Latest coverage for Children

Measure Would Create Federal AI Coordinator, Expand Data Interoperability EffortsA bipartisan House bill would create a federal coordinator to accelerate the use of artificial intelligence, standardized health data and interoperable research platforms in an effort to speed pediatric cancer research, improve clinical trial design and expand treatment options for children.

2023 LockBit Attack Affected Nearly 9M People, Including ChildrenMCNA Dental, one of the largest providers of U.S. government-sponsored dental benefits to children, has agreed to a proposed multimillion dollar settlement to resolve class action claims stemming from a 2023 LockBit ransomware attack and data theft that affected nearly 9 million people.

Hackers Constantly Break 'Confirmation of Data Destruction' PromisesWhen a business that stores children's personal data gets hit by data-leaking extortionists, what should it do? For Instructure, which develops online learning platform Canvas, the answer was to pay a ransom, and tell victims, straight-faced, to have "digital confirmation of data destruction."

28 Countries Join Forces to Pursue Violent Online Extremism Targeting ChildrenA global law enforcement initiative to coordinate the disruption of violent online extremism targeting minors and vulnerable individuals swept up 30 suspected members of "The Com," the decentralized, largely Western adolescent cybercrime community.

How UX Decisions Are Becoming Regulatory Liabilities for CISOsChildren's data is entering a new regulatory era where dark patterns, defaults and monetization choices can signal breached fiduciary duty. As privacy, safety and consumer laws converge globally, CISOs must treat manipulative UX, consent flows and retention practices as core security and governance risks.

AGs Cite Security Failures Leading to Illuminate Education's Late 2021 Data TheftA California-based vendor of software used to collect and analyze student data, including records of children with disabilities and special educational needs, has been fined a total of $5.1 million by the attorneys general in three states in the wake of a 2021 hack that affected 3 million people.

Breach Affects Pediatric, Orthodontic and Dental Surgery Practices in 6 StatesA Nashville, Tennessee firm that provides HR and finance services to dozens of specialty dental practices across six states is notifying more than 173,400 people of a 2024 email hacking incident affecting children and other patients. The company already faces several lawsuits related to the breach.

Norwegian Man Tells OpenAI: I Didn't Kill My ChildrenA Norwegian man is peeved that a chatbot hallucinated a violent backstory for his life after seeing that ChatGPT apparently believes he's a child killer spending decades inside prison. "The fact that someone could read this output and believe it is true is what scares me the most," he said.

Health Records of Children, Deceased Patients Among Compromised DataCommunity Health Center, which has a dozen primary care, dental and other clinics in Connecticut, is notifying nearly 1.1 million people - including pediatric patients and their parents and guardians - that their information was potentially stolen in a cyberattack detected earlier this month.

Meta Vows to AppealThe Irish data regulator fined social media platform Meta 251 million euros over a 2018 hack that exposed sensitive data of millions of European Facebook users, including that of children. The bug was in Facebook's "View As" feature permitting a user to see their own profile as it appears to others.

Inc Ransom is Leaking Stolen Data in At Least 2 Attacks, Including Pediatric InfoAt least three United Kingdom National Health Service hospitals are responding to recent cyber incidents, including a children's hospital and a heart and chest specialty hospital are both located in Liverpool and share IT systems. Inc Ransom claims to have stolen data from those two hospitals.

Advocacy Groups Call for Government to Regulate Social Media PlatformsThe Australian government is on track to introduce a bill in the Parliament to ban youths under the age of 16 from accessing social media platforms, but critics say age verification technologies are not accurate and a ban may push children into unsafe, less visible parts of the Internet.

Boston Children's Health Physicians Says Incident Involved Unnamed IT VendorRansomware gang BianLian has listed Boston Children's Health Physicians - a pediatric group that practices in New York and Connecticut - on its dark web site, threatening to release stolen patient and employee data. The practice said the September incident involved an IT vendor.

Nearby College's Health Sciences Center Is Also Experiencing an IT OutageUniversity Medical Center, a Lubbock, Texas-based public health system that includes a level-one trauma center and a children's hospital, is diverting ambulances and working to restore an IT outage affecting some patient services in the wake of a ransomware attack late last week.

New Report Accuses 9 Platforms of Surveillance of Users, Points to Privacy ConcernsThe U.S. Federal Trade Commission on Thursday published a report detailing how the largest social media and streaming services surveil both users and nonusers across the web while collecting vast troves of data, pointing to significant privacy concerns for children and teens.

New Report Accuses 9 Platforms of Surveillance of Users, Points to Privacy ConcernsThe U.S. Federal Trade Commission on Thursday published a report detailing how the largest social media and streaming services surveil both users and nonusers across the web while collecting vast troves of data, pointing to significant privacy concerns for children and teens.

Ofcom Prepares to Enforce the Online Safety ActThe British media regulator called on online platforms including search engines to roll out safety measures for recommendation algorithms. Ensuring that systems "do not operate to harm children" is a measure the regulator made in a proposal for regulations enacting the Online Safety Act.

Watchdog Audit Finds Security Gaps at HHS Children and Families AdministrationA Department of Health and Human Services division that administers funding, training and other services to children and families is putting sensitive data at high risk because of gaps in cloud security controls and practices, according to a watchdog agency report.

Also: Ransomware Group Rhysida Says It Sold Data Stolen in the AttackA Chicago children's hospital has finally restored access to its electronic health records systems following a cyberattack detected in late January. But the pediatrics hospital is still working to bring its MyChart patient portal and various other systems back online.

One Month Later, Lurie Children's Hospital Still Recovering From Ransomware AttackRansomware group Rhysida is offering to sell "exclusive data" stolen from a Chicago children's hospital for $3.4 million on the dark web, while the hospital is still struggling to recover its IT systems, including its electronic health records and patient portal, one month after the attack.