Laptop stolen in US
26/03/2008 16:40:02
The US National Institute of Health (NIH) has admitted to losing a laptop containing potentially sensitive data.
It is thought that the computer was stolen last month from a senior worker's car, but the organisation only revealed the theft last week.
The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), which is part of the NIH and employs the worker whose vehicle the laptop was stolen from, said earlier this week that the laptop contained the unencrypted medical records of 2,500 people who took part in a government study.
These records included information such as birth dates, hospital medical record numbers and MRI reports, patients were told in a letter.
Elizabeth Nabel, director of the NHLBI, said in a statement: "Although the laptop was turned off and password protected, so that retrieving the confidential information would require considerable computer sophistication, the NHLBI recognises that such information should not have been stored in an unencrypted form on a laptop computer."
A number of security experts have condemned the theft, with Lark Allen, executive vice president of Wave Systems, telling SCMagazineUS.com that the breach was "surprising" considering the level of media attention directed at similar incidents in the past.
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