Data Breach Alert: Seven years of government medical data exposed

Posted by Joe on March 24th, 2008

A government laptop containing was stolen last month and could potentially expose sensitive detailed medical information on about 2,500 patients enrolled in a National Health Institutes of Health study. The laptop had over seven years worth of clinical trial data including names, medical diagnoses and details of the patients heart scans.

While we typically only cover breaches that include sensitive financial data, this data breach is significant in that the information was not encrypted which is a violation of the government's data security policy. There was also no public announcement or notification of affected individuals until Thursday March 20, nearly a full month after the data breach occurred.

It is important for consumers to realize that these types of risks are present anytime sensitive information is exposed to outside parties. For more information on how to protect yourself, visit our identity theft protection services comparison.

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