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NY laptop theft breaches no data protection rules
From: lyger <lyger () attrition org>
Date: Wed, 27 Feb 2008 14:52:03 +0000 (UTC)
http://www.siliconrepublic.com/news/news.nv?storyid=single10391 The loss of a laptop containing the files of up to 175,000 Irish blood donors, which was stolen earlier this month in New York, does not constitute a breach of the Data Protection Acts and the encryption on the laptop is sufficient to protect the files, Ireland.s Data Protection Commissioner said today. Following an investigation into the theft of the laptop from an employee of the New York Blood Centre (NYBC), the Data Protection Commissioner.s office said the NYBC had a proven track record in developing query tools for blood organisations like the Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS). [.] The data contained patient names, addresses, email addresses and/or mobile phone numbers. The log files also contain numeric codes for other kinds of information such as attendance at the IBTS or blood-test results performed by the IBTS. "Importantly, the key for these codes was not on the stolen laptop or on the disks given to the NYBC for the performance of its functions," the Commission said. "It is not possible to isolate individual fields in the log files, so it would have been difficult, if not impossible, to have anonymised the files prior to their supply to the NYBC. Accordingly, the amount of personal data supplied to the NYBC for the performance of the contract entered into is not considered excessive in the circumstances," the Commission said. [...] _______________________________________________ Dataloss Mailing List (dataloss () attrition org) http://attrition.org/dataloss Tenable Network Security offers data leakage and compliance monitoring solutions for large and small networks. Scan your network and monitor your traffic to find the data needing protection before it leaks out! http://www.tenablesecurity.com/products/compliance.shtml
Current thread:
- NY laptop theft breaches no data protection rules lyger (Feb 27)
- Re: NY laptop theft breaches no data protection rules Chris Walsh (Feb 27)
- Re: NY laptop theft breaches no data protection rules Mike Simon (Feb 27)
- Re: NY laptop theft breaches no data protection rules Chris Walsh (Feb 27)