Technology
Blue Shield exposed 4.7M patients’ health data to Google
Healthcare institutions and insurers arguably collect the most sensitive information about you, including IDs, contact details, addresses and medical records. But they often don’t put in the same level of effort to protect that data.
That’s clear from the growing number of healthcare data breaches we’ve seen recently. In most of those cases, a bad actor was involved.
But in the latest news, health insurance giant Blue Shield of California confirmed that it had been sharing private health data of 4.7 million users with Google for three years without even realizing it.
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A person doing a Google search (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson))
What you need to know
Blue Shield of California just admitted to a major data privacy slip that went on for almost three years, from April 2021 to January 2024. It was using Google Analytics to track how people used its member websites. This is totally normal since every business does it. But the tool was accidentally sharing sensitive info with Google Ads because it wasn’t set up properly.
What I find extremely shocking is that it took the company three years to realize it was sharing its user data with Google to run ads. This says a lot about how much these healthcare giants care about protecting your data.
The shared data included a broad array of protected health information (PHI), including names, zip codes, gender, medical claim dates, online account numbers, insurance plan names, group numbers, family data and even search criteria used in its “Find a Doctor” feature.
“Google may have used this data to conduct focused ad campaigns back to those individual members. We want to reassure our members that no bad actor was involved, and, to our knowledge, Google has not used the information for any purpose other than these ads or shared the protected information with anyone,” the company said in a notice on its website.
This incident is not isolated. Over the past few years, healthcare and tech companies have come under scrutiny for similar missteps. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have already issued warnings about the use of tracking technologies in healthcare, especially those that might expose patient data to third parties without adequate transparency or safeguards.
A Google spokesperson provided the following comment to CyberGuy when asked about the Blue Shield data breach:
“Businesses, not Google, manage the data they collect and must inform users about its collection and use. By default, any data sent to Google Analytics for measurement does not identify individuals, and we have strict policies against collecting private health information (PHI) or advertising based on sensitive information.”
A person working on their laptop (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)
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Impact on patients and the industry
Since the data was only shared with Google and not any other party, the overall risk is relatively low, apart from the clear privacy violation. It’s highly unlikely that anyone else will gain access to it, so the chances of the data being misused are slim. Google says it doesn’t allow ads to be served based on sensitive information like health, so there’s a good chance your data wasn’t even used for advertising.
Blue Shield’s case follows a string of similar breaches. Companies like GoodRx, BetterHelp and Kaiser have all faced regulatory and legal consequences for sharing sensitive user data with advertising vendors. Some even settled for millions of dollars. Despite the risks, many healthcare organizations have continued using these tools due to the lack of clear regulatory guardrails, a situation complicated further by a federal court ruling that blocked the Biden administration’s attempts to curb the use of online trackers in healthcare settings.
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A person working on a laptop (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)
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How to protect your health data online
The Blue Shield of California incident is a reminder that even well-known healthcare providers can mishandle sensitive data. While you can’t always control what happens behind the scenes, there are steps you can take to reduce your exposure and safeguard your privacy:
1. Limit what you share on health portals: Avoid entering more personal details than absolutely necessary on insurance or provider websites. Tools like “Find a Doctor” might log your search terms, so keep inputs vague when possible.
2. Use privacy-focused browsers: Browsers like Brave or Firefox offer built-in privacy protections, such as blocking third-party trackers that could expose health-related browsing activity.
3. Turn off ad personalization: Visit Google’s Ad Settings and disable ad personalization. This won’t stop tracking, but it can reduce how your data is used for targeting.
4. Opt out of tracking where possible: Many healthcare sites use cookies and tracking tools. Choose “reject all” or the strictest privacy settings in cookie banners. If a tracking opt-out tool is available, use it.
5. Read privacy policies (yes, really): Look for language like “third-party sharing,” “advertising,” or “analytics.” If a healthcare provider mentions tools like Google Analytics or Meta Pixel, that’s a cue to proceed cautiously.
6. Monitor your accounts and credit: Keep an eye out for unusual insurance claims or medical charges. Set up credit alerts or monitoring services if your provider offers them, especially after a breach.
7. Ask questions: Call or email your healthcare provider or insurer. Ask what tracking tools they use and how they protect your data. The more consumers push for transparency, the more pressure there is to improve standards.
Bonus privacy steps (For extra peace of mind)
If you want to go beyond the basics, here are some additional steps that can help reduce your digital footprint and catch misuse early:
Use a personal data removal service: While no service can guarantee the complete removal of your data from the internet, a data removal service is really a smart choice. They aren’t cheap — and neither is your privacy. These services do all the work for you by actively monitoring and systematically erasing your personal information from hundreds of websites. It’s what gives me peace of mind and has proven to be the most effective way to erase your personal data from the internet. By limiting the information available, you reduce the risk of scammers cross-referencing data from breaches with information they might find on the dark web, making it harder for them to target you. Check out my top picks for data removal services here.
