There are two newly revealed breaches on the HHS/OCR web site that were not previously reported in the media: Laboratory Corporation of America/Dynacare Northwest, Inc. State: Washington Approx. # of Individuals Affected: 5,080 Date of Breach: 2/12/10 Type of Breach: Theft Location of Breached Information: Laptop Lee Memorial Health System State: Florida Approx. # of…
Category: Theft
Detective: Hundreds could be victims of identity theft
Travis County [Texas] deputies have arrested a man who they say is responsible for hundreds of cases of identity theft. Piles of checks, drivers’ licenses, gift cards and receipts blanketed a table at the Travis County Sheriff’s Office Wednesday. “We recovered 70 fake Texas licenses and ID cards, 628 stolen and counterfeit checks,” said Detective…
Stolen council laptops contained sensitive information on pupils
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has found Warwickshire County Council in breach of the Data Protection Act (DPA) following the theft of two laptops and the loss of a memory stick. The laptops, which were unencrypted and not physically secured or locked away, were stolen from council offices. They held sensitive personal information relating to…
Barnet Council loses thousands of children’s personal files
From an editorial in Ham&High in the UK: Personal details of 9,000 school pupils in Barnet have been stolen from the home of a council employee, bosses have announced. In breach of the council’s policy the employee took home 20 unauthorised and unencrypted CDs and memory sticks full of the children’s details including names, dates…
(update) ECMC breach due to failure to adhere to policies
Small note for those who look for official disclosure and notification letters: the notification sent by the Educational Credit Management Corp (ECMC) to New Hampshire with a copy of its notification to those affected is now available online (pdf). In other news on the breach, Kelly Jackson Higgins of Dark Reading points out that the…
(follow-up) St Albans City and District Council takes action after voters’ details stolen
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has found St Albans City and District Council in breach of the Data Protection Act. A laptop was stolen which was used to store postal voters’ records as part of an election process in June 2009. The personal information, which was password protected but unencrypted, remained on the laptop when…