IRELAND (UPDATE) HSE COMPUTERS STOLEN HSE admits three more laptops were stolen since start of year - Latest News, Health - Independent.ie:

HSE admits three more laptops were stolen since start of year

By Eilish O'Regan

Friday June 19 2009

The Health Service Executive yesterday admitted a further three laptops have been stolen since the beginning of the year.

The disappearance of these computers was separate to the theft of 15 laptops from its offices in Roscommon over the weekend.

A spokesperson confirmed the theft to the Irish Independent but said all three were encrypted to protect their information. "All three of the laptops were encrypted and none of them had confidential or patient-related data on them.

"As a result there was no requirement to notify the Data Protection Commission. One of the laptops was stolen from the HSE East area, while the other two were stolen from the HSE South East area," said the spokesperson.

The revelation came as the HSE yesterday spoke to nine families about whom information had been stored by a social worker on one of the 15 computers stolen from the Roscommon office.

The information was not encrypted despite a HSE policy since September last not to have any confidential or sensitive information on a laptop that was not protected from access.

The spokesperson said: "The HSE takes the issue of data protection extremely seriously. At any time there are 5,400 active laptops in the HSE -- so far 91pc have been encrypted.

"While 100pc encryption is the organisation's stated goal and the process to encrypt is ongoing, it must be appreciated that the HSE is a very large and complex organisation with many laptops dispersed throughout the country in hospitals and remote community-based settings.

"The HSE is fully committed to ensuring the protection of personal and sensitive client data that is held on staff laptops and began the process of encrypting all laptops in September last year.

Sensitive data

""At that time HSE communicated with all staff members informing them of their individual responsibility to have the data on their laptops encrypted.

The encryption process gives priority to those laptops storing clinical and other sensitive data.

The circumstances in relation to the non-encryption of the stolen laptop in Roscommon are currently being reviewed and the necessary actions will be taken by the HSE if it is found that the standard directive to personnel has been breached."

The spokesperson said during a meeting between the HSE's Information Technology personnel and the Data Protection Commission in September 2008, the Data Protection Commission was advised that while the HSE was applying the necessary resources to encrypt its laptops as quickly as possible, the technology was not in place in every part of the organisation to guarantee that all computers were encrypted.

The Data Protection Commissioner may serve a legal notice on the HSE and gardai are continuing their investigations into the Roscommontheft.

- Eilish O'Regan