately, and without consent,” accessed health records of two patients, and acted as coroner in all, or part, of the…
“Life is Short. Get Investigated?” Ashley Madison facing FTC probe
I can’t say I’m surprised, but it’s nice to get some confirmation. Alastair Sharp and Allison Martell of Reuters report that the Federal Trade Commission is investigating Avid Life, parent company of Ashley Madison. But what is the scope of their investigation. Executives admitted to Reuters that the use of “fembots” is part of the investigation,…
UK: Safe in Police hands? New Big Brother Watch report released
Big Brother Watch has released a new report on data protection in the UK police. Some of their key findings for the period June 1, 2011 – December 31, 2015 were that there have been 2,315 breaches in police forces, including: 869 (38%) instances of inappropriate/unauthorised access to information 877 (38%) instances of inappropriate disclosure of data…