personal health information (PHI) News

FTC Concerned About Privacy Protections in 23andMe Bankruptcy

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is concerned about the potential sale or transfer of Americans’ personal information by 23andMe ancestry testing company which recently filed for bankruptcy, the agency’s chairman said on Monday. Any purchaser of 23andMe assets should agree …

Oracle Warns Health Customers of Patient Data Breach

Hackers broke into Oracle Corp.’s computer systems and stole patient data in an attempt to extort multiple medical providers in the US, according to a person familiar with the matter and a notification the software company sent to clients. Earlier …

23andMe’s Bankruptcy Puts 15 Million Users’ DNA Info on Auction Block

Millions of Americans who sent their saliva to 23andMe in the hopes of finding lost relatives or identifying health risks buried in their DNA now face seeing their genetic information sold to the highest bidder as part of the company’s …

UnitedHealth Says Hack at Tech Unit Impacted 190 Million People

The cyberattack at UnitedHealth Group’s tech unit last year affected the personal information of 190 million people, the health conglomerate said on Jan. 24, making it the largest healthcare data breach in the United States. The hack at Change Healthcare …

Wearable Sensors Can Predict Overheating but Is There Privacy Risk?

On a hot summer day in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, dozens of men removed pipes, asbestos and hazardous waste while working to decontaminate a nuclear facility and prepare it for demolition. Dressed in head-to-toe coveralls and fitted with respirators, the crew …

UnitedHealth Hackers Say They Stole ‘Millions’ of Records, Then Delete Statement

In a message posted to, and then quickly deleted from their darknet site, the hackers blamed for striking the UnitedHealth Group said on Wednesday they stole millions of sensitive records, including medical insurance and health data, from the company. In …

23andMe Says Health Data Was Included in Hack That Compromised 6.9 Million Users

Some 6.9 million 23andMe customers had their data compromised after an anonymous hacker accessed user profiles and posted them for sale on the internet earlier this year, the company said on Monday. The compromised data included users’ ancestry information as …

Private Health Data Still Being Exposed to Big Tech, Report Says

Despite recent efforts to address the issue, medical-related websites continue to be mined for data including personal medical information, in an apparent violation of patients’ privacy rights, according to a new study. Some of the most common tracking pixels were …

Significant Hack Potentially Exposes US Lawmakers’ Personal Data

A serious breach at a healthcare administrator serving the U.S. House of Representatives has potentially exposed the personal data of hundreds of lawmakers and their staff, top representatives and a senior Congressional official said in letters circulated on Wednesday. One …