Providence Alaska Medical Center is Missing Laptop Containing Confidential Information on 250 Cancer Patients
Technorati Tag: Security Breach
Date Reported:
8/11/07
Organization:
Providence Alaska Medical Center
Contractor/Consultant:
None
Number Affected:
250
Types of Data:
Name, birth date, medical record numbers, referrals and diagnosis
Breach Description:
A laptop containing confidential information for up to 250 Providence Alaska Medical Center cancer patients is missing after last seen at an off-site conference. The laptop was used at the conference for the delivery of presentations to a small group of cancer physicians.
Reference URL:
http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/west/2007/08/14/82648.htm
http://www.ktuu.com/Global/story.asp?S=6918228
Report Credit:
Rebecca Palsha, KTUU News Channel 2
Response:
From the online news stories depicted above:
"This is a limited group of oncology patients who would have been seen at Providence between Aug. 2005 and May 2007."
"Hospital officials say it hasn't been stolen, but no one has seen it since May 31."
[Comfyllama] Ugh. May 31st? The laptop has been missing for more than 2-1/2 months already.
"There could have been social security numbers and addresses on there, but we don't believe that was the case for the majority of the information,"
[Comfyllama] Another Ugh.
Providence Alaska Medical Center is offering one year of free credit monitoring to affected individuals and a phone number to contact for further details (1-)
Commentary:
It is disappointing that Providence isn't really sure what data was on the laptop. It is also disappointing that this data was allowed to be on the laptop without further protection such as encryption. It really stinks that the people affected are cancer patients.
Past Breaches:
None since August 2007
Date Reported:
8/11/07
Organization:
Providence Alaska Medical Center
Contractor/Consultant:
None
Number Affected:
250
Types of Data:
Name, birth date, medical record numbers, referrals and diagnosis
Breach Description:
A laptop containing confidential information for up to 250 Providence Alaska Medical Center cancer patients is missing after last seen at an off-site conference. The laptop was used at the conference for the delivery of presentations to a small group of cancer physicians.
Reference URL:
http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/west/2007/08/14/82648.htm
http://www.ktuu.com/Global/story.asp?S=6918228
Report Credit:
Rebecca Palsha, KTUU News Channel 2
Response:
From the online news stories depicted above:
"This is a limited group of oncology patients who would have been seen at Providence between Aug. 2005 and May 2007."
"Hospital officials say it hasn't been stolen, but no one has seen it since May 31."
[Comfyllama] Ugh. May 31st? The laptop has been missing for more than 2-1/2 months already.
"There could have been social security numbers and addresses on there, but we don't believe that was the case for the majority of the information,"
[Comfyllama] Another Ugh.
Providence Alaska Medical Center is offering one year of free credit monitoring to affected individuals and a phone number to contact for further details (1-)
Commentary:
It is disappointing that Providence isn't really sure what data was on the laptop. It is also disappointing that this data was allowed to be on the laptop without further protection such as encryption. It really stinks that the people affected are cancer patients.
Past Breaches:
None since August 2007
Posted by Evan Francen at 8/11/2007 3:36 PM 
Categories: Providence Alaska Medical Center, Lost Laptop
Categories: Providence Alaska Medical Center, Lost Laptop
Posts Atom 1.0
Something similar happened in 2005 with Christus St. Joseph's Hospital in Huston, when 19000 patients were affected because of a stolen computer. In 2006 Mount St. Mary's Hospital when two laptops containing date of birth, address and Social Security numbers of patients was stolen in an armed robbery in the New Jersey. Than were affected like 17000 people. After that was Georgetown University Hospital from Washington when the data of 23000 patients was exposed online via the computers of an e-prescription provider, InstantDx. Data included names, addresses, SSNs, and dates of birth, but not medical or prescription data. GUH suspended the trial program with InstantDX. And I could go on. But you can make an average only with this ones, and see how many people had they data lost!!!!
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