David B. Fein, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that Luis Melendez, also known as “Ramiro Morales-Cruz,” 33, of New Haven, pleaded guilty today before Senior United States District Judge Alfred V. Covello in Hartford to one count of access device fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft stemming from a…
Hospital Fires Emps in Facebook Scandal
R. Stickney reports: Rumors swirled around Tri-City Medical Center in Oceanside two weeks ago that some employees had been fired for sharing patient information on Facebook. The allegations, that dozens of employees may have violated patient confidentiality by posting information on the social networking site caught the attention of the state. The California Department of…
Appeals court absolves firm that exposed man’s SSN
What constitutes a privacy harm? For those of us covering data breaches and privacy breaches, there’s been a somewhat disturbing trend by courts to restrict the notion of “harm” to unreimbursed financial harm due to a breach. Worry, embarrassment, time lost, and increased risk of future harm are recognized as being consequences, but generally, plaintiffs…
Nl: City sends wrong file
Seen at Karin Spaink’s blog: After requesting a directory of the services of city X, a citizen of that city was sent not that directory, but a file containing the names of the circa 2800 people living in that city who may not renew their passport or who have to hand in their passport. Reasons…
Utah’s identity theft protection law comes too late for 11 month old child
A timely reminder that ID theft can have significant medical consequences. Ronald Mortensen reports: In March 2010, the Utah state legislature passed SB251 which requires all employers with 15 or more employees to protect children from illegal alien driven, job-related identity theft by using a status verification system such as E-Verify. SB251 enters into effect…
Confidential medical records found in Chino Hills trash container after apparent error by movers
Jannise Johnson reports: Hundreds of confidential medical files were found in a trash container Monday by San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputies. The files belonged to doctors Jayshree and Mahesh Vyas who operated a clinic on Chino Hills Parkway and were in the process of moving to a new office, according to a sheriff’s press release….