In response to the massive OPM data breach, the government has been searching for a vendor to provide identity protection services for the almost 22 million individuals affected. Bids were due last week, and the chosen vendor...more
Following the IRS’ admission that its data breach was actually larger than it originally reported and caused fraudulent tax returns to be filed affecting over 330,000 taxpayers, the IRS was sued this week in a proposed class...more
8/28/2015
/ Class Action ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cyber Crimes ,
Data Breach ,
Hackers ,
Inspector General ,
IRS ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Putative Class Actions ,
Tax Fraud ,
Tax Returns
We previously reported on the prosecutions of Darkode members. Three more members of the computer hacking forum Darkode have pled guilty to accessing protected computers without permission, and for violating the CANSPAM Act....more
University of Southampton engineers recently launched a 3D-printed unmanned aerial vehicle from a Royal Navy warship to show the potential use of lightweight drones during sea missions....more
Delaware recently enacted four privacy laws–the Online and Personal Privacy Protection Act (DOPPA), the Student Data Privacy Protection Act (SDPPA) the Victim Online Privacy Act (VOPA) and the Employee/Applicant Protection...more
On Tuesday, August 18, hackers calling themselves the Impact Team, which claim responsibility for hacking the extramarital affair website Ashley Madison, and stealing information of up to 37 million people, posted 9.7...more
Not only did the IRS lose a flash drive with 12,000 school worker’s Social Security numbers on it in Texas, it admitted on August 17th that its initial estimate that 110,000 taxpayers’ personal information was used to file...more
8/24/2015
/ Credit Monitoring ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cyber Crimes ,
Data Breach ,
Fraud ,
Hackers ,
Identity Fraud ,
Identity Theft ,
IRS ,
Tax Fraud ,
Tax Returns ,
U.S. Treasury
The IRS announced last week that the value of identity theft protection services are not taxable and do not have to be included in gross income calculations for tax purposes.
Identity theft continues to be the number one...more
8/21/2015
/ Adjusted Gross Income ,
Credit Monitoring ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cyber Crimes ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Hackers ,
Identity Theft ,
IRS
MobileIron, Inc. was sued late last week by shareholders in a proposed class action for allegedly failing to disclose a hacking incident just weeks before its initial public offering (IPO).
The suit, filed on behalf of...more
8/21/2015
/ Cyber Attacks ,
Cyber Crimes ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection ,
Disclosure ,
Hackers ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Investors ,
Popular ,
Shareholders ,
Software ,
Stocks
Visa, Inc. announced on August 18th that it has reached a settlement with Target for $67 million to reimburse Visa for costs associated with the Target data breach in late 2013, including issuing millions of new cards to...more
8/21/2015
/ Banks ,
Credit Cards ,
Credit Unions ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cyber Crimes ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection ,
Data Security ,
Financial Institutions ,
Hackers ,
MasterCard ,
Settlement ,
Target ,
Visa Inc
Katy Independent School District (ISD) was randomly audited by the IRS on August 5th. In order to conduct the audit, the IRS auditor had a flash drive with the names, addresses, birth dates and Social Security numbers of...more
The FTC has made it clear over the past year that it is serious about companies’ compliance with the US-EU and US-Swiss safe harbor programs, and has publicly stated that it is randomly reviewing company websites to ensure...more
United Airlines has confirmed that it has suffered a data and network breach which occurred during the same time frame as the OPM breach. Investigators suspect the same Chinese state-sponsored hackers are responsible for both...more
8/17/2015
/ China ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cyber Crimes ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection ,
Data Security ,
Federal Employees ,
Hackers ,
OPM ,
Political Intelligence ,
United Airlines
Reportedly for the first time ever, the FDA recently issued a declaration that hospitals should not use a medical device manufactured by Hospira Inc. because of security flaws that could allow hackers to penetrate hospital...more
8/17/2015
/ Cyber Attacks ,
Cyber Crimes ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection ,
Data Security ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Hackers ,
Healthcare ,
Medical Devices
