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« Data Security Problems at the HHS and CMS...the Oversight Agency for the HIPAA Security Rule | Main | Iron Mountain Loses More Personal Data...This Time for 17,000 LIRR Present and Past Employees »

Another Laptop With Personal Info on ~40,000 Individuals, Including SSNs, Stolen From A Car

Well, the list of incidents involving the theft of a laptop containing personal information about a large number of people continues to grow.  A central Florida station reported:

"Health insurer Aetna Inc. reported that a laptop computer containing personal information on about 40,000 of its members was stolen, according to a Local 6 News report.  Aetna officials said that someone stole a laptop out of an employee's vehicle.  The laptop contained personal information on 38,000 of its members, including names, addresses and Social Security numbers.  Aetna is sending letters to its members, Local 6 News has learned.  The insurance company said it has not detected that any of the information on the notebook computer has been used, the report said.  Watch Local 6 News for more on this story."

No mention of whether or not the data was clear text, but the report seems to imply it was not encrypted.

The mantra continues...

Encrypt personal information...don't allow databases with large amounts of personal information on mobile computing devices...don't leave laptops in cars...

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Posted by Rebecca Herold on April 27, 2006 8:34 AM |

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Rebecca Herold's Bio:

Rebecca Herold,CISSP, CIPP, CISM, CISA, FLMI, has been providing information security, privacy and regulatory assistance and services to organizations from a wide range of industries for over 18 years. Rebecca was instrumental in building the information security and privacy program while at Principal Financial Group, which was awarded the CSI Information Security Program of the Year Award in 1998. IT Security ranked Rebecca as one of the top 59 IT security influencers, and Computerworld put Rebecca their list of the 25 top privacy experts and on their list of the 9 best privacy consulting firms. Rebecca has been CPO for two consulting organizations, and has had her own information privacy, security and compliance business since 2004. Rebecca has written chapters for several books, dozens of articles, and has been writing a monthly privacy column for the CSI Alert newsletter since the beginning of 2001, and is working on her 11th book. Some of her other books include The Privacy Papers, Managing an Information Security and Privacy Awareness and Training Program, The Definitive Guide to Security Inside the Perimeter (Realtime Publishers), The Shortcut Guide to Improving IT Service Support through ITIL (Realtime Publishers), and The Practical Guide to HIPAA Privacy and Security Compliance. In addition, Rebecca is the leader of The Realtime IT Compliance Community where she posts to her IT Compliance weblog. You can contact Rebecca at: rebecca_herold@realtimepublishers.net.