A local health systems company said a stolen hard drive contains personal and protected health information of some of its clients.
According to a statement from Spectrum, no financial information was on the hard drive, and the data was double password protected. However, it was not encrypted because it was being used temporarily, and patient information included names, mailing addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, diagnostic codes and medical insurance numbers.
According to Spectrum, the theft of three electronic devices from the Spectrum offices at 484 Main St. in Worcester occurred Aug. 24, but only one of the devices contained the personal and protected health information.
Read more on Worcester Telegram.
A notice dated October 13 on Spectrum’s web site begins:
Dear Spectrum Client:
We are writing to inform you about important information concerning a recent data security breach affecting your personal and protected health information, which Spectrum Health Systems, Inc. (“Spectrum”) discovered on August 30, 2011.
Incident
On August 24, 2011, a theft occurred at one of Spectrum’s offices in Worcester. Spectrum learned about the theft the following day and discovered that a desktop computer and a laptop computer were stolen. No personal information was contained on either the stolen desktop computer or laptop. Spectrum promptly notified the Worcester Police Department (WPD), which began an investigation. Upon further internal investigation, Spectrum learned, on or around August 30, 2011, that a non-portable computer hard drive containing personal information had also been stolen during the August 24 theft. Following discovery of the missing hard drive, Spectrum again promptly notified the WPD, including the fact that personal information was contained on it.
Based upon Spectrum’s investigation to date, the stolen hard drive could contain personal and protected health information of individuals that have received services at Spectrum programs between 2002 and March 2011 at Spectrum’s inpatient and outpatient programs in Westborough, Worcester, Milford, Framingham, Southbridge, Fitchburg, and Weymouth. The hard drive was double-password-protected but not encrypted. No financial information was contained on the hard drive.
The types of personal and protected health information that were contained on the hard drive included names, mailing addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, diagnostic codes, and medical insurance numbers.
Since the incident took place, Spectrum has taken several measures to upgrade the physical security of the facility. Spectrum has also completed reviewing whether all portable and non-portable electronic devices containing personal information are encrypted consistent with its written information security plan.
[…]
It’s not clear to me why the newspaper’s coverage says that the drive was not encrypted “because it was being used temporarily,” as that is not in Spectrum’s statement. Nor does the description of the drive suggest that its use was only temporary.
Given that the data were on patients being treated for addiction and mental illness, and that the drive contained diagnostic codes, this breach really involved sensitive data. And of course, apart from the medical sensitivity issues, the drive also contained Social Security numbers. Will Spectrum stop using them now?
Spectrum’s statement does not indicate how many patients were notified of the breach, but I expect additional details to be made available on this. Given Massachusett’s strict laws, it wouldn’t surprise me if the Attorney General’s Office investigated this one.