From the BBC: Medical records, confidential letters and X-rays of patients in Lanarkshire have been found on second-hand computer hard drives. Two disks bought for a study on data security contained sensitive information from Monklands and Hairmyres hospitals. NHS Lanarkshire said the disks were disposed of in 2006 before it improved its data protection procedures….
Category: Health Data
Ca: Lost BlackBerry had patient data
Beverlyy Ware of The Chronicle Herald reports that 74 continuing care patients in the Bridgewater area are being notified that their name, age, address and doctor’s name and information on their medical conditions and medications were on a BlackBerry that was lost April 12. The BlackBerry was not password-protected.
Bits ‘n Pieces
In the justice system: Nakeshia Brown, a former patient care assistant at Memorial Hermann Hospital, is facing charges of identity theft and bank fraud for allegedly stealing patients’ info to use to open credit cards. More. In 2003, the hospital was also involved in data breach involving a dishonest employee who stole patient information and…
Ohio Heritage Bank replaces cards due to HPY breach (updated)
Heartland Payment Systems may be back in VISA’s good graces as PCI-Compliant, but the impact of the breach continues to emerge. Leonard Hayhurst of Coshocton Tribune reports that Ohio Heritage Bank was alerted over the weekend that 800 debit cards were compromised due to the breach. Of the 800 cards, 15 showed fraudulent charges….
Another breach raises questions about the security of online health data
First it was an extortion demand made to Express Scripts in October 2008, followed by similar threats to some of their clients that members’ personal information and prescription data would be exposed on the web if the company didn’t pay up. Now the Virginia Department of Health Professions is also on the receiving end of…
UK: Stolen laptops held details of 10,000
Amanda Crook of The Manchester Evening News reports that the paper learned of two more breaches involving NHS by using Freedom of Information requests: Two laptops containing patient data were stolen during break-ins at The Christie. The laptops contained names, hospital numbers, some addresses and test results. A computer with the names, addresses, dates of…