Rafal Los writes: Alright, so Honda’s web sites didn’t actually get hacked, but like McDonalds they are on the receiving end of a lump of coal in their stocking for Christmas. A post on Honda’s “Piloteers.org” website for Honda Pilot owners hints at a data breach at a vendor maintaining a mailing list for customer of My Acura…
Mercy says former hospital patient and employee records left unsecured
Julie McKinnon reports: Mercy Wednesday revealed that unsecured copies of parts of more than 1,000 patient medical and employee records were left at the former Riverside Hospital after the facility was sold in 2003, although it does not appear they were inappropriately used. The hospital system was notified in late November about the files that…
MA: New drug law will track more prescriptions
Sarah Favot and Caroline Hailey report on prescription monitoring in Massachusetts: Massachusetts residents face a new routine when they pick up certain prescription drugs at the pharmacy on Jan. 1. Under a law passed last summer, they will have to show a driver’s license or another approved ID before the druggist can give them prescriptions…
Privacy groups ask FTC to probe drug companies' online practices
Pamela Lewis Dolan reports: Four privacy advocacy groups have filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, asking it to investigate the online marketing practices of pharmaceutical companies. The Center for Digital Democracy, Consumer Watchdog, the U.S. Public Interest Research Groups and the World Privacy Forum filed a 144-page complaint in late November alleging that…
Westpac worker ‘aided $1.1m fraud’
Margaret Scheikowski reports: A Westpac employee was probably an accomplice of a Sydney man who defrauded the bank of more than $1.1 million through “identity theft”, a judge has found. Westpac Banking Corporation took civil action in the NSW Supreme Court, claiming that Ersever Toksoz, also known as Gino Versace, was the chief architect of…
NZ: Confidential medical letters found in rubbish
Residents of the Claudelands area of Hamilton East are being urged to contact Waikato Hospital if they find any medical referral letters in their rubbish. Waikato District Health Board has launched an investigation into how the letters ended up in rubbish, due for collection near the Claudelands Bridge, on Christmas Eve. Health Waikato chief operating…