We are constantly amazed at the new levels of creativity criminals apply to achieve their goals. However, sometimes the old-fashioned approaches work just as well. From the Office of Inadequate Security comes this report:

Silicon Valley Eyecare Optometry and Contact Lenses
State: California
Approx. # of Individuals Affected: 40,000
Date of Breach: 4/02/10
Type of Breach: Theft
Location of Breached Information: Network Server

An FAQ on the firm’s web site
says, in part:

What happened?
On Friday morning April 2, 2010 at 5:30 a.m., two burglars broke an
outside window to the administrative area of our office at 770 Scott
Boulevard in Santa Clara, CA. Our security cameras show the intruders
coming through the window, confiscating the computer, and pushing the
computer and a plasma TV back out the window of entrance, all within 50
seconds. Our cameras recorded the type of vehicle they were driving. The
alarm system was activated and the police were notified. A full police
report was filed.

What data was stored on the stolen computer server?
The server that was stolen contained our patient data base information.
The patient records contain names, addresses, phone numbers, and in some
cases social security numbers. E-mail addresses birthdates, family
members, medical insurances as well as medical and ocular health
information was included. No Optomap retinal images were stored on the
system. No credit card information was stored on the system.

Was the information secured?
Yes. There were 3 levels of security in place: physical, technical and
administrative. Physical security consisted of locked doors, an alarm
system to the police office, and surveillance cameras. For technical
security, the data was password protected on two levels: a detailed
password to access the server and a second password to access the
patient data base. Administrative security was in place allowing no
public access to the server.

Is all of my patient data lost?
No. Our patient data base is backed up nightly and an encrypted copy is
stored off-site. We were able to restore our data and retrieve our
patient records.

Note that the off-site backup copy of the data is encrypted but the on-site version was not.