[HN Gopher] Covid Test Data Breach: 1.3M Patient Records Exposed...
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       Covid Test Data Breach: 1.3M Patient Records Exposed Online
        
       Author : t0bia_s
       Score  : 154 points
       Date   : 2024-01-30 15:32 UTC (7 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.vpnmentor.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.vpnmentor.com)
        
       | manzanarama wrote:
       | I feel frequent data leaks, credit card number leaks, difficulty
       | in un-subscribing or stopping payments after subscribing, etc...
       | makes me appreciate and want to use consolidated sign in /
       | subscription management / payment management options almost
       | exclusively.
        
         | bryanlarsen wrote:
         | Until there's a breach of the SSO providers, like the Okta
         | incident.
        
           | gunapologist99 wrote:
           | Okta, Lastpass, Jumpcloud, Authy, Auth0..
           | 
           | the list of hacked SSO providers gets longer by the day.
        
             | anononaut wrote:
             | DIY or die
        
         | toyg wrote:
         | It's a bit like keeping money... You can stash it under your
         | mattress, hoping you'll never suffer a burglary; or you can
         | give it to a bank, and let them spend money on security and
         | insurance.
         | 
         | This said, banks have specific fiduciary responsibilities and
         | the above-mentioned insurance, which compensate for the big
         | target they're painting on their own backs; whereas most tech
         | services, even massive ones, tend to hide behind service
         | agreements boiling down to "eh, if it happens it happens,
         | nothing we can do, sucks to be you". Unless they're in
         | healthcare, they're barely required to disclose whether they've
         | been breached, let alone compensate us for the loss of privacy
         | and increased risk of identity fraud that we endure.
         | 
         | Maybe it's time for the legislator to define "personal data
         | providers" a bit more rigorously.
        
           | thfuran wrote:
           | >and increased risk of identity fraud that we endure.
           | 
           | The problem is even worse than that. The whole framing of the
           | issue of identity theft as a thing that happens to a person
           | rather than a bank is problematic. That the bank issued
           | credit in my name to someone other than me really should be
           | entirely their problem, not one that probably messes up my
           | life for years.
        
         | systems_glitch wrote:
         | Yeah those services offering one-time or service/vendor
         | specific CC #s for total management are probably going to have
         | a bright and profitable future.
        
           | phpisthebest wrote:
           | Until the banks, and credit card companies just offer the
           | services themselves for cheaper... Like Capital One and I
           | think Discover are already doing
        
             | systems_glitch wrote:
             | Yeah but the banks will screw it up somehow :P
        
             | staplers wrote:
             | Capital One had per-transaction CC#'s for a bit but
             | eventually just went to a single "virtual card" number.
        
         | phpisthebest wrote:
         | I have taken to using a single card in person, and a single
         | card online. The Card on use online is also a Capital One
         | account so I make use of their Eno service to make virtual
         | cards for every vendor
         | 
         | If some company does not want to unsub me, I just turn off that
         | virtual card.
        
           | Modified3019 wrote:
           | I do the same with privacy.com, along with a unique email via
           | fastmail's masked email feature.
        
         | 2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote:
         | Apple can be hacked like anyone else.
        
           | Retric wrote:
           | Shared passwords place you at risk if any of serval services
           | are hacked. Password managers provide similar convenience
           | with a smaller attack surface.
           | 
           | I've defaulted to picking random passwords for most services
           | which I don't bother to remember instead using password
           | resets. But it's inconvenient.
        
             | ipaddr wrote:
             | I like the approach but some places lockup functionality
             | after resets. Been burned too often.
        
             | spookie wrote:
             | Yeah, I just randomize mine and keep all of that local.
             | It's a bit strange seeing people doing the same, but over
             | the wire though.
        
         | shiandow wrote:
         | That doesn't do much to protect you against a website storing
         | government mandated passport information. The only protection
         | there would be if authorities stop demanding that everyone
         | takes copies of personal IDs.
        
           | staplers wrote:
           | if authorities stop demanding that everyone takes copies of
           | personal IDs
           | 
           | They're actually considering the opposite for social media.
        
           | hhh wrote:
           | No it's not. Some of the stuff https://decodeproject.eu/ has
           | been working on seems apt for this, specifically the
           | attribute based credentials stuff.
        
           | systems_glitch wrote:
           | Yeah, when did that become acceptable?! I've had a bunch of
           | sites request a photo or scan of my state-issued driver's
           | license, like that's just OK to ask people to send to them.
        
             | hhh wrote:
             | When courts started requiring it.
        
             | hosteur wrote:
             | Banks KYC practices normalized this.
        
