Laptop with over eight mn medical records missing
June 15th, 2011 - 9:04 pm ICT by IANSLondon, June 15 (IANS) A laptop containing more than eight million medical records of patients has gone missing from a research building in a biggest-ever security breach of its kind in Britain, a media report said Wednesday.
The computer vanished from the National Health Service (NHS) building three weeks ago but it has only just been reported to police, The Sun reported.
The unencrypted laptop contains sensitive details of 8.63 million people plus records of 18 million hospital visits, operations and procedures, the report said.
The data does not include names but patients could be identified from postcodes and details such as gender, age and ethnic origin, it said.
The computer was one of 20 lost from a store room at London Health Programmes, a medical research organisation based at the NHS North Central London health authority, The Sun said. Eight have been recovered but a search is still being carried out for the other 12.
The records include details of cancer, HIV, mental illness and abortions.
A source said: “This laptop would be a devastating tool in the hands of a blackmailer.”
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