General Electric has lost a laptop containing private data on 50,000 of its employees, while medical firm Compass Health has lost a computer that had the Social Security numbers and medical records of an undisclosed number of patients. According to experts at InfoWatch, confidential information on portable devices must be encrypted, but organizations are failing to do so despite the growing number of thefts.
US industrial giant General Electric has lost a laptop computer with the private data of 50,000 former and current company employees. A GE spokesman made an official announcement about the lost computer on September 26, adding that it was taken from a locked hotel room where a GE employee had been staying. However, it was not disclosed why the private data was on the computer or who the employee was. The company is currently informing all those affected by post and is offering free credit monitoring services and insurance against identity theft.
Mental health care provider Compass Health also revealed that it recently suffered the theft of a laptop containing the Social Security numbers and medical information on an unspecified number of patients in its care. The company discovered the theft in June 2006, but waited until now to report it.
Stolen or lost computer equipment containing personal records has been the main reason for nearly 94 million American consumer records being exposed to potential identity theft. The computers lost by GE and Compass Health are just the latest examples of how most of that information has been compromised. Despite the growing number of cases, businesses continue to ignore the problem of data breaches and insiders.
“Preventing the physical theft of a computer is very difficult. However, the repercussions of such an incident can be limited to the cost of the computer itself, avoiding the financial damage caused by the loss of vitally important personal data. All that this requires is for any confidential information on portable devices to be encrypted. It is very straightforward, but it seem businesses prefer to suffer the full effects of such thefts,” believes Denis Zenkin, marketing director at InfoWatch.
Source: Consumer Affairs
