Your Laptop Has Been Stolen. Now What?

As laptop computer use becomes more prevalent in healthcare, computer theft is also on the rise. A proactive approach to mobile computing security at Community Medical Centers has already proven successful is recovering stolen laptops and protecting critical, private data.

With three major hospitals and several health care facilities, Community Medical Centers (Community) is the largest and most comprehensive hospital system in the San Joaquin Valley. Affiliated with the University of California San Francisco's (UCSF) medical school, the hospital network has taken a leading-edge approach to both research and technology.

Over the past several years, Community has taken advantage of laptop computers throughout its facilities. With more laptops storing more private information, computer theft has become an increasing concern for Community. As a healthcare provider, Community takes a very proactive approach to protecting the health information of patients and employees. In compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and California Senate Bill 1398, the hospital system encrypts protected health information on laptop computers, "We take many steps to protect our patient's personal and health information, including stringent policies on storing protected information on mobile computers. With our protected information encrypted, and now the ability to physically recover computers or remotely delete information from lost or stolen computers, we feel we are doing everything possible to ensure data security."

Having experienced some laptop thefts, Community sought the help of Computrace by Absolute Software – an IT asset management, data protection and computer theft recovery solution that would complement its Microsoft data encryption system. This proved to be a good decision when two laptops were stolen from a locked hospital office. Today, the marriage of Community's encryption system and Absolute's Computrace provide a strong measure of protection for hospital computers and the health information they contain. Access this content to read this case study in its entirety.