MyLaptopGPS

On November 6th, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) announced that an Aging and Adult Services Division laptop was stolen sometime during the flight of an employee who was returning from a conference in Atlanta, GA.

In an article in Medical News Today, the NCDHHS assured that the laptop was password protected. However, passwords are easy enough to get around. Data encryption would be significantly more effective.

NCDHHS mentioned that the laptop contained the personal information of some of the clients receiving home and community services from the state. The Division of Aging and Adult Services (DAAS) has contacted each of the individuals whose information may have been compromised. The letter also provides guidance on how to place a fraud alert on your credit report, and how to monitor your credit report regularly as the victims’ sensitive data may not be used immediately.

Unfortunately, most of the victims in this incident are, in fact, elderly, and are only as familiar with the internet as anyone else in that generation. So the notifications, though helpful, create more of a hassle than any data encryption technology could possibly impose. The phone calls necessary for just ONE elderly individual to receive the proper credit coverage take hours at best.

And this extreme time-wasting issue could have been resolved easily had the stolen laptop been equipped with security technology such as that provided by MyLaptopGPS.