John Oates reports: Travelodge is investigating its IT systems to discover how customer email addresses have gone astray. The Reg was contacted this morning by a reader who was receiving spam emails to a unique email address he had only given to Travelodge. Several other customers have blogged of similar experiences, here’s Shepy’s post on the apparent…
Man infects college PCs to steal huge database
Dan Goodin reports: A former college student has admitted taking part in a criminal scheme that used malware to steal and sell large databases of faculty and alumni, change grades, and siphon funds from other students’ accounts. Daniel J. Fowler, 21, of Kansas City, Missouri, pleaded guilty in federal court there to computer hacking conspiracy…
UK banks unaffected by European data breach crackdown
Karl Finders reports: A crackdown on businesses which will make it mandatory to report security breaches will have little impact on UK banks, according to the British Bankers Association (BBA). Speaking at the BBA’s Data Protection and Privacy Conference, Viviane Reding, vice-president of the European Commission, said new rules will be implemented in Europe forcing businesses to…
(update) DI debit/credit card breach thwarted
More on the card fraud reports coming out of Daniel Island mentioned previously on this blog. Elizabeth Bush reports: The Daniel Island business that served as the “point of compromise” in a rash of debit/credit card fraud cases has taken steps to shut down the breach, according to an investigator with the Charleston office of…
VA: Suffolk doctor faces federal privacy law charges
Elizabeth Simpson reports: In a rare prosecution of a possible health privacy violation, a federal grand jury has indicted a Suffolk psychiatrist on charges he disclosed personal medical information. Dr. Richard Kaye, 62, a former medical director of the psychiatric unit at Sentara Obici Hospital in Suffolk, was indicted in U.S. District Court in Norfolk…
UK: Hospital patients' details lost or stolen 1,000 times in three years
Sophie Goodchild reports: London hospitals were responsible for nearly 1,000 cases involving the theft or loss of confidential patient details over the past three years, figures show today. They include medical notes left in a bin near a busy ward, the theft of a doctor’s laptop containing patient names and addresses and the loss of…