ECOHEALTH ALLIANCE PRESIDENT WITNESSES ON THE ORIGINS OF COVID, WUHAN LAB’S TAXPAYER-FUNDED RESEARCH
Employees used unauthorized Google accounts, which can be searched online seamlessly, to purchase names, phone numbers, email addresses, their COVID-19 exposure status, sexual orientations, and other data on citizens who had been touched for contact tracing, even though the company’s contract with the state required it to back up this data.
The Pennsylvania Capitol is seen on Dec. 16, 2021, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File).
State health officials fired Insight Global in 2021 after the data breach was revealed. A subsequent federal whistleblower lawsuit alleged that Insight Global won its lucrative contract with Pennsylvania knowing that it lacked secure computer systems and good enough cybersecurity.
The whistleblower, a former contractor for Insight Global, complained to the company’s control that residents’ fitness data was potentially publicly available, according to the lawsuit. The company first ignored him and then, when pressed, told the whistleblower “that he was unwilling to pay for mandatory computer security systems and instead preferred to use his contract budget to hire a giant number of workers,” the lawsuit states.
It took Insight Global five months to begin obtaining information about the physical condition of residents, according to the U. S. Department of Justice.
“Government contractors who fail to comply with procedures pertaining to individuals’ private fitness data will be held accountable,” Maureen R Maureen said Wednesday. Dixon, who heads the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General, said he is not a member of the U. S. Department of Health. The U. S. Department of Homeland Security has filed a settlement for about $500,000.
Insight Global, which has about 70 offices in the U. S. , Canada and the U. K. , has in the past stated that it mishandled sensitive information and apologized. The company said at the time that it belatedly learned that its employees had created unauthorized Google accounts to share information. .
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A message sent to the company on Wednesday seeking comment on the deal.