Beth Phillips, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced today that three defendants have pleaded guilty to their roles in a conspiracy among black market travel agents who used the stolen identities of thousands of victims as part of a multi-million dollar fraud scheme to purchase airline tickets for their customers. Some…
Texas state health agency sells — or gives away — patient data
If you’ve ever been in hospitalized in Texas, do you know who has bought or obtained your patient data? Okay, this is mind-boggling. Truly. Even though I know that patient information is sold a lot, what’s going on in Texas seems really appalling. First read this investigative report by Suzanne Batchelor of the Austin Bulldog….
Will ACS:Law become the first to feel the hammer of the ICO?
Peter Griffiths of Reuters reports: Britain’s privacy watchdog said on Tuesday it will investigate reports that hackers broke into a law firm’s computers and leaked the details of thousands of Sky broadband customers alleged to have shared pornographic films. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) said it would check whether London-based ACS:Law breached the Data Protection…
UK: Thousands more exposed on ACS:Law file-sharing lists
Daniel Emery reports that the number of people affected by the ACS:Law breach is rising: The personal details of a further 8,000 people alleged to have shared music or films illegally have appeared online. A list of more than 8,000 Sky broadband subscribers and a second of 400 PlusNet users surfaced following a security breach…
Ca: Vets ombudsman asks for privacy probe after personal information accessed
Murray Brewster reports: Canada’s Veteran’s ombudsman says he’s asking the country’s privacy watchdog to investigate why his Veterans Affairs file was access hundreds of times. Pat Stogran says he believes private information in those records may have been inappropriately used, much like what happened to another outspoken critic of the department. Sean Bruyea, who prior…
Update: NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center breach
Anemona Hartocollis of the New York Times answers one of the questions I had about the NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center breach. Citing a hospital spokesperson, she writes: The mistake was found in early July, after a relative of a patient found information from that patient on the Internet and told the hospital about it. The…