Jail Time For Man Who Accessed Computer Of A Competing Medical Practice

An Atlanta, Georgia man was sentenced earlier this month to one year and one month in prison for intentionally accessing a computer of a competing medical practice, and taking personal information of the patients. The individual made this improper access in order to send marketing materials to patients at the other practice.

The individual worked as an information technology specialist for a perinatal medical practice in Atlanta. He separated from employment from the first practice and joined a competing perinatal medical practice, located in the same building. He then used his home computer to hack into his former employer's patient database. He downloaded the names, telephone numbers, and addresses of his former employer's patients and then deleted all the patient information from their system. He subsequently used the patient names and contact information to launch a direct-mail marketing campaign for the benefit of his new employer. Even so, there was no evidence