Fergie's Tech Blog

Hawaii Hospital Loses Personal Data on 120k Patients

Bob Sullivan writes in The Red Tape Chronicles:

Last month, Wilcox Memorial Hospital in Kauai had to inform 120,000 past and present patients that their private information had been misplaced. Their names, addresses, Social Security numbers, even medical record numbers had been placed on one of those tiny USB flash drives -- and now, according to a letter sent home, the drive was missing.

The device had been misplaced in early October, and hasn't been heard from since, said hospital spokeswoman Lani Yukimura. While medical information was not on the device, it would be a treasure trove for an ID thief who found it. Once plugged into any computer’s USB port, a finder would have access to about as many identities as ChoicePoint Inc. leaked to criminals last year. So why has the Wilcox incident gotten so little attention?

The Hawaii hospital’s lost thumb drive passed by largely unnoticed. Perhaps it was because Hawaii flies a bit under the radar of the mainland. Or it may just be that people are tired of this kind of news. After all, according to a survey conducted by the Ponemon Institute recently, about 1 in 9 adults received a letter in the mail this past year saying their data had been lost or stolen. So what's another 120,000?

posted by Fergie @ 11/18/2005 07:34:00 AM