Leanne Nicholson reports: Private information of thousands of Australian jobseekers harvested through medical examinations and stored for profit has raised legal and applicant concerns about the protection and use of personal data. Australia’s largest publicly-listed health and risk management provider, Konekt, has collected the personal data of jobseekers since 2007 through medical examinations on behalf…
UK: An undertaking serves as a reminder that all employees need to be trained on data protection
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) notes that an Undertaking has been signed by the Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead, following an incident in which restricted information about 257 employees was disclosed on its intranet in error. The incident occurred in January of 2013 when a spreadsheet with details on employees who had not signed…
Maryland Attorney General's Office enforcement actions for improper disposal of records with PHI
I was just reading news story about a breach in Maryland, and was surprised to learn that the Maryland Attorney General’s Office had charged two health care entities with improper disposal of records and that both cases had settled over the summer. Here’s the press release from August 27, 2013: Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler…
MD: Sensitive info found in now-defunct law group’s dumpster
A now-defunct law firm gets itself bad press for insecurely disposing of client files: We’re not in the habit of picking through the trash, but sometimes we’re willing to get our hands dirty, especially when we hear your information has been tossed aside like it’s worthless. We went digging in a Baltimore County dumpster after…
QuizUp security flaw sends your personal data to other players
You may want to hold off on playing popular trivia game QuizUp, as the game may be sending your personal information to other players. This security and privacy flaw was detected by developer Kyle Richter and described in a recent blog. According to Richter, the QuizUp game sends your personal information to other players via…
UT: Cop fat-fingers speeding citation and discloses another motorist’s SSN and details to the wrong driver
Devon Dolan reports: Mark Allen said he was recently pulled over for speeding in Heber City. he said the gave the police officer his license and registration information, but when he received his citation, it had someone else’s information on it. “When I got home, I looked at it and it wasn’t my name,” Allen…