Tag Archives: privacy

Equifax Eyes Are Watching You–Big Data Means Big Brother

Posted by on May 21, 2012 No comments

It maintains information about people who share the same phone number or address, “non-obvious” relationships between individuals, loans for dental work, magazine subscriptions, rental history, real estate assets, investment wealth, retail purchasing, the type of federal tax return someone files, marital status, employment, utility payments, cable TV accounts, criminal records, debt-to-income ratios, changes of address, motor vehicle files, post office boxes, inferences about someone’s capacity to pay bills, predictions about someone’s propensity to pay, links to past and potential fraud crimes–and more

via Equifax Eyes Are Watching You–Big Data Means Big Brother.

uPromise and FTC

Posted by on January 12, 2012 No comments

The FTC alleged that after the personalized offers feature was enabled, extensive information was collected from the user and transmitted to Upromise, including the names of all websites visited, all links clicked by the user and information that users entered into certain web pages, such as usernames, passwords, search terms, credit card information, expiration dates, security codes and social security numbers.  The FTC alleged that there was no way a user would be able to detect the extent of the data being collected by the Upromise software without special software and technical expertise

via Privacy & Security Matters | Mintz Levin : Data Compliance & Security, Employee Privacy Lawyer & Attorney.

Researchers ID Skype users who also use BitTorrent

Posted by on October 21, 2011 No comments

Entertainment companies seeking to trace people who are illegally file sharing may be interested in new research that could identify filesharers through their Skype accounts.

via Researchers ID Skype users who also use BitTorrent.

Massachusetts General Hospital Settles Potential #HIPAA Violations

Posted by on March 1, 2011 No comments

The General Hospital Corporation and Massachusetts General Physicians Organization Inc. (Mass General) has agreed to pay the U.S. government $1,000,000 to settle potential violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Privacy Rule, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced today.

via Insurance News – Massachusetts General Hospital Settles Potential HIPAA Violations.

Don’t view HIPAA fines as cost a of doing business – FierceCIO

Posted by on March 1, 2011 No comments

If anyone doubted that there is a cost to ignoring privacy regulations, $5.3 million in penalties doled out last week for violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) should put such doubt to rest. Not only is the government pursuing enforcement, but it is going to come down particularly hard on organizations that don’t take it seriously.

via Don’t view HIPAA fines as cost a of doing business – FierceCIO.

HHS Levies Civil Penalty for HIPAA Privacy Rule Violation – iHealthBeat

Posted by on February 23, 2011 No comments

On Tuesday, the HHS Office for Civil Rights announced that it has issued its first-ever civil penalty for HIPAA privacy rule violations, the Washington Post reports.OCR fined Cignet Health — a health center based in Maryland – $4.3 million for failing to provide copies of medical records to 41 patients who requested them from September 2008 to October 2009

via HHS Levies Civil Penalty for HIPAA Privacy Rule Violation – iHealthBeat.

Cost of regulatory security compliance? On average, $3.5M – CSO Online – Security and Risk

Posted by on January 31, 2011 1 comment

The cost of achieving regulatory security compliance is on average $3.5 million each year, according to a survey of 160 individuals leading the IT, privacy and audit efforts at 46 multinational organizations

via Cost of regulatory security compliance? On average, $3.5M – CSO Online – Security and Risk.

The Link Between Recent Privacy ‘Breaches’

Posted by on October 20, 2010 No comments

Facebook has been the subject of intense scrutiny over privacy concerns…again. Or, is it still? Facebook is not alone, however, as Twitter and Android have also been recent targets of privacy ire. Each of these privacy incidents has something else in common as well–they are a result of relationships with third-parties that users have approved.

via The Link Between Recent Privacy ‘Breaches’.

Feds Get Their Own App Store | Epicenter | Wired.com

Posted by on October 19, 2010 No comments

If you had any question whether app stores were a passing fad, the answer probably lies with apps.gov, an app store by and for government agencies……

The GSA also takes care of all the acronyms as well. The sites are FISMA and 508 compliant, and the relevant PIAs have been completed, which is bureaucratic shorthand for saying the apps passed a security test, are accessible to those with disabilities and have fulfilled the relevant privacy reporting requirements

via Feds Get Their Own App Store | Epicenter | Wired.com.

PatientsLikeMe incident may just be ‘scraping’ the surface – FierceHealthIT

Posted by on October 19, 2010 No comments

Ready for another threat to individual privacy? Less insidious, perhaps, than phishing, but potentially as damaging is a relatively new technique called “scraping.”

Scraping is the practice of trolling social networking sites, message boards and chat rooms looking for personal information that can help firms target the right people with their marketing efforts. And instead of being cloaked in the guise of a Nigerian prince or other shady character, scraping is being sponsored by some big-name, legitimate companies, and it’s starting to find its way into healthcare.

via PatientsLikeMe incident may just be ‘scraping’ the surface – FierceHealthIT.