UK: Hospital sent private patient notes to electrician

Nick Hyde of The Blackpool Gazette reports that Blackpool Victoria Hospital has launched an investigation after sensitive and confidential details of dozens of patients were sent to the home of a Blackpool businessman.   This is apparently not the first time this happened, either.   The referral forms sent to him last week relate to...

Ca: Tenants’ private data available on Internet

John Goddard of The Toronto Star reports that private information about 1,393 tenants — including names, addresses, phone numbers, social insurance numbers, mental health issues, children’s names, ages,  where the children go to school, and landlord disputes —  could be accessed online in a database maintained by Landlord’s Source Centre. A tenant discovered the...

Google says new privacy rules don’t affect its PHR

Physician Roni Zeiger is product manager for Google Health. Zeiger said that Google hasn’t changed its position regarding HIPAA, notwithstanding the new law, which encompasses the IT provisions of an earlier piece of legislation called the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act, or HITECH. “Our understanding is that HITECH, which...

Bits ‘n Pieces

In the justice system: Kimberly Taylor, a former loan officer at Advantage Loans Inc. in Fayetteville, was sentenced to federal prison Monday, more than two years after her license was revoked for falsifying documents and stealing clients’ personal information to borrow money. More. Hugh Rodley and David Nash have been convicted for their parts...

Concerns over increase in Facebook hacking

Computer experts called today for Facebook to review its security processes after the social networking website was hit by hackers five times in a week. Four separate “rogue applications” and a virus targeted users of the site, according to security firm Trend Micro. Although there is no evidence that people’s personal details were stolen...

Spotify breach creates password hack risk

John Leyden reports: Popular online music service Spotify has warned of a security breach that may have exposed user passwords and other sensitive data. A notice – posted on Wednesday – explains that a bug in Spotify’s protocols that was recognised and resolved in December was more serious than first suspected. Last week Spotify...

NYPD civilian worker busted in mass cop-ID Theft

Reuven Blau reports: A civilian official of the NYPD’s pension fund has been charged with taking computer data that could be used to steal the identities of 80,000 current and retired cops, sources said. Anthony Bonelli allegedly got into a secret backup-data warehouse on Staten Island last month and walked out with eight tapes...