From the press release (pdf) from the Information Commissioner’s Office: The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is reminding NHS bodies of the importance of data security having found four more NHS organisations in breach of the Data Protection Act. Cambridge University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Central Lancashire Primary Care Trust, North West London Hospitals NHS Trust…
Category: Lost or Missing
UK: 5,600 patients’ records ‘lost’ on memory stick
Claire Lomax of Telegraph & Argus reports that personal information of patients was on an unsecured flash drive lost by an employee of Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust who did not follow procedures. The flash drive, which was reportedly lost in the library at Leeds Metropolitan University on April 21, contained patients’ names, addresses,…
Lost flash drive contains data on 5,500 Oklahoma employees
Jennifer Pierce of News6 reports that an employee of the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission lost a flash drive with personal information, including Social Security numbers and payroll information, on 5,500 state employees. The employee had transferred the data to a flash drive after his laptop had become infected, and then lost the flash drive at…
FairPoint probes on security breach
FairPoint Communications Inc. says a worker’s failure to abide by security precautions caused a portable data-storage device containing employee information to disappear from an undisclosed FairPoint office. The device contained information for all current FairPoint employees and some former employees, or about 4,400 individuals in total. Such data may have included names, home addresses and…
(Follow-up) UK: ICO takes enforcement action against the British Council for serious data breach
As a follow-up to an incident reported in January: The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has found the British Council in breach of the Data Protection Act after the loss of an unencrypted computer disc. Details lost include sensitive personal information relating to trade union membership of over 2,000 members of staff. The British Council reported…
(Follow-up) UK: Human error blamed for data loss
A health trust did not take adequate steps to prevent the loss of a memory stick with data on 6,360 prisoners and ex-prisoners, a report has said. The USB stick was being used to back up clinical databases at HMP Preston when it was lost on 30 December. A report found that human error was…