Hospital staff details on stolen laptop
The laptop is one of three flagged as a concern out of 16 stolen from staff from the Comptroller and Auditor General’s (C&AG) office in the last decade.
The particular laptop in question contained payroll details of staff members of a Leinster-based hospital, the Irish Examiner has learnt.
The office of the C&AG confirmed the laptop contained over 1,000 people’s payroll data.
Gerry Smith, the office’s director of audits, would not confirm or deny if the data related to a hospital.
However, he said the laptop had been stolen from a person’s home in 2005.
“We’re in the process of ensuring that the people [involved] are informed. It is best that employers be allowed contact employees,” he said.
It is understood the hospital concerned last week contacted the Data Protection Commission seeking advice about how best to approach employees with news that their personal details were on the stolen laptop.
The C&AG last week stated that following a review of its files, it had identified three of the 16 stolen laptops that contained data that “could, if improperly disclosed, be misused.”
The spending watchdog has access to state payments and audits public bodies, with its own laptops.
Of the two other laptops of concern, one contained information of more than 380,000 people entitled to social welfare payments.
Social Affairs Minister Mary Hanafin last week said she was unhappy her department had been kept in the dark about this stolen laptop.
A third laptop of concern which went missing from C&AG staff contained hundreds of details of social security numbers and wages of employees with the Department of Enterprise Trade and Employment.
The Irish Examiner has learnt this third laptop also contained personal payroll details of five other public bodies.
The C&AG refused to confirm the five bodies when contacted.
However, they are believed to include hundreds of sensitive details on staff from a separate government department, as well as staff from the health sector.
The Health Service Executive confirmed that it was taking action after being notified details of its employees were on a stolen laptop. In a statement, it said:
“The HSE has been advised by the office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) that some details relating to HSE staff in the HSE South area &were contained on a laptop which belonged to the office of the C&AG and which was stolen.
“The HSE is working with the C&AG’s office to identify how many staff this involved and assessing the nature of the data which is now missing. The HSE will also be communicating with the office of the Commissioner for Data Protection about this matter and will take whatever action is required to address its obligations in this regard.”
