UK COMPUTER THEFT COSTS abm health trust loose £3000 of laptops:

NHS trust £3,000 bill for laptop thefts
Wednesday, September 30, 2009, 16:16

AN NHS Trust has shelled out more than £3,000 on missing and stolen laptops in the last year alone, it has been revealed.

Finance chiefs at Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University NHS Trust were left counting the cost of eight laptops, worth on average £400 each, along with three mobile phones, worth on average £40, during 2008.

The cost burden was around £3,320 in total — but no personal computers were stolen.

The findings, released following a Freedom of Information Act request by the Post, show the amount of equipment that has gone astray has risen on previous years.

In 2007, a total of two laptops were stolen, one personal computer, which costs on average £500 each, along with a phone — worth a total of £1,340.

Meanwhile, during 2006, two laptops, two personal computers, four phones and one other piece of equipment went missing — worth around £1,960 in total.

But ABM University NHS Trust revealed one of the stolen computers contained personally identifiable information.

In a statement, the trust said: "This incident was reported to the Information Commissioner's Office and subsequently an action plan was rolled out which resulted in all laptops and computers being encrypted."

A trust spokesman said security had been stepped up surrounding the issue.

He said: "Patient confidentiality and the security of person-identifiable data is taken extremely seriously.

"To increase security of data, the trust has recently embarked upon a programme of encrypting all laptops, and this is nearing completion.

"In addition, an intensive communication and training campaign has been undertaken to ensure that all staff fully appreciate the importance of not saving sensitive information onto portable devices, and this is part of our information security policies."

He said a series of improvements had been put in place, including adding a hidden and traceable security mark on equipment — a product endorsed by the police — making it easier to trace if equipment is lost or stolen.

Meanwhile, PCs in patient areas are now secured with physical locks and data held on any laptop and PC has also been moved to a secure network storage area and subsequently deleted from the device.

And checks are continually undertaken to ensure staff are carrying out the instructions.

He added: "In April 2008, the trust was a victim of a break-in and a laptop was stolen.

"The laptop was being stored in a locked office.

"The theft took place outside of normal office hours, at a time when the offices would normally be unoccupied and the rooms locked.

"The laptop contained patient identifiable information, but this information was password protected.

"In addition, documents stored on the hard drive were also password protected.

"As the trust maintains back-ups of its data, the information has not been permanently lost.

"We have reviewed security and access to offices.

"Access to unattended offices has been restricted, logging of access keys has been improved and we have improved alarm systems."