Health Data

UK: Patient phone tapes taken home by staff

Caroline Innes of the Liverpool Echo writes: Tape recordings of patient phone calls were taken home by out-of-hours GP service staff. Data protection experts said today they feared patient confidentiality was being compromised by the actions of Urgent Care 24 (UC24) workers. Today the organisation said the practice of taking tapes home to do...

Clinic's owner may face fine

Gina Damron of the Detroit Free Press reports: The owner of a Lathrup Village clinic accused of improperly disposing of medical waste said Tuesday that he’s putting biohazard bags in every examination room to ensure that materials don’t end up in regular trash bins again. Dr. A. Alberto Hodari could find out this week...

(update) BCBS-WNY laptop also had data on BS-NENY members

WNYT reports: A missing laptop puts some BlueCross BlueShield customers at risk for identity theft in New York State. The company confirms the laptop went missing in late fall with information on up to 40,000 members. This affects BlueCross BlueShield of Northeastern New York and BlueCross BlueShield of Western New York. The company claims...

Man Charged With Stealing VA Hospital Computers

Seen on The Indy Channel: A Speedway man has been arrested on suspicion of stealing computers containing information on more than 11,000 patients from a Veterans Administration hospital, officials said Tuesday. Joseph A. Radican, 50, has been charged with felony theft in the November break-in at the Roudebush VA Medical Center in Indianapolis. Three...

UCLA hospital bans cellphones, laptops

Charles Ornstein writes in the Los Angeles Times: UCLA’s neuropsychiatric hospital has banned all cellphones and laptop computers after a patient posted group photos of other patients on a social networking website, officials confirmed Monday. Dr. Thomas Strouse, medical director of the Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital, said in a statement that the decision was part...

Web site breach of The Dental Network exposes patients' information

A security breach of The Dental Network web site left access to member personal data, including names, Social Security numbers, address(es) and dates of birth unprotected for approximately two weeks. According to a letter dated March 10th to the New Hampshire Department of Justice, TDN discovered the breach on February 20th. The Dental Network...

States of Guernsey: A serious breach

Seen on the ThisIsGuernsey web site: A MAJOR security flaw left exposed the whole of the States internet system and put at risk personal data belonging to individuals in a care home. At this stage, it is not known whether there has been any malicious access to the information.What was a catastrophe waiting to...

Our P2P Investigation Turns Up Business Data Galore

Avi Baumstein writes in InformationWeek: Are peer-to-peer networks really filled with sensitive corporate data just waiting to be plucked and abused? It seems unlikely–surely people wouldn’t be that sloppy. Like a 19th century prospector, I decided to dip my pan into the stream to see what I could find. The results were shocking and...

Ex-hospital guard, two others charged in identity theft scheme

The Boston Globe reports: A former security guard at Rhode Island Hospital is accused of stealing identity information of emergency room patients and then opening cell phone accounts at a RadioShack store in Cranston. Michael Bermudez is charged with identity theft along with the store manager, Hector Alvarez, who prosecutors say participated in the...

UCLA workers snooped in Spears' medical records

Charles Ornstein reports in the Los Angeles Times: UCLA Medical Center is taking steps to fire at least 13 employees and has suspended at least six others for snooping in the confidential medical records of pop star Britney Spears, who was recently hospitalized in its psychiatric ward, a person familiar with the matter said...