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Financial and Medical Records of 180,000 Stolen From San Jose Medical GroupSan Jose Medical Group is disclosing the exposure of financial and medical records of over 180,000 patients. The exposure occurred after the patient information was copied to two personal computers. The computers were then stolen in a robbery at one of the company buildings. The medical group is in the process of sending alerts to all of the patients impacted by the breach. The group is required to do so pursuant to the Security Breach Information Act of California, which requires all business doing business in California to alert customers of hacks. The loss of information continues a trend of information disclosure by California entities. A laughable lack of security measures at the University of California, Berkeley, has been exposed by two recent breaches. In the first instance, the personal information of over 1.4 million people was exposed when a hacker accessed a researcher’s laptop. More recently, the University sent notices to 98,000 people that their personal information may have been exposed following the theft of a laptop from its admissions office. It is becoming increasingly clear that both government institutions and commercial entities are failing to take necessary security measures to protect their databases. While the San Jose Medical Group problem is excusable to some extent, the UC Berkley exposures are absolutely unacceptable. It is difficult to imagine any business that would allow employees to carry a customer database around on a laptop. Yet, the University appears to have few, if any, controls or procedures regarding the protection of personal information. You should act quickly if you receive notice of the potential exposure of your personal information to hackers. Once your information is out in the open, there is a significant chance that your identity could be stolen. Make sure to check your credit report frequently. **************************** The above discussion is intended to be a general commentary on legal issues. Each situation is different and this article is not intended as legal advice for your specific situation. Further, nothing in this article is intended to create an attorney-client relationship. If you have additional questions, please contact Richard@SanDiegoBusinessLawFirm.com << Back to Articles |
