Express Scripts clients receive threats to release data

CNNMoney.com, November 12, 2008

Express Scripts Inc. said a small number of its clients have received written threats to expose their personal information. The pharmacy-benefits management company said the threats are believed to be connected to a written extortion threat the company made public last week, which is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The letter included personal information of 75 members. Earlier this year, there was a spate of security lapses at hospitals, health insurers and the federal government, in which private information on hundreds of thousands of patients. The steady stream of privacy breaches threatens to undermine the healthcare industry's effort to adopt electronic medical records. A major barrier to healthcare digitization has been anxiety about preserving the security of such sensitive data.