Security News > 2021 > April > COVID-19 Results for 25% of Wyoming Accidentally Posted Online

The Wyoming Department of Health said on Wednesday it accidentally posted COVID test results of state residents onto their public-facing storage buckets.

As far as the breath alcohol tests go, the employee accidentally posted the results of 18,312 people - mostly from Wyoming but also from other states - who breathed into a tube for law enforcement in Wyoming as far back as April 19, 2012 and on up until Jan. 27, 2021.

Last August, Dutch researcher Jelle Ursem found what he called the "Typhoid Mary of data leaks": nine separate files of highly sensitive personal health information from apps such as Office 365 and Google G Suite, from nine separate health organizations, leaked to GitHub, thanks to developer errors.

Michael Ceballos, WDH director, said in the advisory that nobody's social security numbers, banking, financial or health insurance information was exposed.

"In our modern world, where working with personal data and protected health information is part of a daily norm, mistakes certainly happen. Sadly, even the simplest errors can expose private information of thousands or even millions of individuals in a matter of a few keystrokes."

The department said that Wyoming residents who got COVID-19 tests anywhere in the U.S. before March 10 should call 847-5916 to find out if their information was involved.

News URL

https://threatpost.com/covid-19-results-accidentally-exposed/165709/