Consider identity theft protection services: If you’re concerned about fraud or medical identity theft, you’ll want to consider using identity theft protection services. Identity theft companies can monitor personal information like your Social Security number, phone number and email address and alert you if it is being sold on the dark web or being used to open an account. They can also assist you in freezing your bank and credit card accounts to prevent further unauthorized use by criminals.
Use strong antivirus software: To guard against malware or phishing attacks that could compromise access to your online health accounts, be sure to use strong antivirus software. The best way to safeguard yourself from malicious links that install malware, potentially accessing your private information, is to have antivirus software installed on all your devices. This protection can also alert you to phishing emails and ransomware scams, keeping your personal information and digital assets safe. Get my picks for the best 2025 antivirus protection winners for your Windows, Mac, Android and iOS devices.
Kurt’s key takeaway
It baffles me how careless most companies are when it comes to protecting user data. Blue Shield “mistakenly” shared your data with Google, which then used it to show personalized ads. It took the company three years to realize this. While most cyber incidents involve an attacker, this breach didn’t need one. We need accountability in data practices, especially when human error or tech oversight can cause damage at scale.
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Technology
Honda’s hybrid future starts with new Accord and RDX prototypes
Honda revealed prototypes of two new hybrid models, an Accord sedan and the Acura RDX SUV, during its annual business briefing this week, built on a platform that it says will begin launching next year. The RDX was announced earlier this year as Honda’s first SUV to feature the next-gen version of its two-motor hybrid system.
In March, Honda announced it would take a writedown of up to 2.5 trillion yen ($15.7 billion) on its EV investments. Now Honda says its EV-related losses will be “resolved” by 2029, and that it will reevaluate its EV plans in 2030.
Technology
New cancer tech sends chemo straight to tumors
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Chemotherapy can save lives, but anyone who has watched a loved one go through it knows how hard it can be. The nausea. The exhaustion. The infections. The days when even getting off the couch feels like too much.
That happens because standard chemotherapy travels through the bloodstream. It attacks cancer cells but can also harm healthy cells along the way. For some pancreatic cancer patients, that approach may be changing.
A targeted drug-delivery system from RenovoRx is designed to send chemotherapy directly near the tumor instead of through the entire body. The system, called Trans-Arterial Micro-Perfusion, or TAMP, is being studied in a Phase III clinical trial for locally advanced pancreatic cancer.
For 83-year-old Hernando Salcedo, who had been left weak, nauseous and overwhelmed by standard chemotherapy, the trial offered something he desperately needed: a reason to hope. He enrolled at Miami Cancer Institute and soon began to feel the shift in his own body. His appetite started coming back. His energy improved. He felt more like himself. “The difference was tremendous,” Hernando said. “I completed eight sessions, one every 15 days, and I felt dramatically better than I did with the original chemotherapy.”
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Cancer patient Hernando Salcedo attended a family wedding after RenovoRx’s Trans-Arterial Micro-Perfusion system delivered chemotherapy directly near his tumor, helping him feel stronger during treatment. (Hernando Salcedo)
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How the RenovoRx drug-delivery device works
RenovoRx’s platform uses the FDA-cleared RenovoCath device to deliver chemotherapy through a catheter placed in an artery near the tumor. A physician guides the catheter into position using X-ray imaging.
Shaun Bagai, CEO of RenovoRx, said the platform is designed to localize chemotherapy delivery near the tumor instead of relying on the drug to travel through the whole body.
“Once in position, two small balloons on the catheter are inflated, and the system is adjusted to isolate a targeted segment of artery adjacent to a tumor,” Bagai said. “The chemotherapy drug is then infused between the balloons, creating pressure to push the drug across the vessel wall and near the tumor, directly bathing the target tumor.”
That setup allows doctors to focus treatment in a specific area rather than exposing more of the body to chemotherapy. “The procedure itself is minimally invasive and is typically performed in an outpatient setting without the need for patients to be put under general anesthesia,” Bagai said.
For patients already dealing with pain, fatigue and fear, that outpatient approach may feel less overwhelming than a major hospital procedure.
How targeted chemotherapy for pancreatic cancer works
To understand why this approach matters, it helps to start with the problem doctors are trying to solve. Dr. Ripal Gandhi, a vascular interventional radiologist and interventional oncologist at Baptist Health Miami Cardiac & Vascular Institute and Miami Cancer Institute, explained why standard chemotherapy can be so hard on the body.
“With IV chemotherapy, the drug travels through the bloodstream, affecting both cancerous and healthy cells, which can lead to side effects,” Dr. Gandhi said. TAMP takes a more targeted route. A doctor places a catheter in an artery near the tumor, then delivers chemotherapy into that area instead of relying on the drug to circulate throughout the body.
