In yet another data loss incident, it was found that NHS Lincolnshire, a healthcare trust, has lost not just one, but two memory sticks that contained personal information of over 26,000 people in that area. The trust, which runs GP services in Caistor, Louth, Market Rasen and the areas surrounding it, reported that the data sticks went missing from a locked drawer earlier in the year.
When the data sticks were first found to be missing, the trust believed that they contained data of clients at the weight management service. It was however later found that the data sticks contained names, dates of birth, addresses and phone numbers of about 26,000 clients from the smoking cessation service. When this development came to light, the trust immediately reported the incident to the police and is now waiting for some positive outcomes.
It is important for companies and agencies that handle personal information to remember to secure the data efficiently, regardless of whether it poses a risk to clients or not. This can be done effectively by the use of online data backups, which encrypt data and store it away from the original location. The advantage behind offsite data backups is that it can reduce the chances of data breach, loss or theft.
