WUSA reports: Authorities say a restaurant worker was charged with credit card fraud and identity theft after a customer saw him do something suspicious with his credit card. According to Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office officials, 22-year-old Yaoliang Gao of New York was working at the Moca Asian Bistro in the Eastern Marketplace Plaza when he…
CT: Senate Passes Pharmacy Rewards Program Privacy Bill
Daniela Altimari reports: Pharmacies offer a slew of perks to customers who enroll in prescription-drug rewards programs. But in exchange for all those discounts and goodies, consumers are sometimes required to sign away their right to medical privacy guaranteed under federal law. State lawmakers want to ensure that participants in rewards programs know that. “Some…
Healthcare professionals in North Carolina victims of tax refund fraud
Last May, I reported on a breach affecting patients at Piedmont Healthcare and Presbyterian Anesthesia Associates in North Carolina whose website host, E-dreamz, had been hacked. At the time, I noted that not only patient data but some employee information was involved for Piedmont. Today, Kathryn Burcham of WSOC-TV reports that dozens of Piedmont Healthcare employees…
UT: Disbarred lawyer’s client files with personal information found in dumpster
Mike Anderson reports: David Shell is outraged. Files containing clients’ Social Security numbers and bank account information were found dumped outside the former office of Thomas Rasmussen near 4700 S. Highland Drive. One of those files contained Shell’s information. “I don’t believe it,” he said. “They should not be able to just take a receipt…
Verizon Data Breach Report: Payment-Card Theft Can Be Avoided at Little Cost
Danny Yadron reports: There were nearly 200 hacks last year of the payment systems used by retailers, hotels and restaurants. Most of them could have been prevented without spending much money, according to a new report from Verizon’s cybersecurity team. The theft of 40 million credit and debit card numbers from Target last year raised new questions…
Student loan debt collector exposes thousands of students’ loan debts to others
If you fell behind in your student loan repayments to the U.S. Education Department, “Mike Doe” (not his real name) may know about it. He didn’t want to know, but a vendor for NCO Financial Systems, the collection agency contracted by USED, recently sent him other students’ loan repayment collection statements. The statements included the individuals’ names,…