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December 9, 2008

Computer stolen from hospital has patients' info

By Bruno Matarazzo Jr.

SALEM — Police and security at Salem Hospital are investigating the theft of a laptop computer that contained personal and medical information on approximately 50 patients.

A Hewlett-Packard laptop was stolen from the cardiology department between late November and last Thursday, when hospital nursing staff reported the theft to Salem police.

In the police report, hospital staff said the laptop was stolen from a locked office in the Macomber building on the hospital campus.

"It appeared that an employee stole the laptop," the police report said.

Hospital spokesman Kevin Ronningen said the hospital's information technology department is trying to determine which patients were affected by the theft.

Once the names of those patients are known, the hospital will send letters explaining what happened and what type of information was on the computer. The hospital will provide a phone number for those patients to call to provide help "so that their information is not being used fraudulently."

But detecting fraudulent use of medical information is a difficult task, according to the Ponemon Institute, a research think tank dedicated to advancing privacy and data protection practices.

The group recently launched a tracking study of various kinds of identity theft. Preliminary results indicate that medical identity theft is much more difficult to detect and, as a result, becomes much more difficult to resolve once the crime has been perpetrated.

"With medical identity theft, you typically don't get statements every month," said Mike Spinney, a certified information privacy professional and a principal with a Townsend-based consulting firm, SixWeight. "This type of identity crime can go on a lot longer before it's caught, and it's a bigger headache for the consumer to deal with once they realize it's happening."

While it is not known whether the goal of the thief was to steal the medical records or the laptop itself, "the assumption has to be the people who are affected are at risk," Spinney said.

The problem with laptop computers is that they are often treasure troves of highly sensitive information, according to Spinney.

The modern workplace expects its employees to be more mobile and more productive, thanks to today's communications and collaboration tools. The problem is, Spinney said, those organizations often aren't willing to invest in the tools to secure mobile data.

Ronningen said the laptop stolen was an older model. He added the older laptops are in the process of being phased out by the hospital, and are being replaced with laptops that contain encryption software that scrambles patient information.

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Computer stolen from hospital has patients' info
by By Bruno Matarazzo Jr. , , Tue Dec 09, 2008, 10:04 AM EST
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