Ho hum. Another class action filed against OPM for its massive data breach. The interesting fact here? The suit’s named plaintiff is a Judge with the Social Security Administration. On Friday, August 7, Social Security...more
8/17/2015
/ Class Action ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cyber Crimes ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection ,
Data Security ,
Hackers ,
OPM ,
Social Security Administration (SSA)
The House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee issued a report late last week that the information security of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has substantial weaknesses. Several incidents that...more
8/17/2015
/ Cyber Attacks ,
Cyber Crimes ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection ,
Data Security ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare ,
Medical Devices
Advanced Data Processing, Inc. and Intermedix Corp. were sued in federal court in Florida last week for violating the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) for failing to protect the health information...more
8/17/2015
/ Class Action ,
Class Certification ,
Data Breach ,
Data Processors ,
Data Security ,
Health Care Providers ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Healthcare ,
Identity Theft ,
IRS ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Tax Fraud ,
Tax Refunds ,
Tax Returns
Joining more than 20 other states, and many of its sister states in the Northeast, Maine has passed a social media law that prohibits employers from requiring employees or applicants to provide them with their social media...more
8/14/2015
/ Compliance ,
Employment Policies ,
Governor LePage ,
Legislative Vetoes ,
New Legislation ,
Passwords ,
Popular ,
Privacy Policy ,
Right to Privacy ,
Social Media ,
Social Media Policy
We previously reported that Medical Informatics Engineering, Inc. was sued over a data breach that occurred in May and affected over 4 million individuals. Thereafter, Indiana AG Gregory Zoeller advised all Hoosiers to freeze...more
8/14/2015
/ Asset Freeze ,
Class Action ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cyber Crimes ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection ,
Hackers ,
Healthcare ,
Identity Theft ,
Invasion of Privacy ,
Medical Records
In its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Fred’s Inc. disclosed this week that a security firm found malware in its system that was designed to lift customer credit card information....more
8/14/2015
/ Credit Cards ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cyber Crimes ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection ,
Data Security ,
Hackers ,
Malware ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
Not to be left out, plaintiffs filed suit against CareFirst BlueCross Blue Shield late last week for the hacking incident the insurer suffered in May, which resulted in unknown intruders gaining access to names, dates of...more
8/14/2015
/ Blue Cross ,
Blue Shield ,
CareFirst ,
Class Action ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cyber Crimes ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection ,
Data Security ,
Hackers ,
Healthcare ,
Personally Identifiable Information
Since July 15, Windows 7 and Windows 8 users have been offered a free upgrade to Windows 10. Windows 10 includes Wi-Fi Sense, which features a default prompt that asks users to share access to WiFi networks that they have...more
8/11/2015
/ Data Privacy ,
Data-Sharing ,
Facebook ,
Networks ,
Operating System Developers ,
Opt-In ,
Opt-Outs ,
Passwords ,
Privacy Concerns ,
Privacy Settings ,
Skype ,
Social Media ,
Software ,
Wifi
It is being reported that 95% of all Android smartphones are vulnerable to being hacked with a text message, which is being called the “heartbleed for mobile.” According to security experts, the vulnerability exploits the...more
8/11/2015
/ Android ,
Cell Phones ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cyber Crimes ,
Cybersecurity ,
Hackers ,
Mobile Apps ,
Mobile Devices ,
Privacy Concerns ,
Smartphones ,
Telecommunications
Medical Informatics Engineering, Inc., an electronic medical record service provider, recently disclosed a data breach affecting approximately 4 million individuals. Within days of the disclosure, Medical Informatics was hit...more
8/10/2015
/ Class Action ,
Data Breach ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection ,
Data Security ,
Electronic Medical Records ,
Healthcare ,
Medical Records ,
Notification Requirements ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Social Security Numbers
The FTC recently announced that it is sending more than $969,000 to 10,387 customers who were bilked out of their funds through a telemarketing scam operated by Innovative Wealth Builders (IWB)....more