Hospital Data Breach Week 4

A data breach happened back in August at a physician’s office in Vermont. This data breach was not through the internet, but from a burglary. In the past weeks I have discussed data breaches over the internet, but not any physical ones. Companies are worried about data being stolen over the internet, but they also need to worry about physical break in’s as well.

About two thousand patients’ medical records are being exposed.  This includes patient names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers and Medicare/Medicaid numbers (Burglary of Vermont Medical Practice Reported). Since the break in the physician’s office has installed security cameras, they are going to encrypt the computers and train employees on data security. They have also given patients one free year of credit monitoring and identity theft repair as well. The good thing is that the doctor’s office had an identity theft insurance policy!

Why didn’t they have cameras install and the computers encrypted before the break in? Every business should have security cameras install, especially doctors’ offices and businesses that deal with people’s person information. It shouldn’t take a data breach to make businesses increase their security. After four weeks its becoming apparent that companies in both the physical and virtual aspect aren’t prepared for data breaches. I keep asking the same questions every week.

References

           

Burglary of Vermont Medical Practice Reported: PHI of 2,000 Patients Exposed - HIPAA Journal. (2015, September 16). Retrieved September 25, 2015, from http://www.hipaajournal.com/burglary-of-vermont-medical-practice-reported-phi-of-2000-patients-exposed-8103/