A computer stolen from the home office of a Reid Hospital employee in early April may have contained files with personally identifiable information on approximately 20,000 Reid patients. Craig Kinyon, Reid president/CEO, said the computer was password protected and was one of numerous items stolen in the break-in, which indicates the information was not the…
NZ: Row brewing over privacy ‘crime’
Claire Rogers reports: A row is brewing over whether businesses should face criminal sanctions and fines if they fail to notify people of data breaches. The privacy commissioner is calling for notification of data breaches to be mandatory and for concealment to be made a crime. But Business New Zealand says criminal penalties would be…
Breach costly for researcher, UNC-CH
Eric Ferreri reports: A prominent cancer researcher at UNC-Chapel Hill spent at least $350,000 fighting for her job. It wasn’t enough. Bonnie Yankaskas, an epidemiologist in the medical school, retires at the end of 2011, as stipulated in a settlement that restores her rank and full salary. UNC-CH officials wanted to fire Yankaskas, whom they…
Huntington National Bank sues ex-workers for allegedly stealing sensitive customer data
Brandy Brubaker of Associated Press reports: A lawsuit filed by Huntington National Bank claims six former employees stole more than 2,000 customer records before they quit to go work for the competition. The bank filed the lawsuit in federal court against former vice president Sandra D. Kokoska, former assistant vice president Kimberly A. Barnum, and…
Tucson shooter's prison records to be released
When are doctor-patient communications not privileged and confidential? Apparently when the government requests them as part of determining competence to stand trial. David Schwartz of Reuters reports: District Court Judge Larry Burns, in a ruling made public on Thursday, said there is no reason to prohibit the U.S. Bureau of Prisons from releasing to law…
Central Oregon Community College Hackers May Have Compromised Student Information
1110 KBND points us to a statement on the Central Oregon Community College web site: Central Oregon Community College officials have identified some information on the COCC web site that may have been exposed as part of the recent unauthorized intrusion. COCC has taken down the web site while it works with law enforcement officials…