The hospital said the information lost included patient names, addresses, dates of birth, marital status, social security numbers, and medical record numbers.
The hospital discovered the hard drive was missing on Feb. 15, began an investigation “promptly” into the incident, and reported the data breach to law enforcement authorities.
“We have no reason to believe that any personal information has been misused as a result of this incident. MidState Medical Center and other affiliates of Hartford HealthCare are in the process of reviewing their policies and are taking steps to help ensure that this type of incident does not happen in the future”, the hospital said in a statement.
An employee who wanted to work at home improperly transferred the information on 93,500 patients to a personal hard drive, which was subsequently lost, according to the Hartford Courant. The employee was dismissed following an investigation by a private security firm, the newspaper said, quoting a hospital spokesman.