               | systems_glitch wrote:
               | I have no problem showing ID to my local bank though.
               | They at most photocopy it and put it in a paper file,
               | which maybe goes into Docstar or something. I don't trust
               | $big_tech_site to actually a) do a good job securing it
               | and b) not just sell the information to someone anyway.
               | 
               | It's silly. AT&T wanted it from me to add a phone on a
               | business account that was shipping to our physical
               | address, which has not ever changed since the account was
               | opened. eBay wanted it (and my SSN! and my wife's!)
               | despite our account being a business account registered
               | with an EIN and connected to a business bank account.
               | Instagram/Facebook/Meta/whatever wanted it to reactivate
               | a dormant account that talked to a still-valid email
               | address to which I had access.
        
         | hiccuphippo wrote:
         | Yes. Why wait to get p0wn3d one account at a time when they can
         | p0wn all your accounts at once.
        
       | FrustratedMonky wrote:
       | Not US Gov.
       | 
       | -> ""The exposed certificates and other documents were all marked
       | with the name and logo of Coronalab.eu. Although the website
       | appears to be offline, Coronalab is owned by Microbe & Lab, an
       | ISO-certified laboratory based in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
       | According to the NL Times, "CoronaLab is one of the two largest
       | commercial test providers in the Netherlands".""
        
       | TriangleEdge wrote:
       | > ... a non-password protected database that contained nearly 1.3
       | million records ...
       | 
       | Breach is not the word I would use here.
        
         | RockRobotRock wrote:
         | if you forgot to lock your front door, and your TV was gone,
         | does that count as burglary?
        
           | ipaddr wrote:
           | Don't have a front door and an open diary was copied with
           | personal info?
        
           | Manfred wrote:
           | Acquiring something that isn't your property is not legal in
           | most countries. It's not really relevant if it's behind a
           | door.
        
             | TheCapn wrote:
             | And accessing a computer system without proper
             | authorization is often illegal. So I'm not sure what point
             | you're making.
        
               | pizzafeelsright wrote:
               | It's negligent on the api side.
        
       | AndrewJajack wrote:
       | During the height of COVID, I was exploring the API design of the
       | top-selling COVID tests on Amazon. Several had wildly unsecured
       | APIs--sequential patient IDs but the results endpoint assumed
       | knowing the "secret" patient ID counted as auth. Or just
       | completely open GraphQL implementations, no different than a
       | password-less db...
       | 
       | For anyone considering DIYing a diagnostics program, don't. But
       | I'm biased (I'm the founder of a YC-backed diagnostics as a
       | service co: https://spotdx.com)
        
         | radicalbyte wrote:
         | I was working for the NL government on COVID stuff and the only
         | thing I can say is that it's a shame I'm under NDA. It changed
         | my view of the tech industry and I feel silly for calling
         | colleagues in the past out for what I consider inadequate
         | practices. As all were _far_ above the mean.
        
           | gattilorenz wrote:
           | Weren't CoronaCheck and CoronaMelder open source? I would
           | have assumed plenty of people would audit them, but I don't
           | recall seeing any negative news (jokes on their availability
           | aside)
        
             | radicalbyte wrote:
             | Yeah they're open source and they're great (I worked on
             | both). We put a lot of effort into making them into
             | excellent examples.
             | 
             | My original post is referring to other things outside of
             | the Ministry.. My role was deep and broad so I got to see a
             | lot.
        
           | YeBanKo wrote:
           | I am surprised there isn't some law in NL that would allow
           | you to expose it either to the public or maybe at least to
           | MPs and not be bound by NDA.
        
             | radicalbyte wrote:
             | Oh our apps were fantastic - an awesome example of what
             | happens when you have top tier technical management
             | combined with skilled technical people.
             | 
             | Only during the process you get exposure to a lot of
             | _other_ things (and a _lot_ of that is not government).
        
         | amluto wrote:
         | The fact that at-home tests had an API of any sort was already
         | a major screwup IMO.
        
         | dankwizard wrote:
         | Imagine using diagnostics as a service in a sentence with a
         | straight face LOL
        
       | VadimPR wrote:
       | I've gotten myself tested by a lab in Amsterdam a few times. What
       | do I do now?
       | 
       | I'm in the industry and even I don't have an actionable course to
       | take.
        
         | zooq_ai wrote:
         | What should you do? Thank your lucky stars that you live such a
         | privileged life that you can feel outraged about things that
         | absolutely don't matter
        
       | _heimdall wrote:
       | Is anyone actually surprised? Everything was thrown together in a
       | huge hurry and governments were playing fast and loose with laws
       | and regulations.
       | 
       | I'm making no judgement on whether that approach was a net
       | positive or negative here, but the writing was on the wall from
       | day 1 with regards to data security.
        
       | m463 wrote:
       | It seems that anyone entrusted with private information will
       | eventually be breached. I think that there should be legislation
       | - strong legislation - that protects our society's individuals
       | and their information. Make it an uncomfortable and costly
       | responsibility to collect information, store it temporarily and
       | long-term.
       | 
       | Additionally, connecting devices to the internet directly or
       | indirectly should have the same sorts of responsibilities.
        
       | lr1970 wrote:
       | We should have well defined mechanisms for sunsetting and
       | destroying data.
        
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       (page generated 2024-01-30 23:01 UTC)