CDT today released a major policy paper intended to move the health privacy debate from its outdated focus on patient consent to a comprehensive framework that will provide more effective privacy protection. CDT is advocating for the inclusion of privacy protections in the President’s economic stimulus bill, which contains at least $20 billion for…
NZ man finds US army files on MP3 player
A New Zealand man has found confidential United States military files on an MP3 player he bought at an op shop in the US. Chris Ogle, 29, from Whangarei, bought the player from an Oklahoma thrift shop for $NZ18 ($A14.50), and found the files when he hooked it up to his computer, TV One News…
AU: Spammers hack into Government jobs website
Asher Moses reports: The NSW Government website used to advertise public service jobs has been hacked into and the perpetrators have spammed the Government’s database of job seekers with phony vacancies in an effort to steal personal data and possibly to spread viruses. The Department of Commerce, which administers the jobs.nsw.gov.au site, refused to say…
UK: MoD admits 440 computer data devices have been lost or stolen
Ian Bruce reports: The Ministry of Defence admitted yesterday that 217 of its laptops, 47 desk-top computers, 80 hard drives and 96 memory sticks were lost or stolen during 2008, despite a high-profile security crackdown launched last summer. The latest figures mean more than 1640 of the department’s computers and other information devices have gone…
TN: Hacker sentenced for tampering with medical records
A 39-year-old Dyersburg man who hacked into a private computer and tampered with another person’s health records will spend 28 months in prison. A federal jury convicted Bradley Reeves Forsythe, 53 Ducky Lane, on Sept. 5 of intentionally accessing a computer without authorization to cause damage. Forsythe was sentenced Jan. 9 in U.S. District Court…
MD: Man, 53, gets 11 years in identity theft scheme
Tricia Bishop reports: A 53-year-old Baltimore man was sentenced to 11 years in federal prison Friday for his role in an identity theft and mail fraud scheme that affected more than 250 victims and lasted nearly 30 years, the Maryland U.S. attorney’s office said. According to the plea agreement, Loquann Johnson and his co-conspirators targeted…