Yale School of Medicine Statement on Laptop Computer Theft

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

http://opa.yale.edu/news/article.aspx?id=7696

August 18, 2010

New Haven, Conn. -- Yale School of Medicine today announced that it has 
begun notifying approximately 1,000 individuals whose clinical health 
information was contained on a laptop computer that was recently stolen. 
There is no indication that any individual information on the computer 
has been misused.

Yale and New Haven Police Departments have been working closely together 
and will continue to pursue any leads. The computer was stolen on the 
night of July 28 and was reported as missing the next morning. No Social 
Security, financial or insurance numbers were contained in the 
computer’s files. The computer was owned by Yale and stolen from the 
office of a data analyst at the Yale School of Medicine. While access to 
the stolen laptop was protected by a password, the laptop was not 
encrypted.

Robert Alpern, M.D., Dean of the School of Medicine said, “We deeply 
regret this incident. The School of Medicine considers the privacy of 
its patients of paramount importance. In addition to affirming all of 
our existing measures to protect patient privacy, we are moving to 
introduce immediately several security upgrades.”

All of the affected individuals are being sent personal letters or will 
be contacted directly. Those individuals may call a Yale information 
hotline at 877-751-3361.  Yale has also notified and is working closely 
with the appropriate governmental and health agencies.

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