Pamela Lewis Dolan reports: The Cleveland Clinic is backing a startup company that has built a search engine for electronic databases that would allow research using de-identified patient data. A newly formed company called Explorys is commercializing the patient database search system Cleveland Clinic developed. According to Stephen McHale, chief executive officer and co-founder of…
UK: Shredded patient records deliver a gift-wrapped data breach
Tony Collins reports: A Leicestershire businesswoman discovered shredded records of NHS patients, with some information still showing, in packaging material used to protect gift boxes. The records originated from Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in Cambridge, which is investigating the incident. Kerry Wilkinson of PennyDog Jewellery in Rothley, Leicestershire, found the patient records when she…
NY: Romanian gets prison for Citizens Bank ATM fraud
Tiberiu Szebeni, 30, of Romania, who was convicted of bank fraud on Aug. 7, 2009, was sentenced to 27 months in prison and 5 years supervised release by Chief U.S. District Court Judge Richard J. Arcara, U.S. Attorney Kathleen M. Mehltretter of the Western District of New York announced on November 12. The defendant was…
Open wide and say “Aaaargh”
Bronx man who used social engineering to steal 176 dentists’ info sentenced. Michael A. Roseboro, a/k/a “Mike Ross,” a/k/a “Michael Johnson,” a/k/a “Michael Smith,” was sentenced on November 25 to 116 months in prison for his participation in a massive identity-theft and credit card fraud scheme in which he targeted and stole the identities of…
CA: Three family members in ID theft credit card ‘bust-out’ sentenced
While many of us were getting ready for Thanksgiving, three members of a Los Angeles family who operated a credit card “bust-out” scheme in the neighborhoods surrounding the Little Armenia section of Los Angeles were sentenced to up to eight years in federal prison after pleading guilty to fraud charges. Arutyun Sarkisyan, 27, of the…
OR: State mistake puts personal data at risk
Alan Gustafson reports: Sloppy handling of confidential records by a state agency in Salem left people’s names, Social Security numbers, ages and addresses exposed in an open recycling bin outdoors. The blunder by the Housing and Community Services agency put low-income, elderly and disabled residents at risk of becoming targets of identity theft or other…