6:38 AM
Amit Khajuria
With hackers currently on a global rampage like they have never been before, your most sensitive personal details are under constant threat of being compromised. But some 8.63 million people in the UK need not fear rampageous hackers, for the National Health Service (NHS) is already doing its bit to ensure the seamless transfer of their personal information to unscrupulous elements. A laptop containing unencrypted records of 8.63 million people has reportedly gone missing from the National Health Service North Central London health authority.
It’s not that nobody at NHS explored the option of encrypting sensitive data. In fact, the NHS owns a license to McAfee’s Endpoint Encryption (formerly SafeBoot Encryption) product, but it was not used in this case (obviously the NHS has too many smart people to use encryption software and, as a result, call attention to the sensitive data).
The Sun was the first to report on the matter. According to its report, the missing laptop - one of 20 lost from a store room at an NHS facility - contains information regarding over 8.63 million individuals and 18.63 million hospital visits, procedures and operations. Although the data is said to contain no names, the tabloid fears that patients could be identified from whatever information that it does contain - details like post code, age, ethnicity and gender.
Of the 20 laptops that went missing (or were stolen), eight have already been recovered. But the one with all the unencrypted data is among those still missing.
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