Online Thieves Take $205,000 Bite Out of Missouri Dental Practice

Organized computer criminals yanked more than $200,000 out of the online bank accounts of a Missouri dental practice this month, in yet another attack that exposes the financial risks that small- to mid-sized organizations face when banking online.

Dentists working at the Smile Zone, a Springfield, Mo. based dental practice that caters specifically to the needs of children, weren’t exactly all smiles on March 22. That was the day unidentified crooks sent at least $205,000 of the practice’s money to nearly a dozen individuals around the country.

Eric Hudkins, the office manager and husband of one of the dentists at Smile Zone, said the money was taken in 11 different transfers, including three large wires. Once again, it seems the attack was carried out with the help of money mules, willing or unwitting individuals hired through work-at-home job schemes over the Internet and lured into helping the attackers launder the stolen money.

“I’ve got the names, account numbers, and phone numbers for most of them, and have even looked some of them up on Facebook,” Hudkins said of the co-conspirators. “The bank talked to two of the [mule] account holders and asked them why they opened the account, who it was for, that kind of thing. Both of them said they’d had their resumes out on careerbuilder.com or monster.com and that someone they’d never met contacted them and offered to help them make some money.”  krebsonsecurity

Health Industry Winning Round On Privacy Of Digital Health Records

Lobbyists for the health industry are close to a victory over consumer groups in a dispute about when patients should be told their digital medical records have been lost, stolen or mishandled.

The tug-of-war over a little-known federal privacy rule--which has drawn in Congress, regulators and an array of interest groups--highlights the behind-the-scenes activity touched off by the government's effort to spend some $45 billion in economic stimulus funds to push medical data online. Federal regulators are working against tight deadlines to write all kinds of rules governing the digital system, one that the Obama administration hopes most health care providers will adopt in the next five years.

As with many Washington initiatives, the way the rules are written may have more of an effect on consumers than the original law passed by Congress.

One of the most contentious questions so far is when--and how--health care providers will have to notify patients if their privacy is breached.

Some lawmakers, consumer groups and industry analysts argue that hospitals and insurance companies should be required to let patients know about any unauthorized disclosure of their health data. However, under a provisional rule released by regulators from the Department of Health and Human Services, a health care provider only would have to notify patients if the provider determines the breach "poses a significant risk of financial, reputational, or other harm to the individual.'' Huffington Post