Massive theft of medical data in LA sparks new security moves

la-me-ln-county-data-encryption-20140527-001In Los Angeles, the theft of computers from a county contractor's office that contained personal data for over 342,000 patients has led to a call for tighter security.

The Los Angeles County supervisors are proposing tighter protocols for patient medical data, reports the LA Times:

The county already requires that workers' laptops be encrypted. The supervisors voted Tuesday to extend that policy to also encrypt all county departments' computer workstation hard drives. They also asked that county staff members develop a plan to require "all County-contracted agencies that exchange personally identifiable information and protected health information data with the County" to encrypt sensitive information on their computers as a condition of their contracts

A class-action lawsuit was filed earlier this month.