It must be Monday.
How can you tell? Simple, another data breach in the news. Sadly, by that reckoning it could be any day of the week. This time a health care worker for NHS Lothian managed to lose the medical histories and other private information for 137 patients.
From The Herald:
Copies of letters sent to Edinburgh GPs by NHS Lothian over two years were stored on a computer memory stick in breach of data protection rules.
The NHS called in police and set up a helpline to support patients worried that their personal information was stored on the small USB device.
advertisementThe worker, who could now be sacked, owned up to the loss on Thursday last week.
“Only 137?” one might say. While the number might seem low, flip it on its head.
What if it had been your data?
This has prompted health care bosses in the UK to offer amnesty for workers to come clean.
From BBC News:
The amnesty is among a series of plans to highlight the security issue. It allows anyone who has illegally stored sensitive information to come forward and have it disposed of safely without being disciplined.
The NHS is also taking a roadshow around hospitals and credit card-sized leaflets are being sent out with payslips.
While the worker mentioned earlier will most likely get the gate I think it is a wise move to have an amnesty put in place for a limited time. If a house is starting to catch fire its better to put out the flames before you becoming engulfed. To beat the proverbial dead horse once more, (cliches are starting to pile up) it is the people that are the weakest link. No firewall in the world will keep them from being human. Organizations need to address the root of the problem before you can even worry about what appliance does what and for how much.