Here we are in 2014, with operating systems which feature built-in data encryption, and in the news today over on WYFF’s site is a story titled “Hospital: Patient info at risk after laptop is stolen“. It was just a couple years ago that I wrote on this blog about a similar incident HERE.
The long and short of today’s story is… A laptop was stolen. Said laptop has not been recovered. Laptop MAY contain patient data. Data is not encrypted.
That pretty much covers it. From that, we can conclude that if someone recovers the laptop, which was supposedly thrown into a lake, that data could be recovered.
Would this even be newsworthy if the hospital had used encryption? I don’t think so. And if they had decided to use that encryption, it would not have cost them a penny more if they are using a modern OS (such as BitLocker full disk encryption on Microsoft Windows 7 Professional and Windows 8 / 8.1 Professional).
If you have notebooks that contain sensitive data, consider utilizing encryption. If you have no idea where to start and you are in the Greenville or Upstate SC area, feel free to call upon us. We will be happy to evaluate what you have, and help you implement a plan to protect your data.
Homeland Secure IT can be reached at 864-990-4748 or you can use our CONTACT FORM.