Stolen hard drive affects 16,288 UCLA patients
During a home invasion, an external computer hard drive that contained some personal information on 16,288 University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Health System patients was stolen.
Although this information was encrypted, the password necessary to unscramble the information was written on a piece of paper near the hard drive and cannot be located, according to the Los Angeles-based healthcare system who added there is no evidence suggesting that the information has been accessed or misused. “The individual whose hard drive was stolen left employment at UCLA in July 2011.”
The documents containing information did not include Social Security numbers or any financial information. They did include first and last names and may have included birth dates, medical record numbers, addresses and medical record information.
The police were immediately contacted, but so far, the stolen items have not been recovered.
This breach comes on the heels of UCLA forking over $865,500 to settle a suit this July for violations of HIPAA privacy and security rules.
UCLA concluded it is reviewing its policies and procedures and will make any necessary revisions to help reduce the likelihood of such an incident occurring again.
Although this information was encrypted, the password necessary to unscramble the information was written on a piece of paper near the hard drive and cannot be located, according to the Los Angeles-based healthcare system who added there is no evidence suggesting that the information has been accessed or misused. “The individual whose hard drive was stolen left employment at UCLA in July 2011.”
The documents containing information did not include Social Security numbers or any financial information. They did include first and last names and may have included birth dates, medical record numbers, addresses and medical record information.
The police were immediately contacted, but so far, the stolen items have not been recovered.
This breach comes on the heels of UCLA forking over $865,500 to settle a suit this July for violations of HIPAA privacy and security rules.
UCLA concluded it is reviewing its policies and procedures and will make any necessary revisions to help reduce the likelihood of such an incident occurring again.