There appears to be some level of controversy that has been stirred up in a less followed area of the healthcare debate than single payer, that associated with the privacy of health information. The Department of Health and Human Services just released its rules for healthcare organizations to follow the data breach notification provisions of the HITECH Act.

In the rules, they have established a “harm threshold” which is self-assessed by the healthcare organization, and directed that in the case of a data breach incident, that notification of the individuals, the public and their agency ONLY needs to occur if they have determined that their is significant risk of  financial, reputational or other harm to those affected by the data loss.

This past week, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce voiced concern over the addition of this provision. They

Full Article…

The phishing attacks last week on Hotmail were actually compromising Microsoft Live ID accounts. These credentials give a user access to multiple services including Hotmail, Messenger, Xbox Live, Office Online and Skydrive, and Bing.

What this shows is that a single phished email username and password could result in a user’s business data being compromised, their backed up documents or business documents being exposed, and their search results visible. Financial losses could also occur if an Xbox Live account were compromised.

There have been many efforts to push forward with broader federated identity systems such as OpenID and Liberty Alliance. You can start to see the dangers inherent with such systems if passwords can easily be phished.

The more that these systems get federated, the more crucial it is going to be for them to support, or even require, strong two-factor authentication in addition to usernames and passwords. A

Full Article…

Think you’ve heard it all when it comes to stories about identity theft?  Think again. Check out these 10 shocking but true identity theft stories.

1. Get Your Identity Stolen…And Then Get Sued.
Imagine: You’re a single mom from the Bronx working hard to get by on just $2,000 a month. Suddenly one day, $38,000 disappears from your savings account and your bank slaps you with a lawsuit demanding $23,000! That’s exactly what happened to Gloria Carlo two years ago, the New York Post reports. Carlo says she lost more than $68,000 in total as a result of identity thieves stealing her information and making purchases on Jewelry Television, Shop NBC, QVC and the Home Shopping Network.

2. Lose Your Laptop and Personal Information…And You Do the Suing.
On the other end of the spectrum is Raelyn Campbell, whose laptop containing her personal information was lost during warranty service from Best Buy, according to an identity theft story on engadget. She in tur

Full Article…