Karen Robes Meeks reports: The private information of nearly 3,000 Long Beach Memorial Medical Center patients may have been breached by an employee, the hospital announced Thursday. The hospital notified the 2,864 patients who were seen from September 2012 to last month of the breach of information, which included name, sex, date of birth, home…
Oops. Japanese Government Shares Internal E-Mails on Google
Akiko Fujita reports: You may want to think twice the next time you skip over those privacy settings online. Government ministries in Japan are playing damage control after accidentally leaking internal emails on Google Groups, unaware that the site’s default settings would make their private conversations public. A spokesman with the Ministry of Environment tells…
WellPoint pays HHS $1.7 million for leaving information accessible over Internet
From HHS: The managed care company WellPoint Inc. has agreed to pay the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) $1.7 million to settle potential violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Privacy and Security Rules. This case sends an important message to HIPAA-covered entities to take caution when…
Notice Regarding Microfiche Incident for Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Fort Worth Patients (UPDATED)
Update: The Star-Telegram reports that 277,000 are being notified of this breach. Original post: Texas Health Resources posted the following notice on their site. Unfortunately, the home page link simply says “Microfiche Incident” and does not alert site visitors to check that link for an important privacy breach notification: Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Fort…
Missouri AG: Schnucks did not break data security law in cyberattack
E. B. Solomont reports: Schnuck Markets Inc. did not violate Missouri law regarding data security, an investigation into a widespread data breach at Schnucks by Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster’s office has concluded. The St. Louis-based grocery chain “was itself a victim of criminal wrongdoing,”Nanci Gonder, press secretary for the attorney general, told the Business Journal. “After reviewing…
Florida man sentenced in tax refund fraud case that used Tallahassee Community College students info
In an update to a breach involving student information at Tallahassee Community College, Charlton Escarmant, who was convicted in March, has been sentenced to 94 months in prison to be followed by 3 year of supervised release. A restitution hearing is scheduled for August 26, 2013. All of the press releases on this case mention that…