One of the larger breaches in 2014 involved a Los Angeles County contractor, Sutherland Healthcare Solutions. The theft of some of their computer equipment with unencrypted patient identity and clinical information was disclosed in March 2014, and within days, a potential class action lawsuit had been filed. The breach impacted approximately 3420,000 patients of the Los Angeles…
Privacy concerns over Healthcare.gov prompt reversal
Jack Gillum and Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar report: Bowing to privacy concerns, the Obama administration reversed itself Friday, scaling back the release of consumers’ personal information from the government’s health insurance website to private companies with a commercial interest in the data. The administration made the changes to HealthCare.gov after The Associated Press reported earlier this week that…
SG: Hacker ‘Messiah’ pleads guilty to 39 computer misuse charges
Kelly Ng reports: Hacker James Raj Arokiasamy, who goes by the moniker “Messiah”, has pleaded guilty to 39 charges of computer misuse for hacking into the web servers of Fuji Xerox, a fan site of popstar Sun Ho and government-related websites in 2013. Read more on Today.
Ex-Air Force sergeant pleads guilty to stealing credit cards, personal ID at San Diego bases
How… dishonorable. The AP reports: A retired Air Force senior master sergeant who stole credit cards and identification from dozens of military members in the San Diego area has pleaded guilty to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. Christopher Underwood entered the pleas on Thursday. He could face more than 20 years in federal prison….
St. Peter's Health Partners warns of possible data breach (Update2)
Claire Hughes reports: St. Peter’s Health Partners is warning of a possible data breach in its email system, following the theft of a manager’s cellphone. Emails on the cellphone may have included patient information related to appointment schedules at St. Peter’s Health Partner’s Medical Associates, a large doctors’ practice. Read more on TimesUnion.com Updates: Over 5,000 patients have been notified….
UK Scouts database ‘flaws’ raise concerns
Kat Hall reports: Serious concerns have been raised over the security of the Scout Association’s database, which holds the contact details of 450,000 young people and volunteer adults, The Register can reveal. A Scout leader contacted the Register to express grave concerns that the association’s Compass database is not secure, despite the organisation’s assurances it had been tested. The…