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THINGS HAVE GONE from bad to worse for Sony as documents containing private health information has been leaked.
The documents contained identifiable health information on more than 30 employees, their children or spouses, according to Bloomberg.
One such memo, addressed to the company’s benefits committee, disclosed details on an employee’s child with special needs. It discussed the employee’s appeal of thousands of dollars in medical claims denied by the insurance company and contained details such as the diagnosis and the type of treatment the child was receiving.
Another document included a spreadsheet from a human resources folder on Sony’s servers that included the birth dates, gender, health condition and medical costs for 34 employees and their spouses and children who had high medical bills.
The conditions listed included premature births, cancer, kidney failure and alcoholic liver cirrhosis, but doesn’t include employees’ names.
Hackers calling themselves Guardians of Peace carried out a cyber attack on the company and obtained more than 100TB of data from it. It has been releasing batches of documents every few days containing information such as unreleased films, executive salaries, PPS numbers and private emails.
It was believed that North Korea was behind the attack, but while it denied involvement, it described the attack as a “righteous deed.”
Playstation Network also experienced a cyberattack in the form of a DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service), which overwhelms a site with high traffic and renders them unusable.
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Quinton, did you actually write this article?…a lot of it seems to be copy pasted from another website?
Very few of these guys are actual journalists
No matter who did it this is a lowly act. The personnel of the company are being effected not the corporation. Who would like their medical information given out?
Serves Sony right for retaliating stupidly
What about the employees whose children’s medical details have been released? Do they deserve it too?
Why do you give your children medical records to company where you work – unless it’s a hospital!
I highly doubt it’s the actual medical record. It’s most likely the information needed to be covered by the company’s health insurance plan.
Because they might have health insurance through their employer.
In the US, the company you works for typically provides your insurance. In your contract, there is typically a clause that allows the company all access to your medical records to assess whether or not you’re worth keeping based on how much they’ll be paying for your premiums etc.
They also have the power to cancel your insurance plan when it’s going to cost THEM more money. It’s outrageous. But that’s what happens when you don’t have a state healthcare provider. The HSE is a joke, but it could be a hell of a lot worse.
Sending their bank details to Nigera next
This is a guardians of peace-ful protest… Blocking the information highway.
Any chance of a reply to my previous comment, Quinton?
Well Sony, you dance with the devil and all that. This could escalate even further.
have your say