Oh, for pity’s sake (you can substitute more colorful language if you are so inclined). DJO Global has sent out a notification about the theft of a backpack from a DJO consultant’s car on November 7 in Roseville, Minnesota. The backpack contained a laptop computer that had password protection (but not any encryption).
For some patients who had purchased orthopedic products from DJO, the personal information included names, phone numbers, diagnostic codes, DJO products received and dates the products were ordered or shipped, surgery dates, health insurer names (but not policy numbers), clinic names, doctors names and addresses, and doctors’ phone numbers.
For other patients, the personal information included the above plus social security numbers.
In a letter to those affected, Dale Hammer, Privacy Officer for DJO, writes:
As part of our internal investigation and work with a specialized company, we determined that, on November 21, 2014, all of the personal information contained on the laptop was deleted. That means the personal information was only contained on the stolen laptop between November 7, 2014 and November 21, 2014.
“Only?”
Those notified were offered one year of credit monitoring services with Experian ProtectMyID.
Copies of the notification letters are available on the California Attorney General’s website. The total number affected was not indicated, and this breach does not (yet?) appear on HHS’s public breach tool.
To their credit, notice of the breach is prominently linked from DJO’s web site. Their FAQ on the breach, however, may raise eyebrows even more, as they disclose that the backpack wasn’t even in the trunk of the car:
While parked at a coffee shop in Roseville, Minnesota, someone smashed open the backseat window of our consultant’s car. Among other things in the car, our consultant’s laptop was stolen.
The laptop had not been recovered as of the time of the notification, but DJO writes that they have no evidence of any misuse of the information on the laptop.