Medical Staff

Robber steals laptop containing HIV information

Executive Briefings Digest, April 18, 2006

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A thief stole a laptop containing the HIV test results of almost 2,000 clients of the Sacramento, CA-based Centers for AIDS Research, Education and Services (CARES), reports The Sacramento Bee.

On February 10, 2006, the robber broke into the home of a CARES employee who had taken home a password-protected computer to finish a report. In addition to HIV information, the computer contained clients' names, ages, genders, races, and ZIP codes. The laptop did not store Social Security numbers or addresses.

CARES officials notified California authorities about the breach within a week of the theft. They plan to strengthen their laptop take-home policy to require encryption protection. There is no evidence that the thief has accessed or used the information.

Source: Medical Records Briefing



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