Greg Slabodkin reports: The National Institutes of Health has released a final genomic data sharing policy that promotes sharing of large-scale human and non-human genomic data generated from NIH-funded research. “The NIH has longstanding policies to make a broad range of research data, in addition to genomic data, publicly available in a timely manner from…
Dairy Queen joins list of retailers hit by hacker attack
Mike Hughlett provides an update: Dairy Queen has become the latest victim of computer hackers bent on pilfering customers’ credit and debit card information. The Edina-based ice cream and fast-food chain confirmed Wednesday that “customer data at a limited number of stores may be at risk.” The company didn’t disclose how many customers or how…
Texas Demands Medical Records From Xerox (updated to include Xerox response)
From Courthouse News: Texas has sued fired Medicaid claims administrator Xerox for the second time in four months, claiming its failure to return client medical records exposes the state to massive federal fines for violations of privacy. The Texas Health and Human Services Commission sued Xerox State Healthcare in Travis County Court on Tuesday. The…
FTC responds to LabMD's motion for sanctions in FTC v. LabMD
The FTC’s response to LabMD’s motion for sanctions (pdf) is now available online. FTC’s response begins: Respondent’s Motion, which exceeds the applicable word limit and regarding which counsel never met-and-conferred with Complaint Counsel, seeks relief that the Commission’s Rules do not authorize. If there were a legal basis for Respondent’s relief, its baseless claims regarding Complaint Counsel’s evidence ignores its own…
Racing Post pulls up short on IT security
From the Information Commissioner’s Office, an update and more details on the Racing Post breach: The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is warning businesses that they must be prepared for a targeted attack. The warning comes as the Racing Post signs a commitment to improve its IT security practices after 677,335 accounts were compromised during a…
Patient data de-identification: Keeping data private and useful
HealthITSecurity.com talked with Anna Spencer, partner in Sidley Austin’s Washington, D.C. about de-identification methods and provides her perspective on the delicate balance between patient privacy and useful data analysis.