Another Day, Another Big Data Breach

from the do-people-even-pay-attention? dept

These days, it's probably best to just assume that any private data you've ever provided to a company is public. Given the pace at which the data you've entrusted to companies is leaked, whether via malicious hackers or via company carelessness, it's almost as if the exception to the rule is a company that's actually been able to keep your data safe. So it's hardly surprising that Express Scripts, the massive medical benefits management company, has said that its records appear to have been compromised. Apparently, the company was sent a note, detailing the medical records of about 75 people, with an extortion threat telling the company to pay up or face the exposure of millions of patient records. The FBI is now investigating. Still, we're reminded once again that companies have very little incentive to really keep your records straight. It's almost reached the point where these stories are barely worth commenting on, since they're so common. There's something quite depressing when you realize that these sorts of data breaches are barely even newsworthy any more.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: data breach, extortion, fbi, medical benefits
Companies: express scripts, fbi


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  • identicon
    Bradley Stewart, 7 Nov 2008 @ 4:02pm

    DATA LOST BY ANOTHER COMPANY!

    I believe that its clear how little respect that so many company's have for there customers today. I also believe how little respect the our government has for the American people not to mention other citzens around the world to let this to keep going on. I think that we should start throwing these bums who run these company's in jail for not preventing the preventable. It's clear to me that this is the only way to solve this and other problems like this in business.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Salon, 7 Nov 2008 @ 4:14pm

    Whew. I almost signed myself up for this service to get my allergy meds in delivered 3-month supply instead of 1 mo. at a time trip to the pharmacy...luckily the form they sent me to fill out is such a non-sensical pain in the ass I put it off to my benefit.

    A freaking medical-related company should have much higher security measures in place!

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 10 Nov 2008 @ 8:40am

      Does HIPPA come into play?

      They should. I think this is evidence of a HIPPA violation.

      Now the question is what the penalties are.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Adam (profile), 7 Nov 2008 @ 4:38pm

    YADL: yet another data leak

    The root of the problem is that keepers of on line data don't seem to understand that securing that data is an ongoing problem; they buy or lash together a solution that's adequate briefly but soon yields to more sophisticated probes.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 7 Nov 2008 @ 7:34pm

    HIPAA enforcement is a joke

    Enough said.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Loring Neumann, 8 Nov 2008 @ 5:23pm

    express scripts hack

    Great now my medical data has been hacked. I guess I should find a good lawyer and file a class action lawsuit.

    link to this | view in chronology ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.