Yellowknife, NWT – A physician working at Yellowknife’s Stanton Territorial Hospital has misplaced an unencrypted USB stick containing important patient data.
The memory stick, which has information on as many as 4,095 patients, was reported missing on Nov. 13.
Data on the USB included patient names, dates of birth and health care numbers.
“This is not acceptable,” said Stanton Territorial Health Authority’s public administrator, Joe Handley in a news release.
“The protection of personal information of our patients is of utmost importance.”
Since the stick was not encrypted, information on it can be accessed by anyone who finds it.
The Stanton Territorial Health Authority says it is taking immediate action by directing all staff to stop using unencrypted devices and to review privacy and security policies.
The territory’s Information and Privacy Commissioner is also aware of the situation and says letters will be sent out to affected patients within two weeks.
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