Advanced Systems

Taken from a news release posted on the Alberta Government website:

July 8, 2009
Commissioner urges vigilance in wake of computer virus outbreak at Alberta Health Services

The Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner has been notified by Alberta Health Services that a virus was present on the Alberta Health Services network in Edmonton. The virus impacted the network and Netcare, Alberta’s electronic health record, before it was discovered and removed.

This follows the theft of two computers from a UofA medical lab a few months ago which contained un-encrypted patient information. The laptops were chained to a desk in a locked room!

Vigilance is the key word here and should apply to any and all businesses that value their data and want to keep it private. These were computer based breaches but we need to apply vigilance across our organizations which include any form of access to data and confidential information. You need to review, evaluate and enforce any policies and procedures regarding how you and your people manage and handle confidential data whether it's computer based or paper based. Let's not forget the two recent incidents where Federal officials mishandled confidential and top secret paper documents.

How important is securing your data? Ask yourself this: would you want to do business with an organization who were slack in securing your personal information?