At the request of the Federal Trade Commission, a federal court has halted an elaborate international scheme that used identity theft to place more than $10 million in bogus charges on consumers’ credit and debit cards, pending a trial. More than a million consumers were hit with one-time charges of $10 or less, and their…
WellPoint Security Breach Put At Risk Information For 470,000 Nationwide, Including 5,600 In Connecticut
Matthew Sturdevant reports that the recently disclosed Anthem breach may affect many more than the 230,000 recently reported. An online security breach put at risk the personal, financial and medical information of 470,000 WellPoint customers nationwide, including 5,600 in Connecticut, customers are learning this week in notification letters from the company. The breach only affects…
ACLU sues state over police raid on Ketchikan clinic
Jason Lamb reports: The American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska says there’s no excuse for the state to violate medical-records privacy laws. The group filed a lawsuit against the state Monday, claiming it ordered a recent police raid of the A Woman’s Place clinic in Ketchikan. The lawsuit says police confiscated about 400 medical records…
UK: Doctors in database boycott threat
Doctors are threatening to boycott the NHS’s electronic patient database amid fears of security breaches. Plans to upload all personal medical records on to a centrally-stored network have been met by controversy since they were announced by the last Government. Now GPs in the North East are fighting the proposals by saying they will not…
Confidentiality breach: Hospital sent patient records to auto shop
Sandra Yin reports on some breaches that weren’t reported previously on this site: The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) found that Children’s Hospital of Orange County sent patient records to an auto shop in 2009, according to the Orange County Register. The business received six faxes containing healthcare information, including information that identified the…
Another printing error exposes SSN
An annual funding notice sent to 3,178 participants in the Eastern Connecticut Health Network Pension Plan exposed the participants’ Social Security Numbers on the mailing label after the firm’s consulting group, Mercer, subcontracted a mailing. According to a letter sent on May 13 by Jonathan Barry of Mercer to the New Hampshire Attorney’s General Office,…