Hospitals
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Over 250,000 Vassar Brothers Medical Center patients’ personal information was stored in a stolen laptop.
The laptop computer was taken from the emergency department sometime between June 23 and June 26, according to a letter sent to patients and obtained by the Journal. It was used to register ER patients. The letter was dated July 17. It said the computer was password protected and that there is “no evidence that the hard drive has been inappropriately accessed.”
According to the letter, the computer contained patients’ names, date of birth, sex, telephone number and Social Security number.
Anyone affected by this breach is encouraged to contact at least one of the major credit bureaus and place a fraud alert on their files.
Update (08/06/06): Copies of the notifications letters are found here:


Source: PoughkeepsieJournal.com
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Written by MCruz on August 2nd, 2006 with 4 comments.
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A personal computer was stolen from a Lancaster General Hospital (LGH) office on June 10th. Only doctor’s information was stored on the computer. It is believed the equipment was the primary target of the burglary and not the data. Nevertheless, hospital administrators have sent out notification letters to the doctors. The letter instructs physicians to watch their financial accounts and credit card activities for any signs of identity theft.
The letter noted that a “free-standing PC” was stolen from the office, which contained files listing doctors’ practice addresses, phone numbers and Social Security numbers, used “to verify accreditations and educational backgrounds as part of the credentialing process.”
A copy of the notification letter can be seen here.


Source: Lancaster Online
Written by MCruz on July 28th, 2006 with 2 comments.
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Georgetown University Hospital (GUH) patient information was exposed on a third party computer system maintained by InstantDX (a Maryland-based firm). A computer consultant stumbled upon the unsecured data while performing a software installation at a physician’s office.
The leaked information included patients’ names, a ddresses, Social Security numbers and dates of birth, but not medical data or the drugs the patients were prescribed, says Marianne Worley, a spokeswoman for the Washington, D.C.-based hospital known for providing emergency care to the nation’s most powerful political figures.
…
“The initial investigation has found that no patient demographic data was inappropriately used,” says Worley, who says between 5,600 and 23,000 patients were affected.
There is no indication in the article if those affected will be notified of the incident. In fact, the Indiana-based consultant may be blamed instead of commended for discovering the unsecured data.
Source: Wired
Written by MCruz on July 25th, 2006 with 1 comment.
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