[Dataloss] (follow-up) Stolen NIH Laptop Held Social Security Numbers

[lyger]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/09/AR2008040903680.html

Social Security numbers for more than 1,200 participants in a National 
Institutes of Health study were stored on a stolen laptop containing their 
medical records, putting those patients at risk of identity theft, agency 
officials said yesterday.

NIH officials had initially assured the more than 3,000 patients whose 
records were on the laptop that the computer's contents -- unencrypted, in 
violation of federal policy -- did not contain any information that could 
put their identity or finances at risk.

But an ongoing review of the computer's last-known contents, performed on 
data backed up from the laptop before it was stolen, has found a file 
that, unbeknownst to the lead researcher, had been loaded onto the laptop 
by a research associate.

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