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30,000 health plan members' information on laptop stolen in Boston

EHR Connection, February 11, 2008

A laptop computer stolen in early January contained personal information about 30,000 members of Fallon Community Health Plan (FCHP), according to an article in the January 25 Worcester Telegram & Gazette.

FCHP, the fourth largest HMO in Massachusetts, told the newspaper that the laptop at a vendor office in Boston contained the names, dates of birth, and Social Security numbers of approximately 30% of its members.

The data analysis company, which FCHP declined to identify, originally told the HMO that the stolen laptop contained encrypted information about approximately 150 members, the newspaper reported. However, FCHP later concluded, with the assistance of a forensic technologist, that the laptop was not password-protected in accordance with company policy and that it contained personal information about additional members.

FCHP told the newspaper that it has mailed letters to 29,800 members affected by the breach in Worcester, Middlesex, Norfolk, Hampden, and Hampshire counties and has offered free credit monitoring service for 12 months.

Savvy criminals know the value of stolen financial information, Beth Givens, director of the San Diego-based Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, told the newspaper. Data breaches have exposed more than 215 million records since 2005, she said.

Givens described credit monitoring services as the standard response from those responsible for data breaches, but she said that these services don't protect consumers when thieves use the stolen data to register a motor vehicle, file a civil lawsuit, or register a firearm.

Click here to read the Worcester Telegram & Gazette article.

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