Another Laptop Stolen From Hospital Staff
Lifted out of a car parked at a restaurant, a laptop containing the data of more than 14,000 patients is now in questionable hands. Adding insult to injury, the information was not properly encrypted -- leaving the social security numbers, dates of birth, records and addresses of the patients exposed to unnecessary risk.
I cannot stress enough how important it is for organizations such as this -- specifically medical professionals who keep extensive digital records -- to install appropriate, and good, laptop security. It may very well be the case that the information will never be accessed and will not be misused, but once again, the hospital had to contact every patient that was potentially affected -- lots of work that no employee enjoys performing. The worry, hassle and perhaps even news story could easily have been avoided.
Destroy or recover your data instantly, see who it is that has the laptop, know the data is inaccessible, and definitively pinpoint its location -- it sounds like a scenario too good to be true, but it's completely possible: by simply taking a moment to safeguard one's business, organization or personal information right now.
After seeing these events happening so often in the news, I will make it a point to ask my family physician whether they take any precautionary measures in terms of mobile security; who knows, if we all do that, we may very well prevent these things from happening so often in the future. Tell your doctor!
Featured image: r3v || cls/Flickr, cc