It just takes a moment.
On July 17, an independent contractor for Database Designs Associates left his backpack in a relative’s nursing home room when he was asked by staff to step out for a minute. When he returned, the backpack was gone. In it was a laptop containing data from Health Care for All and Boston Teacher’s Union.
Data from the Health Care for All were from callers to their helpline, and included the callers’ names, addresses, Social Security numbers, primary and secondary languages, insurance status information, demographic information, and limited health-related information. The contractor had been given the caller database to help HCFA create a new database.
For the Boston Teacher’s Union, data included members’ names, addresses, school e-mail addresses and phone numbers, school employee ID numbers, job title, school assignment, and possibly union member status.
The laptop was installed with software that would “self-destruct” the data if an when any attempt was made to connect the laptop to the Internet. As of August 28, there was no such attempt logged.
Seventy-one New Hampshire residents were notified of the breach, but the larger number, not reported, will be in Massachusetts, where both FCFA and the BTU are based.
Source: Notification to the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office.