Stilgherrian reports: Australian Privacy Commissioner Timothy Pilgrim has issued a strong warning to companies that attempt to cover up data breaches, or have failed to take a proactive approach toward ensuring that personal data is kept secure. Attempts to conceal a data breach “will not be looked well on by our office”, Pilgrim told the…
State Department shuts down email system after suspected hacker attack
Matthew Lee of AP reports: The State Department has taken the unprecedented step of shutting down its entire unclassified email system as technicians repair possible damage from a suspected hacker attack. A senior department official said Sunday that “activity of concern” was detected in the system around the same time as a previously reported incident…
Bits ‘n pieces
Add Alliance Workplace Solutions to the too-long list of companies who have reported laptops with personal information stolen from an employee’s car. Anderson & Murison report that the names, addresses, dates of birth, and driver’s license numbers of propsective insureds were exposed online between June 2014 and July 18th due to the installation of an additional firewall (ironic,…
Rolling Stones settle suit after privacy breach
The AAP reports: The Rolling Stones were so upset personal matters were being made public they settled out of court with insurers over claims for cancelled shows in Australia and New Zealand, a spokesman for lead singer Mick Jagger says. The band scrapped the tour in March after Jagger’s girlfriend L’Wren Scott took her own…
Michigan Physician Pleads Guilty for Role in $19 Million Medicare Fraud Scheme
How were the Medicare beneficiaries whose information was used in this fraud scheme affected by records of diagnoses they didn’t have and services they neither needed nor received? A Detroit-area physician, who orchestrated the submission of fraudulent claims for physician home visits and directed fraudulent referrals for home health care by his employee physicians as…
No patient privacy breach here – The Daily Journal Editorial Board
The Daily Journal Editorial Board writes that linking to an online story in social media shouldn’t be considered a privacy breach or HIPAA breach, even if the person doing the linking is bound by patient confidentiality and had been involved in the patient’s care. In this case, though, it seems that the employee was suspended not…