Plymouth hospital notifies 6000 patients of potential security breach
Last month’s disappearance of a laptop from an employee’s locked car has determined Speare Memorial Hospital in Plymouth officials to send letters to 6000 of their patients, warning them of a potential threat against their private information.
The computer in question contained hospital account numbers, medical record numbers, names, addresses, and other patient and health information. However, no Social Security numbers or other sensitive information like insurance information or credit card information were stored on it. As the laptop and the employee’s desktop computer were synced, technicians were able to determine what exactly was lost. Read more
Data Breaches Down, But Threat Still Real
According to Verizon’s DBIR (Data Breach Investigations Report) issued this year, the number of data breaches in the last years has fallen significantly, but there is still reason to remain vigilant. The numbers show a decrease from 144 million compromised records in 2009 to 4 million compromised records in 2010. The progress is even more significant if we take under consideration the progress since 2008, when 361 million records have been compromised.
This study was conducted by Verizon along with U.S. Secret Service (USSS) and the Dutch High Tech Crime Unit (NHTCU).
“With the addition of Verizon’s 2010 caseload and data contributed from the USSS and NHTCU, the DBIR series now spans 7 years, 1,700-plus breaches, and over 900 million compromised records,” said a post to the Verizon Business Security Blog that accompanied the report.
Edmonton School Board data breach affected 7,000 people
CBC News recently revealed a disturbing privacy breach that happened on March 22, when a USB memory stick, containing private information for about 7,000 employees of the Edmonton Public School Board was lost.
As a result, the school board sent letters to the affected employees, notifying them that their data may have been misused. Read more
93,500 MidState Medical Center patients affected by data breach
The accidental loss of a computer hard drive is the source of a data breach that lead the MidState Medical Center to start sending letters of notice to the 93,500 potential victims. This has been brought to the attention of the employees on Tuesday. The incident urged the office of the Connecticut attorney general and the Department of Consumer protection to demand more details and to thoroughly investigate the matter.
According to Pamela Cretella, spokeswoman for the hospital, the lost data includes patient names, addresses, birth dates, social security numbers and medical record numbers. Read more
BP Loses Laptop With 13,000 Claimants’ Personal Data
A computer containing data belonging to Gulf residents that have filed complaints after the oil spill was lost by a BP employee. Last week BP spokesman Curtis Thomas stated that etters were sent to roughly 13,000 people whose data was stored on the lost computer. The letters notify those affected of the potential data breach and offer free credit monitoring to those who request it. The missing device has been reported to law enforcement agencies.
According to Thomas, there is no evidence that the lost personal data was misused as of yet.
“We’re committed to the people of the Gulf Coast states affected by the Deepwater Horizon accident and spill, and we deeply regret that this occurred,” he said.
Data breach costs blamed on system failures
A new survey carried out by the Ponemon Institute analyzed data breach experiences of 38 UK companies from 13 different industry sectors. According to this survey, negligence the former primary source of data breaches has been replaced by system failures.
An increase of 13% in data breach costs means that UK organisations will pay £1.9 million or £71 per record. An average cost for these type of breaches cannot be estimated as it ranges from £36,000 to £6.2 million.
The survey also showed 29% of all data breaches are caused by malicious or criminal attacks. This is an increase of 7% in 2010 from the previous year. Read more
Health Net lost personal data for 1.9 million current and former members
Personal data for 1.9 million current and former members of Health Net Inc. may have been compromised. An investigation of a security breech has been launched in Rancho, Cordova, at Health Net’s data center. This investigation is a follow-up after IBM, the technology vendor for Health Net, sent a notice that it could not locate several server drives.
An investigation has been launched on Monday by The California Department of Managed Health, Health Net’s security practices. Health Net Inc. is currently notifying individuals whose information is on the lost drives and offering two years of free credit monitoring services, including fraud resolution. Also restoration of credit files and identify theft insurance will be provided if necessary. These services will be provided with the help of Debix Identify Protection Network.
According to the agency, more than 622,000 members in health plans regulated by the Dept. of Managed Health Care may have been compromised. Also records for 223,000 members in products regulated by the Department of Insurance may find themselves in the same situation. Some Medicare beneficiaries record appear to be also lost.
Data breaches caused by storage device theft hit again
Printed, stored on computers or on flash drives, your data is just not safe. Your personal details that you entrust to companies you work with, doctors and other third parties will just end up exposed. If you are lucky enough, they might get in the hands of someone who won’t use your address, social security number or card details to harm you on their quest to get fast and easy money. If you’re unlucky, your accounts will just turn empty one day, your identity will be used to commit felonies or crimes and you will have years of paperwork and bad credit records in front of you.
Let’s check the recent data breach news. We have a stolen computer that contained names, ages, addresses and medical conditions of 700 children. Next come rushing in: backup tapes and other media containing cord blood bank customer information stolen from car, which ended up exposing about 300,000 records; and 113 patients’ names and Medicare numbers on a document stolen from a vehicle… Read more
British local council gets fine for mishandling of data
The latest local authority to contravene the Data Protection Act after losing sensitive information is the Cambridgeshire County Council. According to the Information Commissioner’s Office, an unencrypted memory stick containing personal information on at least six “vulnerable adults” has been lost by the council.
This breach occurred just after the council had launched an internal campaign designed to highlight the importance of personal information, thus putting the council in a shady position.
“While Cambridgeshire County Council clearly recognises the importance of encrypting devices in order to keep personal data secure, this case shows that organisations need to check that their data protection policies are continually followed and fully understood by staff,” said ICO enforcement group manager Sally Anne Poole. “We are pleased that Cambridgeshire County Council has taken action to improve its existing security measures, and has agreed to carry out regular and routine monitoring of its encryption policy to ensure it is being followed.”
Fines of £80,000 and £70,000 have also been applied to the Ealing Council and Hounslow Councils earlier this month, after the loss of 1000 private records by the first council and 700 by the second.
Fraud has decreased in 2010 – crime does not pay anymore?
US identity fraud losses went down last year by 28%, with the total number of 2010 victims going from 11 million a year before to 8.1 million. The estimated amounts also went down from $56 billion in 2009 to $37 billion in 2010, according to an annual study by Javelin Strategy & Research. These figures appear to be the lowest in the last 8 years.
The average loss per victim went down from $5,000 in 2009 to $4,600 in 2010, the drop being directly linked with the decrease in identity fraud, according to Javelin. Research data also shows 26 million records have been exposed in 404 reported breaches during 2010, compared to 221 million records in 604 breaches during 2009. Read more
