December 2013: Healthcare Records at Risk

In November, Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey reported that two employee laptops had been stolen. Combined, these two laptops contained personal information of about 840,000 members. This information included as much as social security numbers, addresses, birth dates, all of which could be used to commit fraud and identity theft. While both laptops had physical security measures in place (cable locks), neither of them had any sort of encryption to protect the files.

Encryption is especially important for mobile devices, since they are stolen much more often than desktops. Strong encryption would have prevented the files on those computers from being easily accessed. Any mobile device that is used to handle sensitive data should be secured physically and by use of technology, such as encryption or the ability to remotely wipe data from the device. Learn more about how to protect personal devices and mobile data.

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