Personal data of thousands of Portland, Oregon psychology students and unemployed residents was stolen in two car burglaries last week. About 4,000 Portland, Ore. psychology patients and 2,900 unemployed state residents will be affected by this data breach.
A laptop containing patient names, Social Security numbers and diagnoses was stolen from the car of Oregon psychologist David Gostnell during the weekend of Aug. 6. The stolen laptop did not have any data security or encryption software installed.
In another incident, a data storage device containing the names and Social Security numbers of unemployed residents of Multnomah County in Oregon was stolen from the car of a Portland Community College (PCC) employee on Aug. 5.
Gostnell runs a private practice in northeast Portland and works at Oregon Health & Science University. Only the records from patients he privately treated were stolen. Though his laptop was password protected, but a disc left in the CD drive contained a partial backup of the hard drive, including sensitive patient information. His briefcase, which contained patient evaluation records, was also stolen. All of those records were recovered in a nearby trash bin shortly after the theft.
Individuals who were privately treated by Gostnell can call (877) 461-7657, if they have questions about the matter.
Meanwhile, in the PCC related incident, a flash drive was stolen that contained the personal information of participants in the Oregon Food Stamp Employment Transition Program, which is operated at PCC and provides support and job-hunting skills for unemployed Oregon residents. A PCC employee who worked at multiple sites was transferring the data from one site to another when the theft occurred. The flash drive was in a bag that was stolen from the car.
Dana, the spokesman for PCC said, “There is no evidence that any name or Social Security number has been used so far”. He also added that PCC has sent letters to affected individuals and has offered them a one-year subscription for credit-protection services.
The college also has posted credit protection information online.
How to prevent data breach?
In cases of laptop theft, the insurance company may cover the hardware loss, but the data might be lost forever, or in worst cases might land in the wrong hands. Thus, data security software is required which will reduce the theft to merely that of hardware. That is certainly a small price to pay compared to what can happen if you lose confidential or sensitive data.
Alertsec Xpress offers a very good and easy-to-use laptop security service that includes more than the traditional software licensing model. Feel free to subscribe for your personal 30-day free trial.
Source: http://www.oregonlive.com/, The Oregonian, “Car thieves get personal data on Portland psychology patients, unemployed Oregonians,” Aug. 12, 2010.
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