Dr. Gandhi compared it to “a drip irrigation system for individual plants instead of watering an entire lawn.” For patients, that means doctors are trying to focus more of the treatment near the cancer while reducing how much chemotherapy reaches the rest of the body.
Why pancreatic cancer is so difficult to treat
Pancreatic cancer has a reputation for being one of the hardest cancers to fight, partly because the tumor itself can block treatment from working the way doctors want it to.
Dr. Gandhi said that creates a major challenge for standard IV chemotherapy. “Studies have shown that less than 10% of chemotherapy administered intravenously actually reaches tumor cells due to the few blood vessels in the tumor as well as dense fibrous stroma, which serves as a physical barrier in the tumor microenvironment,” Dr. Gandhi said.
That helps explain why targeted delivery could play an important role. TAMP sends the drug closer to the tumor rather than depending on the bloodstream to do all the work.
“This targeted approach via TAMP does not rely on chemotherapy circulating through the body to carry the drug to the tumor via tumor feeder vessels,” Dr. Gandhi said. “Trans-arterial micro-perfusion is a drug-delivery platform that delivers chemotherapy directly near the target tumor where it is needed most.”
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Chase McCann, associate director of the cell therapy lab core, demonstrates how cancerous T-cells from a child are used to develop an autoimmune treatment to fight cancer at Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 26, 2025. (Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post/Getty Images)
Patient says targeted chemotherapy gave him hope
Hernando’s cancer journey began after he went to the doctor with a swollen stomach and hip pain. Doctors diagnosed him with locally advanced pancreatic cancer. When he started standard chemotherapy in August 2025, the side effects hit hard. “My body was going through an incredible amount of stress,” Hernando said. “My stomach was inflamed, I had persistent pain in my head, and I had almost no energy.”
He was also receiving chemotherapy and radiation at the same time. “It was a very difficult period, both physically and emotionally,” he said. “I remember feeling exhausted, overwhelmed and unsure of what the future would look like.”
When doctors presented the targeted treatment option, Hernando saw it as more than another medical procedure. “To me, it felt like a new opportunity to live,” he said. “It gave me hope at a time when my family and I really needed it.”
He credits Dr. Gandhi and the team at Miami Cancer Institute with helping him through it all. “From the beginning, he was honest, supportive and clear with my wife, my family and me,” Hernando said. “That meant everything.”
Fewer chemotherapy side effects changed daily life
“Before, I was losing weight, had no appetite and felt drained,” Hernando said. “After switching treatments, things began to change. I stopped losing weight, my appetite came back, my color improved and I had more energy.”
Cancer treatment can sometimes take over everyday life. When side effects ease, patients can get pieces of their normal life back. “After about eight weeks, we could see real progress,” Hernando said. “I was eating more, moving more and feeling excited about life again.”
One moment still stands out. Hernando was able to attend a family wedding and dance the entire night. “That moment meant everything to me,” he said. “After everything I had been through, being able to celebrate with my family in that way felt like a gift.” For Hernando, it was a chance to feel like himself again. “That night at the wedding, I was not thinking only about cancer or treatment,” Hernando said. “I was living.”
Early trial results show survival and quality-of-life signals
The early data from RenovoRx’s Phase III TIGeR-PaC trial suggest the targeted approach may offer both survival and tolerability benefits for some patients.
Dr. Gandhi said completed clinical studies with TAMP in pancreatic cancer showed “a potential for better outcomes and less side effects for patients.”
“In the initial interim analysis of the TIGeR-PaC clinical trial, there was a trend towards improved overall survival by 6 months and improvement in the progression free survival by 8.1 months with 65% fewer adverse events in the TAMP arm of the study,” Dr. Gandhi said.
Who may benefit from targeted chemotherapy delivery?
This approach isn’t for every pancreatic cancer patient. Doctors still need to look at the cancer stage, tumor location, treatment history and whether the cancer has spread.
Dr. Gandhi said Hernando was the kind of patient who could be a strong fit. “He is precisely the type of patient who would benefit best from this approach because he has a tumor which is too far advanced to be treated surgically, but it has not spread to other organs,” Dr. Gandhi said.
He also pointed to clinical trials as an important option for pancreatic cancer patients.”I discussed with him that the recommendation of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network is that the best management for pancreatic cancer patients is participation in a clinical trial whenever possible and he was an ideal candidate,” Dr. Gandhi said.
He went on to say that TAMP may be an option for patients who are not candidates for surgery, patients who have failed chemotherapy or patients who no longer want to continue IV chemotherapy because of side effects.
“TAMP can be used at any point within the treatment landscape, before, during or after other treatment modalities such as IV chemotherapy or radiation,” he said.
