Information Security: Detroit Hospital Security Breach

A breach in security can be devastating to any company especially if it involves sensitive information that is damaged or stolen by an outside source such as patient's names, date of birth etc. Sensitive information can be any personal information that can be used to defraud an individual or a company. In this paper I will discuss the impacts of such a security breach that occurred within the Urology Medical office at the Henry Ford Health Systems hospital in Detroit, Michigan. I will also discuss recommendations to prevent the security breach from occurring.

Incident Background

According to the article on September 24, 2010, a laptop was taken from an unsecured Urology office at the Henry Ford Health Systems hospital. The laptop contained a password protection software but would not have been enough to stop the thief if he had extensive computer background. The information stored on the laptop did not include the patients social security or their health insurance information, but did include information such as their names, medical record numbers, dates of birth, telephone numbers, and the types of treatment they received (Moscaritolo, 2010, p. 1). The medical information that was stored on the laptop covered the last eleven years.
Reaction to Incident