PANCREATIC CANCER PATIENT SURVIVAL DOUBLED WITH HIGH DOSE OF COMMON VITAMIN, STUDY FINDS
The RenovoCath device uses a catheter-based system to deliver chemotherapy near the tumor instead of through the whole body. (RenovoRx)
What comes next for RenovoRx’s cancer treatment platform
RenovoRx says the RenovoCath catheter is already FDA-cleared for general therapy and chemotherapy delivery. The company is also nearing the end of enrollment in its Phase III TIGeR-PaC trial.
That trial is evaluating intra-arterial gemcitabine (IAG) delivered through RenovoCath for locally advanced pancreatic cancer. Bagai said enrollment is expected to be completed in mid-2026, with final results expected in 2027.
“If positive, data generated from this trial could potentially support a new drug application for this combination product to the FDA for IAG,” Bagai said. RenovoRx also sees potential beyond pancreatic cancer. “The challenge we are addressing is not unique to pancreatic cancer,” Bagai said.
He said the platform could apply to other solid tumors with limited blood supply, including bile duct cancer, certain lung cancers and sarcomas. “The platform is designed to work with different types of therapies, not just one drug,” Bagai said. “That opens the door to future combinations and potential partnerships, with the goal of expanding options for patients who have limited treatment choices.”
What this means to you
If you or someone you love has pancreatic cancer, this story is worth paying attention to. Clinical trials can open up options when standard treatment feels too hard to tolerate or stops working.
Drug delivery matters, too. The medicine itself is only part of the story. Where it goes inside the body can affect side effects, energy levels and quality of life. Targeted chemotherapy delivery remains a specialized treatment approach. Some cancer centers may not offer it, and every diagnosis will not be a fit. Your care team can review imaging, staging, prior treatments and overall health to see whether it makes sense.
Start with direct questions. Ask whether a clinical trial makes sense. You can also ask about targeted delivery options or a second opinion from a pancreatic cancer specialist. Hernando’s advice to other patients is simple. “I would tell them not to lose hope and not to wait to ask questions,” he said.
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Kurt’s key takeaways
Pancreatic cancer has a way of turning normal life upside down fast. One day, a family is making plans. The next, they are trying to understand scans, treatment choices and side effects that no one feels ready for. That is what makes Hernando’s story so powerful. The part that stays with you isn’t only the technology. It is the fact that he started eating again. He had more energy. He felt more like himself. And he got to dance at a wedding after wondering what the future would look like. The final Phase III trial results will be important. Doctors still need to see how widely this approach could help patients. But the promise is easy to understand. If chemotherapy can get closer to the tumor while taking less of a toll on the rest of the body, patients may get something that matters just as much as treatment itself: more good days.
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If you or someone you loved needed chemo, would targeted delivery change how you think about treatment? Let us know by writing to us at Cyberguy.com
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Technology
Use this map to find the data centers in your backyard
When Oregon resident Isabelle Reksopuro heard Google was gobbling up public land to fuel its data centers in her home state, she didn’t initially know what to believe. “There’s a lot of misinformation about data centers,” she said. “Google has denied taking that land.”
Technically, she explains, The Dalles, a city near the Washington state border, sought to reclaim that land, “and Google is just a big, unnamed power user.” The city had in fact asked for ownership of a 150-acre portion of Mount Hood National Forest, claiming it needs access to Mount Hood’s watershed to meet municipal needs as its population — 16,010 as of the 2020 census — grows. But critics, including environmentalists, say the city is trying to secure more water for Google, which has a sprawling data center campus in The Dalles that already consumes about one-third of the city’s water supply.
This controversy made Reksopuro curious about the backlash to data centers being built in other communities. So Reksopuro, a student at the University of Washington who studies the connections between tech and public policy, decided to map it out. Using information collected by Epoch AI and data scraped from legislation on data centers, she built an interactive map tracking AI policy around the world. She designed it to be simple enough for anyone to use. “I wanted it to be something that my younger sisters could play through and explore to understand what are the data centers in the area and what’s actually being done about it,” Reksopuro said. She hoped to shift their opinions that way, “instead of like, through TikTok.”
Four times a day, the map searches for new sources and checks them against the existing database Reksopuro built out. “Once it does that, it will write a new summary, add it to the news feed, and populate it on the sidebar,” she said. “I wanted it to be self-updating, since I’m also a student.”
Reksopuro isn’t against data centers, but she thinks tech giants benefit from a lack of transparency around data center policies. “Right now, it’s this really opaque thing — and all of a sudden, there’s a facility,” she said. “I think that if people knew about data centers beforehand, it would give them leverage. They would be able to negotiate: ask for job training programs, tax revenue, environmental monitoring, things to improve their community.”
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